Can You Cheat an Item During Combat?

[Thomas]

I think everyone should be clear and in agreement on this point.

"You can't switch Items during combat. ..." See Important Note #2: Playing/Using/Switching Items During Combat in the Munchkin FAQ

What is not so clear is whether turning an item sideways is something that shouldn't be done during combat. Here is another point in the same FAQ.

Q. I'm not a Gadgeteer. What are my limitations on Complex Items?
A. You can carry as many as you can play, but you can only use one at a time. The others should be turned sideways, like any other item that you can't use (for instance, something for a Race other than your current one). This is different from Big items in every other set, where you can only carry one Big item.

This would indicate that "something for a Race other than your current one" should be sideways on the table. The rule (p. 5) indicating that at item should be turned sideways includes two kinds of reasons.

1. "items that can't help you", and
2. "extras not being worn"

Kirt seems to be referring to the second reason only, i.e. items that have been unwielded, leading to the idea that one shouldn't turn "something for a Race other than your current one" sideways during combat. I may be wrong about this, but I haven't seen anything in the rules or the FAQ that says this or that equates turning sideways only with unwielding, not also for "items that can't help you", i.e. to clearly mark what should NOT be included in your combat totals.

But this does bring up a fair point about an ambiguity that I'd started to wonder about even before reading Kirt's reply. Since there are two reasons for turning a card sideways, not just one, it seems there is no game mechanic for distinguishing between them.

For example, there seems to be no standard official way to distinguish between a sword in your hand that you get no bonus for and one stowed in your pack (since Munchkin doesn't have a "pack" in the way that Munchkin Quest does -- it is one of the differences that is sometimes missed).

Kirt's convention of restricting sideways cards to stowed/unwielded items does not seem unreasonable, but I have the impression that is a house rule.

My original question to Erik is essentially unchanged, i.e. do you agree that one can Cheat! an item into usefulness during combat (or were you indicating otherwise)? I suppose now a clarification would be about how one distinguishes this from equipping an item that was not worn or in hand?