Dropping a weapon in the middle of an attack

[Aaron]

If I'm playing a character that has claws, can I attack with my longosword, drop it as a free action and then attack with both of my claws?

 

[nick012000]

Yep, but you'll need to use a move action and provoke an attack of opportunity to pick it back up again.

 

[blargney the second]

Assuming it didn't somehow get broken, I'd probably let it fly as a DM. The claws would both be secondary natural attacks for that round, of course. (-5 to hit, 1/2 Str to damage)

 

[MarkB]

Not if your claws are considered a natural attack. When making a full attack, you can use either the iterative-attacks sequence you get with a manufactured weapon, or the separate attack sequence you get with natural weapons, not both.

If you have a claw attack as a secondary natural weapon, then you can combine a single attack with that natural weapon as part of a full attack with manufactured weapons, with its normal -5 penalty to attack. If you needed to, you could drop a held weapon in order to free up your claws for a secondary attack of this type.

 

[nick012000]

Not if your claws are considered a natural attack. When making a full attack, you can use either the iterative-attacks sequence you get with a manufactured weapon, or the separate attack sequence you get with natural weapons, not both.

If you have a claw attack as a secondary natural weapon, then you can combine a single attack with that natural weapon as part of a full attack with manufactured weapons, with its normal -5 penalty to attack. If you needed to, you could drop a held weapon in order to free up your claws for a secondary attack of this type.

My understanding is that you can make any natural weapon attack in a full attack as a secondary natural weapon, provided that the limb making it isn't otherwise occupied. So, you could sword/bite/claw/claw, as long as you aren't holding your sword when you're making your claw attacks.

Ultimately, this is a poor (if valid) strategy, since it involved dropping your sword, and swords tend to do a lot more damage than claws, especially at high levels.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If I'm playing a character that has claws, can I attack with my longsword, drop it as a free action and then attack with both of my claws?

In the same way that I wouldn't permit a character to make an attack with a greatsword, drop it, Quick Draw a dagger in his off-hand, and make an off-hand attack through Two-Weapon Fighting, I suspect I wouldn't permit a secondary natural attack with the claw that was used to make a longsword attack that same round.

If you make your full attack with your longsword and then drop the sword, the claws will be available next round. And if you were only using the sword in one hand, the claw you weren't using to hold the sword can still make a secondary natural attack this round.

-Hyp.

 

[sukael]

Not if your claws are considered a natural attack. When making a full attack, you can use either the iterative-attacks sequence you get with a manufactured weapon, or the separate attack sequence you get with natural weapons, not both.

For a counterexample, the minotaur in the SRD has a gore attack not marked as secondary (and that it can use at full attack bonus if it wishes), but it can also willingly take the -5 to use it as a secondary natural attack along with its greataxe.

 

[jaelis]

Not if your claws are considered a natural attack. When making a full attack, you can use either the iterative-attacks sequence you get with a manufactured weapon, or the separate attack sequence you get with natural weapons, not both.

That's incorrect in general:

Some creatures combine attacks with natural and manufactured weapons when they make a full attack. When they do so, the manufactured weapon attack is considered the primary attack unless the creature’s description indicates otherwise and any natural weapons the creature also uses are considered secondary natural attacks. These secondary attacks do not interfere with the primary attack as attacking with an off-hand weapon does, but they take the usual -5 penalty (or -2 with the Multiattack feat) for such attacks, even if the natural weapon used is normally the creature’s primary natural weapon.

I would agree though, that you can either use a given hand to hold a weapon or to make a claw attack, but not both in the same round. Maybe that's what you meant?

 

[nick012000]

In the same way that I wouldn't permit a character to make an attack with a greatsword, drop it, Quick Draw a dagger in his off-hand, and make an off-hand attack through Two-Weapon Fighting, I suspect I wouldn't permit a secondary natural attack with the claw that was used to make a longsword attack that same round.

If you make your full attack with your longsword and then drop the sword, the claws will be available next round. And if you were only using the sword in one hand, the claw you weren't using to hold the sword can still make a secondary natural attack this round.

-Hyp.

I'd allow the first one, too. It's even more self defeating than the longsword dropping; greatswords do a lot more damage than daggers. What good is it to deal an extra d4 damage this round, when next round you've lost your 2d6?

 

[MarkB]

That's incorrect in general:

I would agree though, that you can either use a given hand to hold a weapon or to make a claw attack, but not both in the same round. Maybe that's what you meant?

No, I was incorrect. I'd misremembered the rule, and couldn't find the relevant passage in the SRD to confirm it.

Given that you could drop a weapon and Quickdraw another in the middle of a full attack, I'd say that technically you could do the same to free up a natural weapon. The fact that your weapon is now on the floor is penalty enough for that.