D&D 5E Pick up a fallen sword

[Mishihari Lord]

From my perspective, I can't think of any situation where keeping track of movement or actions for picking up a sword would heighten the tension, or add any interesting dynamics to the game. I'm not saying one doesn't exist, but I feel like 95% of the time you let the player just pick up the sword and keep the game moving forward.

The finale in Ladyhawk immediately comes to my mind. Still, D&D doesn't model combat with sufficient fidelity for this type of thing to make a difference, so I agree, just let 'em pick it up.

 

[Dausuul]

So how does all of this affect disarming opponents? From the sound of it, if you can just pick an object up without it really taking an action, what is the value of disarming?

Well, if you just disarmed the enemy, it's probably still your turn. So you can pick up the sword as a free "interact with an object" before the disarmed person does. If you don't have a free hand, just kick it away, and dare him/her to go after it and provoke an OA from you.