Im curious, when it comes to equipment, how it works when you have a sword/shield/bow or such "equipped" and yet not actively held or used, and summon a bound weapon instead?

More succinctly, can I have a good sword or shield equipped for bonuses whilst my hands are busy either casting spells, or holding bound weapons?

I think I'd like my first character to fight largely with bound weapons only, but I'm curious if I'll have to forfeit two equipment slots worth of bonuses to have this playstyle, or whether you can have a sword equipped on your belt giving you such things even as you fight with a bound sword?

For some ridiculous reason, you can't cast while having a weapon in your hands.

I'd wager summoning a bound weapon will replace your existing mainhand and place it in your bags until the spell expires, like Oblivion.

You can only have one item equipped in each hand at a time. When your equipped item is held you can use it in combat such as holding a sword in your hand. When the equipped item is not held you would still get any constant effect bonuses, but it is mainly for a more natural look when talking with townsfolk. To directly answer your question you cannot have a sword and spell equipped in the same hand at the same time, it is one or the other.

Being able to use Shouts makes up for that. It'd be pretty ridiculous to dual wield weapons, cast magic and use Shouts all at once.

If it's poorly balanced, sure.

I wonder if you can summon a one handed while carrying a shield or another one handed, since dual wielding is now in the game...

You can't balance all of that at once. That's why it's balanced now.

Says who? You?

Funny because pretty much every RPG since the dawn of time has had casters wielding weaponry.

I suppose they all can't be balanced, right?

And those systems had a 3rd piece such as Shouts? Or just weapons and magic. We can have a 1 handed weapon, spell, and Shout. That's pretty sweet.

I probably poorly worded my question. I know you can only have one thing in each hand.

Im asking if having an item equipped whilst its not being held will still give you any passive magical bonuses that this item usually confers.

Ie, if my shield gives +20 magic resistance, do I still get that if its not currently in my hand?

I'd much rather have Skyrim's way of handling magic. Before, since you COULD use spells while holding a sword, magic felt like something you kinda just have on the side to complement your blade or blunt weapon. Now it finally feels like its own force to be recon with, taking the center stage it needs to make an impression on the player.

this, the new system makes using magic a choice, and not just Icing on top of your arsenal, it helps to define magic, melee, and range as 3 separate things.

OP, im pretty sure bound weapons will send your currently equipped weapons/ shield into your inventory whether its sheathed or not. spells are "equipped" like weapons now, so you cant have sword+ shield+ spells anymore. youll get any bonus as long as its considered equipped in whatever hand you have it in, and sheathed weapons are still considered equipped.