Does Drawing A Weapon Provoke An Attack Of Opportunity

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Drawing weapons within opportunity attacks

#1 Nov 20, 2019

Was running a game the other day where our wizard wanted to use her reaction to opportunity attack against a mimic. However, I ruled that she had not drawn the venomous dagger that was on her character, and as such could only use an unarmed strike (which wouldn't have done any damage due to her low Strength) for her opportunity attack. I felt uneasy about the ruling, as the player was quite upset about it. We looked up the rules, and they were somewhat vague about the topic. I stuck with my initial ruling in the end, however, would like any insights on how anyone else would rule such a situation.

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Kieran McMillan
#2 Nov 20, 2019

Technically, you're right, but it's not very fun. Instead of making it a rule that you can draw a weapon during an opportunity attack I would have just let them retroactively use their free item interaction from the last turn to have drawn their weapon.

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#3 Nov 20, 2019

Thank you, that's a good idea!

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Kieran McMillan
#4 Nov 20, 2019

The way I look at it is, if you don't have a weapon in hand then you can't take advantage of the opportunity.

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#5 Nov 20, 2019

100% correct: a weaponcannot be drawn as part of an opportunity attack, despite the fact that a weaponcan be drawn as part of an attack roll (even on a reaction). Let me explain:

A weapon can be drawn as part of an attack (not the Attack action) once per turn. This can also be done on a reaction through abilities that allow another player to make an attack as a reaction (like Commander's Strike), so long as the ability doesn't specify the attack be made with acurrently held weapon.

Opportunity Attacks, specifically, do not allow this. An Opportunity Attack is only provoked when a creature leaves your reach. Reach is defined by specific weapons and Unarmed Strike. While your Unarmed Strike is always considered active, the reach of a weapon is only applicable when the weapon is being actively wielded. Thus, a weapon which is not currently in hand is not eligible for use with Opportunity Attacks.

Opportunity Attacks being triggered by one weapon's reach does not allow a creature to draw and attack with a different weapon. Similarly, an OA triggered by one wielded weapon's reach does not allow the creature to attack with a different wielded weapon. That would be circular reasoning otherwise.

I.e., a creature provoked an Opportunity Attack from your Wizard's Unarmed Strike (5 ft). The Wizard can make an Unarmed Strike as a reaction (if they choose). They cannot draw another weapon to make that attack. To allow otherwise, or to allow retroactive drawing of a weapon, defeats the entire concept of an Opportunity Attack. You made the right call with your player.

Last edited by Sigred: Nov 20, 2019

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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
#6 Nov 20, 2019

Sigred is absolutely correct...

But honestly, don't do that. DnD is meant to be fun, and not letting your players attack is definitely not fun. They could have drawn their dagger for free during their last turn, or at the beginning of combat (unless they were surprised), so just let your player use her weapon.

Unless your players are hardcore DnD nerds, they're not going to constantly remember to name every single action they are taking. As a DM, unless they're surprised, assume your players draw their weapons when combat starts.

The only time I would actually enforce the rule is during the first round of combat if the PC's were surprised.

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#7 Nov 20, 2019

Opportunity Attacks occur when a creature leaves "your" reach, not "your weapon's reach." I'm not sure I disagree with your end result, or that it's desiresble to be able to draw weapons as part of an AoO, but I'm not sure that the text supports the bright line rule you've drawn in the WAY you've drawn it.

Use an Object

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack.

"An attack" is not the same thing as the Attack Action, and includes Opportunity Attacks. However, I think that maybe one could take the position that Use an Object" rules only apply to attacks made during YOUR TURN, which an Opportunity Attack is not?

Opportunity Attacks

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.

Nothing in there says "with a weapon you are currently wielding." Again, I think if there's a reason to stop them drawing a weapon, it isn't a function of Opportunity Attack being limited to wielded weapons, it's a function of there being no rule providing for Using an Object off-turn.

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#8 Nov 20, 2019

It doesn't need to say "with a weapon you are currently wielding" because it would be obviously redundant. "Your reach" is explicitly tied to the specific weapon/unarmed strike applicable in the moment. You don't threaten any squares with a Dagger still in a sheathe. 🤦‍♂️

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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
#9 Nov 20, 2019

Reach is a characteristic of creatures, not items. This is confused a little by the weapon property Reach (they should have called it "long" or something), but still.

"Reach. This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it."

"Your reach". Reach weapons add to "your reach", but "your reach" is otherwise 5 feet whether you're wielding a dagger, a longbow, or nothing at all (unless modified by another feature like the bugbear).

Your reach is not "explicitly" tied to a weapon, but to your size and features (pretty tough to find an "explicit" but unwritten connection imho). medium creatures can make an attack of Opportunity against creatures leaving their 5 foot reach, unless a weapon property, racial feature, or other specific exception changes that. The only limitation on what you can use for that attack is that the free Use an Object is only available on your own turn.

Melee Attacks

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

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#10 Nov 20, 2019

I'm not getting into this with you. We all know what's going on here.

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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
#11 Nov 20, 2019

Have the wizard pick up war caster at the next opportunity, so she can just blast them with a spell instead. :)

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#12 Nov 20, 2019

You get a free action to draw or stow a weapon/item per turn. If you didn't have it in your hand then you can't use it for an op attack, per the rules. I would allow it if the dagger is normally worn on the belt by the character and allow the attack at disadvantage. The character could have the dagger wielded and still cast so in the future they could do that, but I wouldn't get too wrapped up in RAW and allow it with the disadvantage.

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#13 Nov 20, 2019

Or, y'know, just allow it.

This is the rules thread, and RAW it very much seems like it is not allowed.

But in a case like this whoreally cares what the RAW is? Don't be a stickler for boring minutia.

