When Holding A Two-handed Weapon

[S'mon]

As has been said, you can hold, but not wield, a 2hw in one hand. You can put the other hand on or off the 2hw as a free action.

FWIW, IRL 2hw are mostly not that heavy and can easily be held 1-handed.

 

[Bagpuss]

Most of the time there isn't a problem with switching one hand off (free action), doing something with the free hand and then put it back on again later (free action).

The problem comes if you need the free hand when it isn't your turn (which rarely happens but sometimes does). Since you aren't wielding the two handed weapon you can't make OA with that weapon, you can still punch them with your free hand however, or even count the two-handed weapon as an improvised one-handed weapon.

 

[sigfile]

Never mind. Skimming and posting is never a good idea.

 

[S'mon]

Most of the time there isn't a problem with switching one hand off (free action), doing something with the free hand and then put it back on again later (free action).

The problem comes if you need the free hand when it isn't your turn (which rarely happens but sometimes does). Since you aren't wielding the two handed weapon you can't make OA with that weapon, you can still punch them with your free hand however, or even count the two-handed weapon as an improvised one-handed weapon.

As the off-hand is free, and free actions can be done at any time, it can go back to wielding the 2hw at any time, so this should pretty much never happen. Even if it's holding something you could drop that as a free action, wield the 2hw as a free action, and make your opportunity attack, interrupt etc.