Threatening an area while casting

[Hypersmurf]

Gruntharg's Law in the 3E Main FAQ states that it's a free action to go from a one-handed to two-handed grip (or vice versa) on a weapon.

So you can let go of your staff with one hand (free action), cast your spell (standard action), walk thirty feet (move action) and grab hold of your staff with your second hand again (free action)... at which point you threaten once more.

... if you use Gruntharg's Law.

-Hyp.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Why is that? As I imagine things, it's allowed all the time.

Let's imagine a few situations:

1. A character wielding a longsword with nothing in the other. Does it take him a move action to grab the sword with his off hand and make an attack? If so, why? It's a heck of a lot easier to put a second hand on the hilt than to draw the sword from the scabbard.

2. A character is carrying his spear blithely through the wilderness. Like most people, he's holding the spear in one hand with the shaft sloped back along his shoulder. He is attacked. Since he doesn't have combat reflexes, he can't take AoOs until he gets the spear ready in his turn. However, it seens silly to claim that he needs to take a move action to ready his spear just like if it were lying on the ground. That's how spears are supposed to be carried so if there was a rule that it takes a move action at the beginning of combat to ready a spear by putting a second hand on the shaft, it really ought to say so in the rulebooks.

3. A character is fighting with his greatsword. His foe presses in close and his fullplate is warding off the character's blows so the character grabs the ricasso with one hand and thrusts with the sword like a spear. Now, in order to describe basic combat with a greatsword, all of a sudden, the character has to spend a move action.

It seems to me that not allowing the let go and/or grab/regrab as a free action (or even not an action as in the case of the spear wielder with Combat Reflexes) is more problematic than allowing it.

Allowing such "let go and regrab" things is generally a bad idea... but well.

 

[Misirlou]

I think it makes a lot more sense to allow players some freedom in moving things around.

Example: I'm currently playing an elf wizard who used a longbow while he's not casting. He also keeps a buckler strapped to his arm. On any round while I cast, I assume I can just hold the bow in my shield arm and cast with my free hand. I think making me use actions to move things around would get entirely silly.

If a wizard is holding something in two hands, he doesn't have to fully put it away to free up a hand for casting. He just has to let go for a few seconds.

Also, isn't there a rule which says a character with +1 BAB or more can draw or sheath a weapon as part of a move-quivalent action.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Also, isn't there a rule which says a character with +1 BAB or more can draw or sheath a weapon as part of a move-quivalent action.

There is one, but its buried:

If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you may draw a weapon as a free action combined with a regular move. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take you to draw one.

In defense of my arguement, the SRD states

Drawing a weapon so that you can use it in combat, or putting it away so that you have a free hand, requires a move action. This action also applies to weapon-like objects carried in easy reach, such as wands.

It would take, IMO, about as much time to flip a spear off my shoulder and ready it in both hands and it would to snatch a wand off my belt (assuming that I have it in an easily accessible location). A well trained and practiced sword weilder can whip a blade from a sheath in about the same time as a spearman can flip it off his shoulder and ready it to fight. If you don't believe me, watch some footage of samurai. Or, switch my example for a dagger in an arm sheath. Drawing a weapon is a move equivalent action. I would extend this to reading a weapon that is not in a position to weild effectivly. Since the rules don't cover it specifically, that's the closest thing, IMO, that would.
My group has played with these restictions, and it doesn't seriously hamper play. As far as cinematics go, D20 doesn't include much in the way of cinema in the rules, that's up to the DM's. Flavor as you want.

That said, Hyp brings a good point from the FAQ. I probably won't change, but you could go either way. YMMV.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A well trained and practiced sword weilder can whip a blade from a sheath in about the same time as a spearman can flip it off his shoulder and ready it to fight. If you don't believe me, watch some footage of samurai.

Yup. A well-trained and practised sword wielder with the Quick Draw feat can whip a blade from a sheath as a free action - the same time it takes the spearman to flip it off his shoulder

-Hyp.