V9: Wielded

This page is part of the Official Amtgard V9 Alpha-Playtest Rulebook.

• The Amtwiki is the official home and primary source for Amtgard V9 Rules as of February 25, 2023.
• These rules are currently in Open Alpha Playtest. See the Playtest Disclaimer for more details.
• To learn more about Amtgard V9 Development, please visit Amtgard.com.
• To view the current Amtgard V8 ruleset, please see the Amtgard V8 Rulebook.

---

Wielded

Equipment is considered Wielded when it is being held in a manner appropriate for its use in the game of Amtgard.

1. Equipment must be wielded in order to attack, defend, or otherwise be used for its intended purpose. Certain game types, classes, and special rules will limit the equipment a player is allowed to wield.
   • If something cannot be wielded, it can still be held or carried, but cannot be used to perform any function and should not be presented in a way that would suggest it is wielded.
2. Players can only wield one piece of equipment per hand. Shields are an exception (see below).
3. Players may only ever wield a single Shield at a time, however shields can be wielded simultaneously in the same hand as any another piece of equipment except Bows and Crossbows.
   • Medium, Large, and Tower Shields must be held by their handle to be wielded.
   • Bucklers and Small Shields must be either worn on the arm or held by their handle to be wielded.
   • Shields cannot be wielded while worn like a backpack or strapped to other parts of the body such as the torso, legs, hip, or head.
4. Bows and Crossbows cannot be wielded with any other equipment in the same hand (besides arrows). Likewise, other equipment cannot be wielded while in the same hand as a bow or crossbow. A buckler or small shield may still be wielded on the arm so long as there is no risk of it interfering with the safe use of the bow.
   • For gameplay purposes, reloading a crossbow does not count as wielding it.
5. Thrown projectiles are only considered wielded during the throwing motion. They are considered unwielded equipment at all other times.
6. Players may hold Unwielded equipment in the same hand as wielded equipment in situations where it is blatantly and visually obvious which piece of equipment is in use and which one is not. If a player ever visually appears to have more equipment wielded than they are allowed, all the equipment in question is considered unwielded.
   • Bows and Crossbows are the only exception to this rule (see above).
     
   Example 1: A player may wield a polearm two-handed while also holding an unwielded flail in one of their supporting hands. The pole can be used as long as the flail is obviously not in action. In order to use the flail the player would need to release the polearm from the flail hand.
   Example 2: If a player holds two short swords in the same hand then both would be considered unwielded because it would be too ambiguous which one the wielder is intending to use and which one is just being held, regardless of their orientation.