It's been awhile since I last played this game. I decided a pure mage this time. I can't remember if yoi csn euip the Black Sword and a spellbook at the same time. I remember that once you find the sword you can't unequip it, and that it's 2handed. Can you use both?

Care to indicate which of the 11 games you are referring to?

Probably Ultima 7. True, you can't equip anything in the off hand when wielding a two-handed weapon. But why should you equip the spellbook in the first place? You can cast spells from the spellbook even if it's in your backpack.

Because in U7 & SI, if you equip the spellbook as a weapon with the bookmark set to a combat spell, it defaults to casting the selected spell as a 'weapon' in combat so long as mana and reagents hold out.

It's been a while. but I don't think it's necessary to equip the Black Sword for combat in U7, even though you can't get rid of it from inventory. Hopefully I'm not misremembering that, but there are places where a different weapon is advisable, such as against a stone harpy or inside one of the generators, where a glass sword is a better/faster choice.

Thanks for the replies.