Just out of curiosity, how would you make a character that uses a shield for blocking and a fist for combat (so like what perks would you invest in, and what gloves would you use)?

And would it be viable?

I'm thinking you would go for blocking (duh!) and Light Armour (because we probably need to be more nimble in this case), but I don't know what else I would invest in.

It probably would be.

Heavy Armor, first perk and Fists of Steel.
Smithing
Block, almost all perks
Enchanting
Alchemy.

Hmmm...heavy armour does make more sense. But could you still go with light armor if you wanted to?

Sure. You move faster. I would invest in a lot of Health and Stamina.

Alchemy you wouldn't really need imo, but enchanting yes. Find a pair of gloves that gives extra unarmed damage, rip the enchantment from it and then start making your own. Put the enchantment on the gloves and a ring. Then throw some enchantments on an amulet for blocking.

You could go with light armor easily so long as you invest initially into heavy armor to get fists of steel perk. To use this perk though, you need heavy armor gauntlets/bracers. The rest you could invest into light armor, but the problem with this is that only 2 perks (technically 6) will actually be useful to you if using the Fists of Steel perk: Agile Defender (5 parts) and Unhindered. The rest all require to have all light armor on head, body, hands, and feet and won't work unless you use them so it would conflict with the Fists of Steel because you need heavy armor for that to work.

If you're worried about movement, allow yourself to get hit A LOT with heavy armor (invest in health). Once you get to 70, you can get the Conditioning perk which has the exact same benefits of Unhindered for Light Armor: makes that type of armor weigh nothing and it won't slow you down (so you'll get the same mobility). A good trick for this is to fight Giants. You can also offset the weight penalties with early Sneak perk of Silence (also at 70) but also with the Steed Standing Stone (carry more weight and no movement penalty from armor).

You can easily power bash through the game on adept difficulty, I wouldn't even bother with the fist part personally. Get respite in the restoration tree to refill your stamina when it empties from spamming bash and just bash some more until it dies. Unarmed is pure terrible and not worth suffering through IMO. Shield perks are actually moderately entertaining at least, your damage won't be that great but good enough to not get too bored while staggering and knocking things over and watching the clumsy animation is amusing enough to sort of make up for the longer time to kill anything.

I would go heavy armor simply because a higher shield value = http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1466217-captain-america-style-build-viable-or-not/more power bash damage and heavy shields tend to have higher armor values + I think more unique shields are heavy.

Initially it is yes, but as you get better gauntlets you'll do more damage. Plus enchanting them? It doesn't take that long really. When everybody has swords and daggers and maces and bows, you have to be REALLY good to use just your fist. Takes a lot of training, but with proper focus, it is not that difficult at all. Most people think of it as insufferable because they think of unarmed as a secondary or supplemental combat, and when you do that, it is really useless. If it is your primary though, it's quite useful.

Seriously, this build sounds like fun. I'm going to go do that.

Oh one last thing: Khajiit or Argonian make it even easier with their unarmed bonuses.

I have a Captain America build and I enjoy it. Like it was mentioned above Blocking and Heavy Armor perks are the best. Don't forget to find a "Bucky".

It might not be a bad idea to invest in some Illusion perks and use spells like Courage, Rally and Call to Arms especially if you do any of the CW battles.

The bonus for the Khajiit or Argonians really doesn't give you that much of an advantage once you get the Fists of Steel perk and your smithing skill up there.

Enchanting your armor with fortify heavy armor will also increase damage with the gauntlets.

Also eat you're vegatable soup.

If you are role-playing, alchemy is a good choice. Make you're own Super Soldier Serums.

Unless you use heavy armor and the steed stone.

"Plus enchanting them" implies somehow you're getting something a weapon user isn't, anyone can enchant some gauntlets and they don't get the damage enchants like weapons do. So enchants are a net negative for unarmed - it is simple fact that you gain less from enchants using unarmed.

Also, using it as a primary doesn't make it useful relative to a weapon. It has shorter range and deals less damage, you won't get higher multiplier sneak attacks with it like a dagger or even 1h weapon. It doesn't do anything that weapons can't do better. I don't think it's accurate to call it "useful" as if it has some niche where it shines over other options.

It doesn't benefit from smithing whatsoever, and I don't think it even benefits from the armor perk multipliers. It doesn't scale and so mid-late game it falls even further behind any other damage option.

It's straight up bad. There's simply no way to spin it as superior or even equal to any other weapon in any way. The ONLY reason to use it is for roleplay, but I don't think it's even a fun enough playstyle to warrant that.

I've had this build before. I called it Captain Haafingar

Heavy Armor

Light Armor

Block

Enchanting

Alchemy

Alteration (For Telekinesis so you can throw the shield)

Typically used Stormcloak armor and the Shield of Solitude to have a Red and Blue color scheme.

Also sung this when I went into battle:

"When Captain Haafingar throws his mighty shield

All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield!

If he's led to a dov, and a duel is due

Then the Fus, and the Ro, and the Dah will shine through!

When Captain Haafingar throws his mighty shield!!!"

Did I ever say it was AS useful as a weapon? No. I didn't even relate the two except that the only times I hear people actually using unarmed combat is to try it when they already have trained a weapon style, which then obviously it won't work nearly as well as what you're already used to doing.

Would you have preferred I made the statement that it "is a viable way of playing the game if done correctly but not as efficient as using a weapon"?

or

Would you rather me lie and just say that it is completely worthless?

What you consider fun and what others might consider fun are two different things. And shucks, heavens forbid that someone actually try a RP style of play in an RPG. Amazing concept that is!

I'm not sure how you'd argue that it's "quite useful" as a primary weapon. It can be used to deal damage, but that seems to be the extent of its usefulness and I'd say it's a stretch to say that qualifies it as useful.

Also punching many of the enemies in Skyrim, especially large ones like dragons, or even just armored enemies, would kind of ruin any sense of roleplaying for me. At that point you're just being silly, I'd say, and admittedly Skyrim is a silly game but I'd think a roleplayer would try to take a more serious approach and minimize the hilariously unrealistic aspects of it.

And yes I understand the "that's just your opinion, man" aspect of the fun/roleplaying factor.

I can do over 200 damage unarmed. My enchanting and smithing skills are maxed out. The fist of steel perk does extra damage based on the armor rating of the gauntlets so your smithing skill will dramatically affect the damage you can do. Enchantments to increase your heavy armor skill will increase the armor rating of the gauntlets as well, to make unarmed combat very viable.

I would always spec Alchemy, so that you can buff your unarmed damage enchantment unless you want to punch something a hundred times in order to kill it.

Shield of Auriel(DG) for the shockwave effect.

Telekinesis wouldn't work because throwing a cabbage probably hurts your enemies more than throwing your life-line shield away.

Unless something changed in a patch (or a mod), only base armor rating from Gauntlets is added to unarmed damage, NOT modified armor rating from smithing, skill, etc.

OK, I checked and you're right. I thought that it was the armor rating of the gauntlets and my armor rating is over 1000 with all my enchantments and smithing.

However on adept level, I can take out most lower level bandits with a bash and one or two punches, but bosses take a bit more.

It may be that my heavy armor skill is so high with the enchants that I have on my armor that I barely take any damage so it seems like I am dealing more. I actually do something around 50 damage.

Still it's like the guards say, "Best offense is a good defense, am I right?"