Do weapon properties come in effect when using an extraordinary attribute?

[Sir.Leonard]

Hi guys, I have been lurking here for some time and I find OPL very interesting and I and my friends have played a couple of games, but I still don’t quite understand how do weapon properties like swift come in effect when using an extraordinary attribute to attack or cast a boon or a bane?

So for example, if fire mage casts his spells without anything in his hands and on the first round of combat he decides to use an energy bane that doesn’t have anything to do with unarmed. Does he technically have “unarmed” equipped or if he is casting with a staff does he have a staff equipped and benefits from the weapon properties like swift for the purposes of determining initiative and opportunity attacks or is he technically holding nothing and get none of the benefits from the properties of the weapon? And if so does that mean that if you want to use the properties of the weapon do you have to choose to use it on your first turn ahead of time?

Short version:

1. Does a weapon count as equipped even if you don’t use it and use an attribute instead?
2. Is unarmed always equipped if your hands or some other appendages are free?

[VanGo]

1. It does count as equipped but there are a few caveats here for swift: “If you are wielding this weapon at the beginning of combat, you gain advantage 2 on your initiative roll. If you are not wielding the weapon but plan to use it on your first turn, you still get this bonus.” I think this should be quite clear, if not let me know, I can go over it more in detail.

2. No, unarmed strikes need to be “equipped” like any other weapon. Obviously its a different image than for other weapons, but most people would describe it as “getting into a fighting stance” or “getting ready to strike”. If you aren’t ready to throw a punch than the punches often won’t land that well or hit that hard. So, if you aren’t in a fighting stance, you also can’t do Attacks of Opportunity.

Unarmed Strikes are admittedly a bit wonky, which is why many people house rule them in some form.

[Sir.Leonard]

Thanks for the explanation! Looks like I missed that part of the explanation for swift, sorry ^^’

Though what happens if for example the enemy moves too far away and the player just can’t use the weapon with “swift” property on anyone? I guess the answer is different based on a GM

And one more thing to clear up, so if a wizard is walking through a dangerous forest and he is keeping his guard up, ready for a fight, he would count as having unarmed “equipped” and would benefit from the “swift” property even if he is planing to use a let’s say a “blinded” bane on his first turn and even if he is surprised?

[VanGo]

Indeed, that’s up to the GM.

In your forest scenario, I think it would be reasonable for the wizard to be viewed as “equiped” with their unarmed strikes, as they are ready for combat.

[Sir.Leonard]

Alright, thank you for the answer, it really helped to clear things up!