As you were saying having a check box under gear for each item that indicate if the item is dropped and then a selection in the "In Play Tab" that would drop all the items checked. This would allow the player when in combat to drop the items and then when combat is over to effectively pick the items back up. I like the idea of not having to go to muliple menus to apply in play modifiers, I am just lazy like that, but I will take what ever I get.
Thanks,
Scott