A situation came up in our last session of D&D 5e where another character wanted to use a single-handed weapon after using a two handed weapon attack.
She made the attack with a two handed weapon on one turn and wanted to draw her single handed weapon and attack with that on the next turn. She didn't want to drop the two handed weapon, but wanted to hold it in her off hand and attack with the single handed weapon in her main hand.
The Storyteller (which is what my group calls the DM) said she had to drop the two-handed weapon.
We argued that she wasn't attacking with it and just keeping it in her off hand as a carry item and the Storyteller wanted us to find a ruling on that specific use, as he was of the understanding that a two-handed weapon required two hands at all times.
Where can we find such rulings? Is there one?
Best Answer
Yes, she can hold a two-handed weapon in one hand while she attacks with the one-handed weapon
The two-handed feature for weapons says:
However there is errata to the PHB which says:
Thus, a two-handed weapon takes two hands only to use, but not to hold.
There are two equally valid sequences of actions they can use to achieve this:
Attack with two-handed weapon (1 action)
Next turn:
Release one hand from two-handed weapon (non-action)
Alternatively:
Draw one-handed weapon (free object interaction)
Next turn:
Attack with one-handed weapon (1 action)
Either way this sequence is completely allowed by the rules.
Side Note: There is no such thing as "main" or "off" hands in 5e mechanically (in case you were unaware). So it doesn't matter which hand holds the weapon and which hand attacks.