Free attack

Free attacks or extra attacks are the attacks that can be made in addition to those granted by a character's base attack bonus and dual-wielding. (So a case such as whirlwind attack, where attacks are made instead of regular attacks does not fall into this classification.) They are usually made with the main hand weapon, and are often not reported on the character sheet. In most cases, sources of free attacks describe them as "at full base attack", but this is only accurate when there is a single free attack in a given round.

For the most part, free attacks form their own progression, starting at full base attack and proceeding at -5 (even for those qualifying for UBAB), and they occur between the regular main-hand attacks and the off-hand attacks. However, there are times when a free attack is inserted in the middle of the main- or off-hand attack sequences. If this happens, the attack progressions can appear rather strange, sometimes to the benefit of the attacker, sometimes to the detriment thereof (compared to what would take place if the free attack was inserted between main- and off-hand attacks). However, the end result is always better than the case without the free attack. (More details are provided in the "attacks per round" article.)