D&D (2024) A take on dual wielding

[Pauln6]

Throwing weapons seem like something one definitely wants to support. I throw a dagger. Then another (different) dagger. Then another. Etc. Maybe I have a whole bandolier of daggers. I can equip one as part of an attack action, and provided my hand is free it seems common to allow that I can equip another as a free interaction. Throw > draw > throw > draw > throw. I don't see any text that specifically prevents a character also wielding a shield while doing so.

What I would most like to see in some sort of future Sage Advice, would be clarity from the game designers around how they see shields and "different weapon" mattering to game balance. And if they don't, then offering a reading that gives players greatest choice over how they picture their characters.

Thrown weapons tend to be small and lower damage but the rules as they are will apply equally to larger improvised weapons without the thrown property. I would have preferred the draw throw draw throw ability to be linked to the thrown property itself.

I'm not a fan of drawing as part of the attack being universal to all weapons tbh. So much cheese exploded on day one and I dislike doing dumb artificial stuff for purely mechanical benefit.

 

[ECMO3]

Yeah I meant more that it's harder to maintain the weapon juggling every round. If you throw a weapon, it's not available to throw again the next round. In melee, you are starting the round with a different weapon, so your mastery combo is reversed. Even if you can use your object interaction to stow your weapon and draw your original weapon, you can't do anything with your original weapon after you have attacked. If you have 3 attacks, you can stow the weapon at the end of your turn, but then you have no weapon equipped for your reaction.

With thrown weapons you risk being left unarmed but because throwing them is free (as opposed to dropping or stowing) you can always equip another weapon at the end of your turn as your free interaction.

I can draw a new weapon with every attack on the attack action (or 2 weapons with the Dual Wielding feat), so RAW with nick and Dual Wielding and 3 attacks I could:

Action
Throw a light weapon
Throw-nick a dagger or light hammer
Attack with any weapon
Attack with any weapon

Bonus action:
Attack with any weapon that is not two-handed

 

[Pauln6]

I can draw a new weapon with every attack on the attack action (or 2 weapons with the Dual Wielding feat), so RAW with nick and Dual Wielding and 3 attacks I could:

Action
Throw a light weapon
Throw-nick a dagger or light hammer
Attack with any weapon
Attack with any weapon

Bonus action:
Attack with any weapon that is not two-handed

Yes. Albeit only as a high level fighter. My point was, it's not so easy to perform the same combination every round.

As a side note, I won't be adopting the 2024 drawing, stowing, and dropping rules. I think dropping should be free otherwise nobody will ever do it. I think my compromise will be, to allow one free draw at the start of your turn only (unless a weapon with the thrown property) and everything else uses your free object interaction.

Your combo above would be largely unaffected:

Draw and throw light thrown weapon
Nick - draw and throw light thrown weapon
Free object interaction to draw melee weapon (draw second weapon with dual wielder feat)
Attack with melee weapon
Attack with melee weapon
Bonus action melee attack

That seems good enough to me.