I wish that fists of spell perk worked as it is stated. Even if it only worked based on heavy armor perks raising the gauntlets AR (as opposed to smithing them higher) i would be happy. Alas there are no more patches for this game so im in a bit of a sad mood. I supposed i could use carious restoration glitches, but that breaks my immersion and roleplay a lot of the time.

With the right build unarmed really isn't half bad. Beast characters have higher unarmed damage than the other races, khajitt having the highest. Plus a high enough enchanting really helps, you can put the fortify unarmed enchantment on a ring and gauntlets. Plus, the perk in the heavy armor tree. And finally the Poison Talons in the Vampire Perk tree (DG) adds 20 damage unarmed.

i have a khajitt that uses stealth unarmed combat, with necromancy and restoration. it's really a lot of fun.

Lower the difficulty a smidgen if you have to, and conjuration will really help (as to take some of the attention off of you once in a while).

and the Fists of Steel perk only affects the base armor stat. So smithing your gauntlets up won't make a difference.

Trust me, there's tons of fun to be had with unarmed combat, not to mention the coolest cinematic kills

good points. Its kind of hard when you dont want to be a vampire/beast race/or enchanter though

I've got an Orc monk that uses none of those things. , he runs around shirtless snapping the necks of bandits.

Lowered the difficulty a bit, but it's pretty fun, just try it out with any race you want.

The most damage you can do is 73 or so. Play on easy and don't put much into health, to balance the game out.

If you still have your difficulty up "kind of hard" is a bit of an understatement. try: almost impossible

seriously try this. If you're going unarmed it really does balance the game out, while still keeping it satisfyingly challenging.

you definitely have to get the heavy armor perk and the gloves from the ratways (Even if you're enchanting svcks, buy some fortify enchantment potions to make some good gauntlets and a good ring)

the lord stone is a good choice too

There is a particular perk mod that greatly diversifies the perk lines investment value. Also allowing you the choice of which lines you supe up. Perk Point Plus? I believe so. IT will allow you to select yourself 10 points bonus into unarmed, and 10 points bonus into armor bonus. Also I think the pugilist line offers alternate hand specific bonuses you can utilize.

I ran out of magicka on my mage at the last enemy of a fight, went up and finished him with an unarmed killcam. My gf said "You just became The Rock for a moment"

Now I want to make an unarmed Orc character. Use shirtless fur armor, get some gauntlets and unenchant the Pugilists gloves and enchant them. I've heard the unarmed sneak killcams are the best

It would have been nice if the unarmed perk wasn't tied to heavy armor. If I was planning on making a Chuck Norris type of character, I wouldn't picture them wearing heavy plate armor. The unarmed enchantment should also be more common than on the one pair of gloves found under Riften.