If you find yourself with insufficient time to do everything you want in battle, the Quick Draw feat is truly sweet. Nothing is more annoying than losing a full attack because you have to pull out a weapon. But it can be equally annoying to take the time to pull out a scroll, potion, or wand. Can you Quick Draw small objects that are not weapons?
Let's take a look at some rules. From the Player's Handbook:
Draw or Sheathe a Weapon
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 weaponlike objects carried in easy reach, such as wands. If your weapon or weaponlike object is stored in a pack or otherwise out of easy reach, treat this action as retrieving a stored item.
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.
Drawing ammunition for use with a ranged weapon -- such as arrows, bolts, sling bullets, or shuriken -- is a free action.
The rules here are pretty clear. Drawing or sheathing a weapon or weapon-like item is a move action. But you can draw a weapon as a free action in combination with a move. Can you draw a weapon-like item as part of a move? It doesn't say. Can you sheathe a weapon or weapon-like object as part of a move? It does not say. Seems to me, rules purist as I am, that if the rules do not say you can do a thing, then you cannot! So no, you cannot draw a weapon-like object for free as part of a move. And no, you cannot sheathe a weapon for free as part of a move, either.
Now let's look at Quick Draw:
Quick Draw [General]
You can draw weapons with startling speed.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1
Benefit: You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon as a move action. A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).
Normal: Without this feat, you may draw a weapon as a move action, or (if your BAB is +1 or higher) as a free action as part of movement. Without this feat, you can draw a hidden weapon as a standard action.
The rules are clear here too. Quick Draw lets you draw a weapon as a free action. It does not let you sheathe as a free action, nor does it let you draw a weapon-like item as a free action.
On my favorite online play-by-post D&D site, The Wold, a house rule explicitly says "Wands may indeed be stored and used from a quiver of Ehlonna. Scrolls cannot be stored and used from the quiver. Neither scrolls nor potions may be used with a Quick Draw feat."
Now, it may seem absurd that Quick Draw might let you draw a glaive, lance, or two-handed sword as a free action, but not a wand. It lets you draw a mace, but not a rod. It lets you draw and throw multiple tridents in a round, but not a scroll. For those seeking solace from absurdity, the latest version of the D&D FAQ has some comforting words from the Sage.
Does Quick Draw (Player’s Handbook, page 98) allow you to sheathe a weapon as a free action?
No. Quick Draw clearly states that it allows you to “draw a weapon as a free action.” Nowhere does it suggest anything about sheathing a weapon more quickly than normal (a move action).
You may be confusing Quick Draw with the ability of any character with a base attack bonus of +1 or better to draw or sheathe a weapon as a free action as part of movement (Player’s Handbook, page 142). While these functions are similar and overlap to some extent, they are different.
What?!? The Sage says the PHB lets you sheathe a weapon as a free action with a move? Look, I've read page 142 of the PHB, and let me tell you, it says nothing of the sort! Go read it yourself!You can't sheathe a weapon as part of a move! Having made that blunder, the Sage continues:
Can a character with Quick Draw and a base attack and a ranged attack with another weapon in the same round? What if the melee weapon requires two hands to wield?
Yes. There’s nothing inherent in the full attack action that requires all the attacks to be made as the same kind of attack or with the same kind of weapon.
A character with a base attack bonus of +6 or better holding a longsword, for example, could make a melee attack with the longsword (using his full base attack bonus), drop the longsword (a free action), use Quick Draw to draw a dagger (another free action), then throw the dagger (using his base attack bonus –5). If the character had both hands free (for instance, if he didn’t carry a light or heavy shield in his off hand), he could even use Quick Draw to draw a bow (free action), draw and nock an arrow (free action) and then shoot the bow (using his base attack bonus –5).
This situation is actually improved if the melee weapon is a two-handed weapon. A character can hold a two-handed weapon in one hand; he just can’t attack with it while it’s held like that. Thus, he wouldn’t even have to drop the weapon in order to draw and throw the dagger. If Krusk the 6th-level barbarian had Quick Draw, he could swing his greataxe (using his full base attack bonus), then leave the axe in his off-hand while drawing a javelin with his primary hand (free action), and finally throw the javelin (using his base attack bonus –5). If Krusk were drawing a ranged weapon that required two hands to use (such as a bow), he’d have to drop his greataxe.
This is all good; the Sage knows what he is talking about. But then he continues with this:
Does drawing a wand from a wand sheath provoke attacks of opportunity or can I draw it as if it were a weapon? If I have Quick Draw, can I draw a wand as a free action?
As described on page 142 of the Player’s Handbook, the “draw a weapon” action also applies to weaponlike objects carried in easy reach, such as wands. (The Sage would suggest that magic rods and staffs also fall into this category.) Thus, drawing a wand doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, and a character with Quick Draw could draw one as a free action. Wands and rods (but not staffs) also fall into the category of “light or one-handed weapons” for the purpose of drawing them in conjunction with the Two-Weapon Fighting feat (see page 142 of the Player’s Handbook).
Huh! In my not-so-humble opinion, the Sage is extrapolating here. The rules do NOT say that you can Quick Draw a wand. I think that his saying so is an interpretation and extension of the rules. The rules (see above) do say that you can draw a weapon-like object as part of a move action ... but to thereafter treat weapon-like objects as weapons in all cases of drawing and sheathing is a bit of a stretch.
Don't get me wrong. It is not an unreasonable stretch. As a house rule, I think it would be fine. But its not in the PHB.
So what to do? Here is my personal opinion.
- Use Quick Draw to freely draw weapons -- anything that could be used to make an attack. That includes the usual subjects (from long swords to bolas) but also includes splash weapons (acid, tanglefoot bags), magic staves (since they can be used as quarterstaves or cudgels), and rods (can be used as light maces or clubs).
- Also use Quick Draw to freely draw wands -- because it offends me too much to include staves and rods but not wands. To argue for wands, note that wands can even be used while grappling or swallowed whole!
- Draw weapons and ANY small object stored in a belt pouch, bandolier, or pocket as a free action when moving. That includes scrolls, potions, and items affected by the Shrink Item spell.
- Sheathing always takes a move action.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
