Q: lance unmounted and spellcasting

[Wizards Ghost]

Hi,
the lance is a very Special Thing.

PHB says: 'Also, a lance requires two hands to wield when you aren’t mounted'

That makes some ppl think that unlike 2-handed weapons, which explicitely only need '2 Hands to attack' , you cant use spellcasting whilest having a lance and your not mounted.

I disagree, because a 2 times heavier Pike or Heavy Crossbow doesnt suffer this penalty.

But: am i Right or wrong ?

[Zacchaeus]

I think wield in this case means attack; so you can carry it with one hand as you could any other two handed weapon. It only becomes a one handed weapon when you are mounted - and that's the special rule.

[LordEntrails]

If a table allows a player to wield a lance in one hand (not attack) and cast with the other hand, is that character going to be more powerful than other characters? Are they somehow going to be unbalanced? Is doing such going to inhibit the fun of anyone at the 'table'? That's all that would matter to me.

[Marquis_de_Taigeis]

if im remembering real life mounted combat, the use of a lance was able to function using one handed, normally due to special attachments on the horses saddle or riders armor that acted as a sling to control the back end of the lance