I've been thinking about a very basic "monk" type playthrough. I've not done much with Hand-to-Hand combat in Skyrim. How does that work, overall?

My first taste of it was in Morrowind and I vowed then to never do that again. My hands cramped up midway through my first fight. First, you had to bring their stamina down, then work on their health. Not a fun time

Anyway, I want to absolutely nothing with crafting, which is a new concept for me as I like crafting. So I'd be a cloth wearing puncher. I'll add Restoration for healing and Alteration for defense. I can kind of see the alteration as a kind of "chi" and maybe, if I stretch a lot, the restoration as "chi of the body." I'd like to try and figure out how to do "flaming fists" or something with Destruction, but I think that may be too much

I know there is at least one hand-to-hand item in Riften and maybe more. I also think of Khajit as a possibility with their "dew claw" feature, but I'd rather stick to a humanoid form for this one. I think Redguard could be interesting in this rolepay.

So is this "lore possible?" Is hand-to-hand done "better" than Morrowind's old way?

what difficulty do you plan to play?


hand to hand is somewhat viable on harder difficulties by combining the enchant from the gloves of the pugilist (riften, only item that has a fortify unarmed), being Khajiit or Argonian, and that one heavy armor perk..


if you want to go entirely Cloth that takes the heavy armor perks contribution out of the scenario.. not being a Khajiit or Argonian take away from the bonus they both get.. no Crafting means you can't use the gloves Foritfy unarmed enchant, since disenhcanting and re-enchanting would be crafting and the gloves themselves are considered armor (and you wanted to go cloth)..


could still probably do it on a lower difficulty, but you would have an extremely hard time on the higher ones



Now, this last part i have never tried myself, but heard it mentioned once a long time back, so take it with a grain of salt.. apparently the Vampire Lord perk "Poison Talons" affects your non-transformed form as well, helping unarmed users.. once again, never tried it myself, just seen someone say it once, so take that part with a grain of salt.. (but if it is true, i imagine combining that with Necromage and the previous mentioned criteria could potentially make you extremely overpowered)

Thanks for the tips. I play on Adept. I find this "challenging enough" for my tastes

I know it will be a tough road, I just did not want to make the fights last twice as long going through Stamina first, then health

I seem to recall (I should look it up) that Morrowind had a Monk Class. Wasn't the Khajit in Pelagiad one? My memory could be failing, though...

was she? granted, been a very long time since i played Morrowind last, but wasn't she a Thief?

maybe my memory is failing me lol

She was a "nice thief"

UESP has http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Ahnassi listed as a Monk.

[EDIT]

Yes! Morrowind did have a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Classes#Monk Class! I thought they did, but could not recall at all

I've never tried a Monk build in Skyrim, but I did use an alternate start mod that left me without a weapon in the very beginning, and if I'm remembering my first fight or two correctly, I only had to go through the enemy's Health, not their Stamina.

Good to know! I am kind of wondering about this run through now. Without "kicks", it just doesn't feel a Monk

I think I'll still give it a go and see what happens

I know you are playing a monk but a couple other elements come to mind if you are trying to focus on un-armed combat.

There's a disarming-bash perk with a shield. Your monk could defend himself with a shield until the opponent is disarmed and then start swinging...

There's a disarm shout. That would be a faster (and more authentically monkish) way to 'even' the playing field. Not sure how you can do the MQ without weapons all the way to acquiring that shout though.

Maybe you can develop some pickpocket skills and stealthily disarm opponents - maybe not terribly monkish, but something to consider.

Good luck!

Thanks for the ideas, Kami

I was hoping to avoid the MQ, as "punching Dragons" did not sound like a fun fight

Disarming, though, sounds like a possibility.

Morrowind's http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Classes#Monk Class has:

Stealth School Specialist

Major Skills

Athletics

Unarmored

Hand-to-Hand

Sneak

Minor SKills

Block

Blunt Weapons

Restoration

Light Armor

Marksman