D&D 5E Disarming spellcasters?

[ECMO3]

Yeah, having it go flying is a house rule. But there is no rule saying you have to enter a space to pick up an object in it (nor any rule saying you don't have to enter the space).

That's why this is the territory of house rules or adjudication. Personally, I'd probably adjudicate that you can kick it away by default, and houserule that if you want to try to send it flying you can make the check with Disadvantage.

How can you pick up something off the ground 5 feet away from you without moving? Sure there is no rule about it, just like there is no rule saying you can't pull a torch off of a scone on the other side of the room without moving over there to get it, but it is not located in your space.

RAW the term for what I am calling a free action is "interact with an object" which has to be done "in tandem with your movement or action". I suppose the disarm attack would satisfy the action part of that, but it still is not located where you are at this time.

I agree you can kick it away, but that is an attack and you are using your reach to do it.

 

[mrpopstar]

Jeremy Crawford offers via Twitter that "the rules don't stop a fighter from using Disarming Attack and picking up the dropped item. A DM might say the item is out of reach," and "I would allow the fighter to pick up the item if it was close by and the fighter had a hand free." Sage Advice link.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

How can you pick up something off the ground 5 feet away from you without moving? Sure there is no rule about it, just like there is no rule saying you can't pull a torch off of a scone on the other side of the room without moving over there to get it, but it is not located in your space.

RAW the term for what I am calling a free action is "interact with an object" which has to be done "in tandem with your movement or action". I suppose the disarm attack would satisfy the action part of that, but it still is not located where you are at this time.

I agree you can kick it away, but that is an attack and you are using your reach to do it.

Okay, if we are imagining the scenario, the hand the opponent is holding the weapon in is not 5' away from me. Their horizontal center is ostensibly 5' away from mine. Their body extends horizontally in all directions from that. Their arm/hand is closer to me, (as is my arm/hand) and whatever is in their hand is quite probably even closer to me than that. If they drop it exactly down, it will not be 5' from my horizontal center, much less from my limbs.

Since I had a bit of free time, I put a tape measure extended 5' on the ground, stood over one end of it in a combat-ready stance, and held a kitchen knife in my hand. I dropped it three times. The first time it landed around the border of my space and the theoretical opponent's. I moved to the opponent's space and could crouch down and grab it without moving my feet or even needing to really lean--and I don't have particularly long arms. The second and third times it bounced and scooted away about perpendicular to the line between me and the opponent (in different directions), out of my space to nearby spaces (which the opponent could access by moving around with--without provoking OAs in 5e). If I simply lower it to the ground, it ends up in my space close to the border with my opponent, and can be accessed by crouching and either moving my feet forward a bit or leaning forward a bit. Even then, it was nowhere near 5' away from my reach, and barely closer to the dropper than to the opponent.

Are you saying you think the rules say that kicking it away would be an attack, or is that a houserule?

 

[ECMO3]

Are you saying you think the rules say that kicking it away would be an attack, or is that a houserule?

A kick is a type of unarmed strike, so I would count that as an attack, or more specifically part of an attack if you had extra attack. I would also let someone use a kick as an improvised action to kick something in a different space but within reach, but an attack would be more efficient for someone with extra attack.

I don't think that is a houserule per se, I think it is an interpretation of RAW.