If a character with the Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style has no weapons drawn, can they use Two-Weapon Fighting to draw and throw 2 daggers?

Question

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (p. 42) adds the Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style option for fighters, whose description states (in part):

You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon.

The Two-Weapon Fighting rules state (Player's Handbook, p. 72):

When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand. [...]

If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.

If a fighter with this fighting style has no weapons drawn at the start of their turn, can they still take 2 daggers out and make thrown attacks with both daggers using the Two-Weapon Fighting rules?

Answer 1

No, the interaction of these two rules does not allow you to draw and attack with two daggers using TWF.

(See @Medix2's answer for how you might achieve the desired result anyway, though.)

The Two-Weapon Fighting rules (as you've quoted) require you to already have both weapons drawn (emphasis mine):

When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, [...]

The "holding in one hand" is a qualifier for both the first and the second weapon, meaning that at the start of this attack combo, you need to have both weapons in one hand each.

The Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style allows you to draw them as part of the Attack action, which means that when you make attack #1, you do not have weapon #2 in your hand.

This concludes in grammatical nitpickery, because Two-Weapon Fighting specifies that the conditions (both weapons in a hand each) have to be met when making the first attack. Since this (implicitly) excludes drawing them within the action, you cannot use Two-Weapon Fighting in this case.

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However, as a DM, I personally would absolutely let this slide. You are already taking a niche and likely non-optimal route, so why not?

Answer 2

Using your free object interaction, you can draw both weapons at once

During either your action or movement, you are allowed one free object interaction; this can include drawing a weapon. The "Other Activity on Your Turn" section of the rules states:

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.

And the "Interacting with Objects Around You" sidebar lists a number of examples, the first of which is drawing a weapon:

Here are a few examples of the sorts of thing you can do in tandem with your movement and action:

• draw or sheathe a sword
• [...]

Thus, when you're taking the Attack action and drawing a dagger using the benefit from the Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style, you can also draw a second dagger using your one free object interaction. Doing this results in you holding two daggers at once, and thus you would be able to use Two-Weapon Fighting.

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Perhaps worth noting is that this still works once you get the Extra Attack feature, though slightly differently. You would then have two options:

• Draw both daggers, throw one, throw the second using Two-Weapon Fighting, draw a third using Thrown Weapon Fighting again, then finally throw it.
• Draw both daggers, throw one, draw a third using Thrown Weapon Fighting, throw that third dagger, and then throw your second dagger using Two-Weapon Fighting.

Either of these methods would work.