Snatch

[Hypersmurf]

You assume his axe stops moving at some point. In battle, nobody just stands around unless they are dead tired and about to fall over in exhaustion. If you stop moving in combat, you get hurt. If you stop swinging that axe, you get hurt.

Except that your AC is not dependent on whether or not you're armed.

If I'm wearing chainmail and swinging an axe, my AC is 15.

If I'm wearing chainmail and holding an axe but not swinging it, my AC is 15.

If I'm wearing chainmail and don't even have an axe, my AC is 15.

Unless you want to introduce a new rules subset to modify AC based on whether or not someone is swinging a weapon, the system takes no account of whether or not I'm swinging my axe to determine if I get hurt or not.

I can drop the thing on the ground at the end of my full attack action. I no longer threaten an area, but I'm otherwise no more vulnerable than when I was holding it. My hands are definitely free now that I've dropped the axe.

How is this any different to letting go with one hand? I no longer threaten an area, since I can't wield the axe in one hand. But my AC doesn't change, any more than it did when I dropped it altogether.

-Hyp.