First I want to say that I suffer from restartitis aka altitis or the 'alt' disease

I have a couple characters going right now in Skyrim: a nightblade (assassin/illusionist) and a warrior-cleric (two-handed maces/restoration/alteration). I was thinking about starting a Gandalf inspired character, with a twist, he'd use light armor, wield a bound sword in one hand and a staff in the other hand. The main reason for that is I keep finding all these cool staves and can't really make any use of them and the bound sword would keep all my soulgems charged with souls (with the proper perk) so I could keep replenishing the charges on my staves.

I haven't made it that far in the game yet (both of my toons are around level 30ish) so I was wondering if staves with more powerful spells (like fireball, ice storm) drop at later levels?

I'm at work now and I haven't tried this, but can you swing a sword while casting the spells from your staff?

Thanks!
Raz

I knoiw you can swing a sword while casting spells, not sure about staves tho.

Staffs svck even more than normal destruction magic, though. The damage compared to the simplest weapon is laughable, and you need to recharge a few times during more challenging battles.
I guess you can get some roleplay-value out of it, but if you look for something viable, hands off staffs.

But yes, staves are one handed. You can even roll into battle with a staff in either hand.

Staves scale with damage based on your destruction skill correct? At least that's what one of the loading messages says.

Do they also benefit from the 'Impact' perk?

But yeah, I'd be doing it for the role-playing value as I try to make my characters with some sort of 'theme' or background. I miss major/minor skills when it comes to character builds

No, the damage doesn't scale. The destruction skill level only decreases the charge cost, so you can use the staff more often before you have to recharge.
Not sure about the impact perk. I read somewhere that it might work even with a single staff, but I didn't test it myself yet.

As staves are one handed, they are viable as a shield. Use it to block and bash whilst swinging your sword.
If depleted of charge, you can still utilize it as a shield.

So, if you wish to go Gandalf with staff/sword/robe combo, I say have fun!
It's a single player game. No right, no wrong. Do with it as you will.

Thanks for the input so far

Yeah, I suppose I could just try, I just don't want to invest some time in it if it's not going to be 'viable' later on. Both my assassin/illusionist and warrior-cleric can stand their ground really well...The 2h cleric more than the assassin, but still.

If staves can benefit from the impact perk that means I'll be able to stun and swing a sword at the same time (as opposed to wielding magic in both hands for impact to proc).

Gandalf would probably be a breton. White or grey hair depending on which Gandalf you want to have.

But Gandalf was like the most useless character in LOTR.

Combat wise.

Made mages look awful. Lol.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Staves
I am doing this for now as well, but Im calling him a Shaman because he wears furs and a hood, is blind and dirty, and wields a bound axe.

Your Shaman sounds like a cool build

Do you know if staves benefit from Impact (or cause impact themselves for the spells that are applicable)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rj0wBPSok&noredirect=1, he's a boss.

I know you cannot hit people with them. The link I posted should help.

Gandalf is the most badass wizard I've ever seen.
It'd be great if OP could create a great build inspired by him/