I think it's because one-handed skill automatically implies one-handed-with-shield in all CRPGs up to this time--literally. I can't think of a previous game that has separated them out, and I've been playing CRPGs since the early 1980s.
I thought that Baldur's Gate had a "sword and shield style" of fighting--or something similar....some classes could learn to wield a weapon in *both* hands (Minsc had that ability I believe, while the Druidess had the sword-plus-shield skill).... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
