WalterKovacs
First Post
If one permits implements to grant passive benefits (like +1 to defenses) when held but unusable one must logically grant it to weapons as well to avoid penalizing weapon-focused characters.
DC
There are a vast number of examples where weapon-focused characters are granted benefits that are not granted to implement users. Many are simply built into the system (i.e. feats, enchantments, etc) but it has rarely been a situation where both sides were treated equally. There are the energy enchantments on weapons (which can turn all damage to a damage type ... there is one implement that can convert one of two energy types into the other type only), the weapon focus feats (compared to the limited, and stat requirement based, energy focus feats). Even some of the damage type feats (like cold resistance granting combat advantage) are actually more useful for a weapon wielder with an item that makes all their attacks cold (which they can turn off if they run into someone with resistance/immunity to cold) than it is for a caster that specializes in attacks with that energy type.
As for the issue of holding 4 wands ... while logically possible, it isn't something that is allowed by the rules. The light sheild situation is a specific case because the rules allow something to be held while the shield is "in" that hand. Otherwise, each hand can hold one item. (the holy symbol thing, lacking an actual slot, was dealt with ahead of time as if you have more than one, none of them work ... I would expect Ki foci to work similarly once they come out and start having actual enchantments above the basic Magic Ki Focus they have now.