Throwing Weapons in Your Off-Hand

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

The rules are a bit jumbled in my head, so I apologize if the answer is right in front of my face and I don't see it: but can you throw a javelin in your off-hand while holding another weapon in the other? No right? The other weapon has to have the off hand property, correct? Can you throw a weapon with the off-hand property if you are wielding a two-handed weapon?

 

[Oompa]

By the head;

- You can hold two weapons, one in each hand..
- You can attack with both those weapons, but only one at a time.
- If one of the two weapons has the off hand property you can use it in powers that require two weapons.
- You cannot hold a two handed weapon and another weapon.

Top of my head, not sure, maybe someone can confirm with the books?

 

[Benlo]

I *think* it's okay, but javelins are a hard example. If this was, say, a dagger or handaxe, the answer would be more obvious.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

No. Not while wielding a 2-handed weapon.

 

[Benlo]

No. Not while wielding a 2-handed weapon.

Well yeah, you can't do that.

I was more responding to the first part. Say they had a longsword and a javelin, could they chuck the javelin?

 

[Aulirophile]

No. You can only hold two weapons if one has the off-hand property (unless you are a Two Weapon Fighting Ranger or similar). You could however throw a Handaxe, Dagger, Throwing Hammer, etc., while wielding a long sword as they all have the off-hand property. You could also start the round holding the Javelin, throw it, and then draw your "real" weapon as a minor.

You can actually pull this off RAW really easily with an off-hand weapon while wielding a versatile weapon that you prefer to use 2hed. Releasing/grasping it with the extra hand is a free action. So you can let go (free) draw hand axe (minor), throw hand axe (standard), resume grip (free). Not sure if that works with standard 2hers (I don't think it does... or there'd be a silly way to get around the charge-with-reach weapon restrictions).

 

[Mort_Q]

If you are wielding a two-handed weapon (versatile or not), and want to pull out a javelin and throw it, you don't need to drop the two-handed weapon, just switch your grip.... but.... at that point you are holding the two-handed weapon in one hand. If you want to wield the two-handed weapon you'll have to drop the javelin.

The off-hand property only pertains to attack powers and class features that ask for that keyword.

Any PC, not just a Ranger, can hold a long sword in each hand, and as long as they only attack with one, or the other, they suffer no penalty (they don't get the proficiency bonus if they are not proficient, blah blah bald). They just can't use powers that allow you to attack with both weapons, as they all (iirc) require that one of the weapons be off-hand.

The crux is the word wield, which implies you are using it to attack. Carrying and/or holding, are not wielding.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

This tastes like cheese...

I would say if you do it, you need a minor action to "draw" it again

 

[Mort_Q]

This tastes like cheese...

I would say if you do it, you need a minor action to "draw" it again

What tastes like cheese? Be specific.

You need a minor to "draw" the javelin, no doubt.

Do you make PCs use a minor action to switch between a one-handed grip to a two-handed grip with a versatile weapon?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

no.

but from wield modus to just hold in hand modus. Having a javelin in the off hand all the time while not wielding them, just to change when you throw it an then wield your sword again seems cheesy. It would make throwing axes and hammers look quite bad compared to javelins...