D&D 3E/3.5 How many free actions do you get per round (3.5)?

[xigbar]

Make a hard ruling on the specific ability, not on the general rule about free actions, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot.

I see that you already have an official answer (1/round) on the Invisible Blade. It's probably the most reasonable rule, otherwise the only other option I see would be to allow you to feint as many times you want (i.e. once per attack). Anything in between would be unnecessarily complicated for the minimal difference it would make in practice!

Now try to think what mess you'll do if you put a hard limit on free actions in general... Free actions are meant for things that are either irrelevant, or self-limited such as dropping to the ground (which you can do only once until you stand up again) or dropping objects (which normally you have up to two, one in each hand). The PHB wisely says that, should there be some more complicated scenario (e.g. you have an ability that lets you also stand up as a free action), the DM will say stop when the thing starts looking stupid (your PC wanting to drop & stand up like a rubber ball). Any hard ruling made to avoid a stupid case by the RAW can open up new stupid cases as well. And will still be mostly unnecessary.

"Okay, I want to stand up, then, I want to stand up again from the standing up and be double standing!"

 

[Tovec]

I am looking at this from the POV of the Invisible blade 5th level ability. They can feint as a free action. I'm trying to figure out how many times a round this can be used.

You would have to find the errata document to be sure but I believe there was official errata on the subject saying it was supposed to be either one free attempt per round or one free attempt per attack and this is how our group has always done it.

As far as "how many free actions per round" the number is whatever you DM allows, or whatever makes sense. I have performed around a dozen free actions in a round before, but that was a slightly metagamy action. It is clear that frees take up less time than swift, swift less than move, move less than standard and all of these somehow fit together to make a full round.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I think the definitive number should be 17.

 

[Water Bob]

Neither of these rulings give a hard number.

There is no hard number. Usually it's the action itself that sets the limit. For example, the five foot step is limited to one per round, but you can also do other types of Free Actions within the round.

So, the answer is: The number of Free Actions your character can undertake is unlimited unless otherwise stated in the action's description (or declared by your GM*).




*No GM in his right mind would allow you 50 Free Actions in a six second combat round, even if there is no action description to the contrary. As GM, I would look at it this way: The combat round is 6 seconds. Most actions I can think of take at least a second to perform. A second is a very small amount of time. I'd allow 6 Free Actions during a round unless a player could convince me that the actions he's taking would take less time (and were still classified as Free Actions).

 

[Jack Simth]

I'm trying to find a hard ruling on this. All I seem to get is:

"Free actions don’t take any time at all, though there may be limits to the number of free actions you can perform in a turn."

"Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free."

Neither of these rulings give a hard number.

That is correct. Any hard number would cause problems under some circumstance. Too low, and the ranger can't actually make a full attack with a bow (free action to draw an arrow). Too high, and you've got the funny business with mounting and dismounting a line of mules to get a character farther in a round than they could run full out.

So the authors - relatively wisely - left it up to DM discretion.

 

[Vegepygmy]

There is no hard number. Usually it's the action itself that sets the limit. For example, the five foot step is limited to one per round, but you can also do other types of Free Actions within the round.

Bad example. A 5-foot step is not a free action; it's technically a Miscellaneous Action.

 

[PureGoldx58]

Bad example. A 5-foot step is not a free action; it's technically a Miscellaneous Action.

Agreed. Drawing an arrow was a good example.

 

[Water Bob]

Bad example. A 5-foot step is not a free action; it's technically a Miscellaneous Action.

I guess that's another difference in the d20 Conan RPG and 3.5 D&D. In Conan, the 5 foot step is a free action (and Conan does not use Miscellaneous Actions).

 

[PureGoldx58]

I guess that's another difference in the d20 Conan RPG and 3.5 D&D. In Conan, the 5 foot step is a free action (and Conan does not use Miscellaneous Actions).

I am pretty sure the 5ft. step is the only misc. action. It isn't really a free action because it limits you from moving, but it isn't a move action because you can still use a full round action...it is complicated.

 

[Water Bob]

I am pretty sure the 5ft. step is the only misc. action. It isn't really a free action because it limits you from moving, but it isn't a move action because you can still use a full round action...it is complicated.

Ah...I think you are correct, my friend. Pg. 189, Conan RPG 2E, the Five Foot Step is a Miscellaneous Action, along with Use Feat and Use Skill.

Thanks for correcting me.