Has anyone tried this? Personally I dont see the purpose in using just one weapon with an empty hand, a two handed weapon would be better.

Sword and Board or Sword and Spell. Never really liked dual wielding outside of my Assassin character's.

As for the 1H sword and nothing else... Had a character that did that once. Saw shields as a weakness and dual wielding as over-compensating. "1 and done." As he says. Was a really fun playthrough tbh.

Personally I'd take a two handed weapon than a one handed weapon with an empty hand.