RAF should trump everything, and not being allowed to attack (or other things) because you didn't specify that you're drawing your weapon on your turn/at the start of combat is not fun.

I mentioned this in a post not long ago - one revolving around the never-ending components debate - and essentially what I said was this:

I have a ranger/fighter player in my game. He uses a Flail and a Shield. He has the Absorb Elements spell, and really likes using it. The spell has S component requirements, so technically he would need to put away either his weapon or his shield in order to use his Reaction to cast Absorb Elements.

If he's hit by an attack, spell, or ability that would allow him to use it, am I going to say "sorry, you didn't say you sheath your weapon on your turn, so you can't cast it?"Heck no. That wouldn't be fun for anyone, and would very much kill his mood (as it sounds like disallowing your wizard to use her dagger killed her mood.) He could very easily sheath his weapon on his turn for free, cast the spell as a reaction, and then draw his weapon again next turn. I'm not going to force him to specify this, and not allow him to use the spell if he doesn't. Conversely, if he instead gets a chance to make an Opp Attack, I'm also not going to say "you probably sheathed your flail in case you want to cast Absorb Elements, so you can't attack with it," because that's also not fun (and also kinda ridiculous.)

Allowing little things like this is not going to break your game. If it's generally possible to do - which it is in pretty well all situations save for them being surprised or having done another object interaction on their turn - just allow it. You'll have more fun, your players will have more fun, and the experience will be better for everyone.

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#14 Nov 20, 2019
Reach is a characteristic of creatures, not items. This is confused a little by the weapon property Reach (they should have called it "long" or something), but still.

"Reach. This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it."

"Your reach". Reach weapons add to "your reach", but "your reach" is otherwise 5 feet whether you're wielding a dagger, a longbow, or nothing at all (unless modified by another feature like the bugbear).

Your reach is not "explicitly" tied to a weapon, but to your size and features (pretty tough to find an "explicit" but unwritten connection imho). medium creatures can make an attack of Opportunity against creatures leaving their 5 foot reach, unless a weapon property, racial feature, or other specific exception changes that. The only limitation on what you can use for that attack is that the free Use an Object is only available on your own turn.

Melee Attacks

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

I have to disagree because of 1 scenario:

Say a wizard has a whip and a dagger. A whip has 'reach', which adds 5 feet to 'your reach'. Now note, without that reach weapon, the character does not have a 10 foot reach, so trying to decouple the extra reach from the weapon is just not logical.

That being said, in the scenario the wizard never stated what weapon she is wielding and an enemy crosses 10 feet in front of her. She declares, "I draw my whip and make an opportunity attack."

Now, the whip does crap damage. The dagger is magical and does a boatload of damage. The DM knows full well if the enemy crossed 5 feet in front of the wizard, she would have declared "I draw my dagger and make an opportunity attack."

IMO, that's bull crap.

I agree with the OP, the answer is no. After it happens once, the player can declare a default weapon to always be wielding in any combat, to avoid such scenarios in the future. But until that understanding is reached, it's a firm NOPE.

~~I also believe wizards have to fetch spell components or hold a spell casting focus AND do somatic motions with an empty hand. Which means, with what hand are you wielding a dagger at all times?~~

Scratch that, the arcane focus can be in the same hand that performs the somatic component.

Last edited by Kerrec: Nov 20, 2019

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- DM - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
#15 Nov 20, 2019

To Kerrec's point.

session 0. I've never had a DM not ask the spellcasters to establish what their default "i reactively reach for a weapon" weapon is, and tell them if it changes to notify the dm.

the DMs typically allow the Opportunity attack. But it's probably because they have already prior to actual delving into the campaign addressed this scenario.

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#16 Nov 20, 2019

Kerrec, a whip extends your reach "when you attack with it." There is no risk it could be used to justify dagger attacks from 10 feet away.

Furthermore (hold on to your butts for a VERY spicy take), since OAs are triggered before an attack is made (and before you have the opportunity to declare which weapon you will make that attack with), your reach for an OA will always be 5 feet regardless of weapon, because the Reach weapon property has not yet triggered. Pole arm Master is useful for allowing one to make an OA when a target enters 5 feet away, not 10 feet away as commonly misunderstood. :)

Weapon choice is truly not what drives OAs. For medium creatures, "reach" is pretty much always 5 feet except for DURING an attack; order of operations matters.

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#18 Nov 20, 2019

Reach. This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it.

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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
#19 Nov 20, 2019

Kerrec, a whip extends your reach "when you attack with it." There is no risk it could be used to justify dagger attacks from 10 feet away.

Furthermore (hold on to your butts for a VERY spicy take), since OAs are triggered before an attack is made (and before you have the opportunity to declare which weapon you will make that attack with), your reach for an OA will always be 5 feet regardless of weapon, because the Reach weapon property has not yet triggered. Pole arm Master is useful for allowing one to make an OA when a target enters 5 feet away, not 10 feet away as commonly misunderstood. :)

Weapon choice is truly not what drives OAs. For medium creatures, "reach" is pretty much always 5 feet except for DURING an attack; order of operations matters.

...What? Reach weapons add 5 feet to your reach when attacking with them, on normal attacks and opportunity attacks. That's literally what the Reach property says.

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#20 Nov 20, 2019

Haha lol I missed that part! What a relief, 5 foot OAs would suck :p

sorry, on a phone and hella sleep deprived

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#21 Nov 22, 2019

For some reason, it seems no one mentioned the other activity on your turn rule (which contains the commonly phrased "free item interaction" rule) which allows you to draw a weapon as part of the attack:

You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to attack.

This specifically requires it to be your turn. That is why you can't draw a weapon as part of a opportunity attack.

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