Wizard casting requires one free hand
Reddbane
Member Posts: 222
This is true of later editions, and something I've imposed on myself while playing Baldur's Gate. Most D&D spells require some somatic component (usually hand gestures), thus a caster needs one hand to be able to cast at will, thus Fighter-Wizards don't use shields, wield a weapon in their off-hand, or use a two-handed weapon that can't be quickly and easily planted in and removed from the ground like a staff, spear, or polearm. The change would go some way to making various the Fighter-Wizards combos less OP, and would finally give the player a reason to invest in the Single Weapon style (for defense) or the underused staff and polearm weapon groups (for Offense).
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It is also a single player game, so this restriction is trivial to implement by yourself. Just do not dualwield with your charname. But note that it would be a massive nerf to Haer'dalis.
Ideally, if the game was more realistic you would only be able to change weapons in your quick menu during combat, and not pause the game and rummage around in your backpack and bag of holding for every errant sword you ever picked up. This would also make picking your quick weapons more meaningful, sort of like the wizard choosing his spell loadout at the beginning of the day based on what he was expecting. As it is the warrior can fill his quickbar without a thought or care, because as soon as he sees a siren or a troll or a vampire, he can pause, open his inventory, open his bag of holding, and equip Lilalacor or Flame Tongue or Daystar; at the very least give the character some reasonable time penalty to preform the action, like in the original Fallout. You can't change armor in combat for the same reason. (And as a counterpoint to your original point, you can currently cast a bunch of buff spells, summons, and traps, then put on Full Plate before each encounter, but people tend not to do that because it's made "cumbersome by the UI" and requires cheesy, dull micromanagement, and thus why people use bracers, elven mail, or robes instead.)
As to your second point, in lore Bards don't cast spells like wizards; their spells don't have somatic (or material) components, and thus do not require a free hand, which does give them one unique combat advantage vs Fighter/Wizards.