Always wondered this. So many of the template builds start with more than one weapon skill as a major. Why is this? It's entirely possibly I've missed a trick since 2006, but to me, it's utterly pointless as you're only ever really going to use one weapon type. If you use two then you halve the rate you level up in either as you aren't using them as much.
I know that in theory, blunt is meant to be better than blade in certain situations, but it doesnt make enough of a difference.

My only thought here is that the devs included more than one so that people who wanted to be a Crusader (for example) didnt have to be restricted to using a sword if they wanted a holy mace of doom etc.

So, any ideas?

Oh and by the way, I'm only talking about Blade, Blunt and Hand-to-Hand here, obviously Marksman has it's different merits.

I don't think you are missing anything. I expect most players who use melee, pick only one of the three skills as a major.

Some might argue that since h2h can't be disarmed, it could make some sense, but there are plenty of quest items or bound weapons that can't be disarmed either to get around that. Some players, for role play reasons might want to be good with a couple melee skills. The game is easy enough that supporting that is not hard to do.

Even farther afield and abandoning many conventional assumptions about this wonderful game are those of us who choose majors based ONLY on controlling how fast and how high we want to level. My mystic archer is a 'glass cannon' who refuses to touch a melee weapon or use h2h, yet has all three as major skills. Those three melee skills, along with speechcraft, are four majors she has that she will never use.
-Why? Because she never wants to level above 20, and wants it to be a very slow trip to get there.
-Why level 20? There is nothing in the game we want that requires a higher level; in fact by level 30, there is nothing new in the game at all except the same foes with more hitpoints.
-What about strength bonuses, which will be only +1 if you never use those three skills? For role play reasons, she will never boost strength above her base value of 30, so she doesn't care (strength doesn't help her magic or bow and we like the challenge of carrying less loot / getting rich slower).
-Way off the beaten path, and not for everyone? You bet.
-Do we enjoy playing that way? Immensely!

If you are playing more 'conventionally', you are probably best choosing only one melee skill.

The template builds are bad. That's about all there is to it. Well, from a roleplay standpoint it makes sense that a warrior would train in the use of various weapons. However, due to the "leveling problem" it's simply not viable. Bah, Acadian beat me to it and was far more detailed about it.

The point is variety / diversity.

If I wanna play a Samurai, or even a Ninja, I would really not only focus on Blade, but h2h and Marksman. Some other class builds follow the same thought too (as you mentioned, Crusader or Paladins could have a Mace and a Sword).

I, personally, would not choose 2 such majors unless for roleplay stuff. I do not see major benefits for having Blade and blunt together...

It only makes sense(IMO) if you are roleplaying a weapons master(or anything that would use Blunt and Blade), and want a good boost to the skills.

There's no point as such, but it makes the game more diverse and interesting.

My shiny knight character wouldn't be seen dead with a warhammer; my drunken Nord would. So it gives you the flexibility.

The range of skills is one of the reasons why you can play the game through with multiple character types; not every skill is for every play-through.

I find it funny how you are using "major" like it is a college major.

If I use a ranged or mage character I usually double major with blade or blunt.

First play-through my avatar pretty much stuck with swords the entire time, though he used blunted weapons enough to eventually max that skill after over a real-life year of play. This play-through he actually maxed blunt before blade for a very practical reason: He acquired an "Amulet of Axes" early on but didn't find the equivalent "Necklace of Swords" until very recently. Additionally, as mentioned elsewhere he tackled the Oblivion Crisis in the guise of Divine Crusader, so wielding the Crusader's Mace made perfect role-play sense.

Since acquiring the Necklace he has all but abandoned the Mace if favor of a nice one-hand sword given him while helping defend the realm against a post-Crisis vampiric uprising (Verona House Bloodlines).

As to why one would want two (or more) weapon skills as majors, I'd assume that, in most cases, it's a role-play decision.

-Decrepit-

I wouldn't use multiple weapons as a major unless your doing the LV 30 method where your only picking 4 majors and never using the other 3. I do that by picking Blade and also Hand To Hand but never using Hand To Hand. The only other reason I wouldn't pick two is because if you need that extra point or two of strength having both Blade and Blunt won't help you get +5 in Strength.

IMO what makes it dull, gamewise, to have more than one combat skill (aside from Archery) is that there is NO actual difference between the 'styles'. Specifically, the 75 and 100 ranks should provide different, unique boni according to style.

So, say, once you reach 75 / 100 in Blade, you could cause your opponent to suffer a unique Bleeding effect, while Blunt would cause him to be Stunned / Paralysed, etc....

Also, removing Axe as a skill did not help at all (but then again, I also think Blade should be split in Long and Short, so it may be a totally different topic).