D&D 5E Can a Battlemaster pickup a disarmed weapon as part of his action?

[Mage of Spellford]

Hey All,

One of my players had an interesting question: based upon the idea of the "Interacting with objects around you" rules that allow you to "pick up a dropped axe" as a thing you can do in tandem with actions and movements in combat. If you are a fighter using the battlemaster archetype and you force your opponent to drop their weapon or a staff by successfully using the disarming attack maneuver can you then as a free action pick up the item depriving them of it?

My instinct is to say yes (but that is typically my instinct). I can't find anything in the rules that prevents a character from picking up something from the ground at your opponents feet. If you are engaged with an opponent I could certainly see that the object would be within reach.

Since combat involves the trading of blows back and forth I would describe it as "you strike the sword from you opponent's grasp and then hold them at bay with a series of slashes while you quickly scoop up the drawn weapon"

Any thoughts?

MK

 

[Eejit]

You'll need a free hand to do so, which should be sufficient opportunity cost along with using superiority dice.

 

[Paraxis]

If the battlemaster has a free hand I see no reason in disallowing it, you could even flavor it is a catch of the weapon mid air. I haven't seen a single weapon no shield fighter at my table yet, but the battlemaster in one of my games disarm followed by a push then stood on his opponents weapon, I thought that was very cool use of the ability.

If the battlemaster doesn't do something like the above than all you have done is removed the weapon as something to make reaction attacks with, because the first thing the enemy does at the start of his next turn is to pick up his disarmed weapon.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I think it has to be possible, because if it's not possible, then the opponent can pick it up (for free) on their turn, and continue fighting, essentially making the disarming attack worthless.

I agree that it's not a clean disarming rule, but my sense would be: if you disarm an opponent in melee, you can pick it up (if you have a free hand) or kick it away (if you do not) on the same turn; if you disarm an opponent at range, then the weapon/treasure map/whatever falls at their feet, and they can pick it up on their turn if no one has done so previously.

 

[Coredump]

The list of examples of 'free' interactions are typical examples of what is generally allowed. It is not meant as an absolute.


It is a free interaction to plant a banner. Would you still allow it in a stone dungeon?
Drawing a sword is a free action. Would you still allow it if the PC was already holding a sword?
Hand in object to another PC is free.... what if you are both on a boat in a severe storm?
Getting a potion from your backpack...what if you are walking a tightrope, or sliding down a hill? Still a free action? Still no Dex roll or some other mechanic?


I'm not saying how you need to rule in each of these (and many more) examples... just that it is reasonable to rule that circumstances may change so that those automatic and free actions.... may not require a roll or a full action.

This leads to:
Picking up a weapon is a free action.... what if there is someone right next to you trying to kill you while you bend over to pick it up? What if you need to bend over and reach into his square to reach the weapon...???

For either the Battlemaster or his disarmed target, I do not agree that it will always be an automatic or free action to pick up the weapon.

 

[Zinnger]

It seems that the rules are not clear on this so everyone can supply their own crazy way of handling this at their table. Here is one idea that may add some fun and realism to this event:

Battlemaster disarms the target. Both want to recover the weapon. The target could be allowed its reaction to try to recover the weapon while the BM tries to pick it up also. They could roll a separate situational initiative between the two to see who acts first and gets to pick the disarmed weapon up. The target would use their reaction for the round regardless to if they win the initiative and recover their weapon or loose the initiative and be unarmed.

Just a crazy idea but it sounds like fun to me. (-:

 

[Kobold Stew]

The battle master has already invested heavily in being able to disarm, at three levels of scale: it takes a maneuver slot, it spends a superiority die, and it is an action chosen for a given turn. If it isn't effective -- i.e. if it doesn't leave the opponent disarmed at the start of the next turn -- then there is no point in the player choosing that option for his or her character.

 

[lkj]

I thought about this early on, and I decided that he could at least kick it away. Fits within the interact with an object rules, and it doesn't break my sense of reality for him to do that. So, for my games, no foul. I'd probably also let him pick up the weapon if he had a free hand. If the situation were particularly hairy, I might have him make a Dex check to pull it off.

Just my two cents.


AD

 

[Chris Stenger]

There's got to be a significant cost to picking up a weapon that's on the ground between two creatures engaged in melee combat. If I'm looking at it from a realism perspective, the target has just been hit hard enough that it's dropped its weapon, and the attacker has just performed a move that it has learned through training, discipline, experience, or whatever. So, game-perspective aside, I think it should be easier for the attacker to act freely afterward than the target. If you picture a target bending down to pick up an object that's been forcefully separated from it, you can imagine how vulnerable it would be. So I'd say it's either got to trigger a reaction, be disallowed at the start of the target's next turn - or maybe adding cost by calling it an attack move for that specific situation. I like the reaction one best, but that becomes a house rule instead of just an interpretation.

 

[Paraxis]

I could see where interacting with an object in the same square as another creature would be an issue.

Different situation, a creature is standing next to a lever that or pull rope, if you play with grid maps this object is in the same square as an enemy creature. How does the player's character interact with the object?

For me they normally would have to shove the creature away first or make the creature incapacitated.

Thinking more on the issue I would probably do the same with a dropped weapon at an enemy's feet, it is step 1 in getting the item away from him, using teamwork or extra attacks you would have to get the enemy out of the square the weapon is in before you could interact with the object.