It was great in oblivion, but it would be better in Skyrim. You have kill animations, khajiit have a unarmed combat bonus with their claws, and heavy armor gives a unarmed combat bonus as well. You would think with all these features they would have a hand to hand skill tree...

I'm right with you ... I'm hoping for dlc to add it later, but I'm not holding my breath...

I think they chose not to include it because it just isn't too practical against World-Eating Dragons, Vampire Lords, and Armored Trolls

Although fist fighting a dragon and coming out victorious (without turning into a Werewolf) WOULD make for an interesting story...

But a dagger is completely plausable? It's a strange place to draw the line.

A whole skill tree for Hand to Hand... I don't think so.

Hand to Hand perks in the One Handed tree (Since you can punch with just one hand, and it works like Dual Wield) however, would be more than welcome.

The dagger though has a sneak advantage if you can get close enough lol. You can't punch a dragon (realistically.... though this IS game) and kill it lol. Your ass.. would be dead in ONE flame shout/bite.

Mind you, there's a very big difference between fists and daggers. Daggers have blades capable of cutting things, making them bleed and hurting them considerably. Fists are blunt, and dragon bones/scales are probably quite a bit tougher than your hand.

my khajiit with heavy armor murdered a giant and a mammoth, using unrelenting force and his bare hands in under 2 minutes. He could go against a dragon.

No, that's just holding hth to realism while allowing daggers and up to exist in the fantasy setting. If we're talking like this, bringing dragonbone and scale into them, the only thing that should be able to hurt a dragon is daedric weapons and armor, the only ingame items to have higher stats than dragonbone. And maybe ebony if we're being generous.

Edit @ Union: You're special you're a Dragonborn

Agreed^^^ Dragons should be a tad bigger (at least Alduin) and stronger. 3 Axe attacks is weak defeating "The World Eater"/Dragons of mythical lore lol

To be honest I used potions and enchants to get the unarmed enchant insanely high. My guy can one punch ancient dragons. ;D Although I don't get criticals unless I sneak so no frontal animations. However... suplexing a Deadra? Priceless.

Actually during the E3 coverage with Morgan Web, Tod I believe said Deadric weapons will soon be outdone by dragon weapons. <3 God I can't wait! I hope they look freaking bad ass! If I don't see a sword with a dragon skull hilt cover I will cry. D=

I NEVER used the hand-to-hand skill in Oblivion! Why would you even think to use your hands when you got swords and maces and stuff!
Apart from that, hand-to-hand only did damage to the enemies' fatigue, and only after their fatigue was completely drained did your fists
do actual damage.. Waste of time IMO.

Hand to hand should be in as a skill for those that wish to use it. That's the beauty of these games options and a way to build your character around those options. In Skyrim you cannot become adept at using your fist as weapons why because there is not enough for it, there is one perk in heavy armor that let's you hit harder.

Why would you use swords and maces when you have MAGIC? Why would you use magic when you have werewolf/vampire transformations? Why would you even bother with ANY of that when you could use the finger of god(console command "Kill")?

Taste, roleplaying, fun ... the fact they could make it better in Skyrim since this isn't OB. I could go on, but I hope you get the point.

That only happened with a low level skill tree, at higher levels you could disarm your target and paralyze them, and then viciously beat their face in while they're on the floor (personal favorite)

they moved it into the heavy armor and light armor skill trees. where there is a perk that will make it so that the gaunlets you are wearing will do hand to hand damage in damage resistance ratios. so if your wearing legendary daedric gauntlets that have a DR of 120 you will do 120 damage with your fists.
if you want even more of a bonus with hand to hand be a kahjit or argonian because they have +15 (kahjit) and +10(argonian) to hand to hand combat damage.

Todd Howard said in an interview pre-Skyrim release that Unarmed combat would not get a skill tree, and that is would just be a basic form of attack. Remember, though, there are gloves that increase Unarmed damage, and a Heavy Armor perk that grants bonus unarmed damage based on your gloves' armor. It's not a big deal, especially if you're a Khajit wearing heavy armor with the Fists of Steel perk.

I love how there are a ton a new people asking the same questions we asked 6 months ago.

I think a few new Unarmed Perks/Kill Animations would be a pretty cool addition to Skyrim

Sorry I just think it's [censored].

Unarmed has been my favorite combat style since Morrowind. RPing a Monk was just always too much fun. I get so sick of people talking about how "unrealistic" it is to fight a dragon with your bare-fists.

Sorry, unrealistic? Totally. I can step outside my house and just shoot down dragons with lightning bolts that come out of my fists! I can charge them in my mighty Ford, Replica gladius raised high and smite them down!

It's a video game. What [censored] realism are you talking about? It's a fantasy setting.

I had my hopes up when hearing about Skyrim, thinking they would finally flesh this skill out. Add in fist weapons and different fighting styles to really bring the Monk type play together and more believable. Instead they ditch it. It's the one thing that I hated the most about this game.

I brought this up before release when the skill trees were finally released. The username then was TheDrunkMonk.

^^^Lol ok, put it on easy setting and only use your fists and have a damn good time

In Skyrim, if you're a Khajit with maxed heavy armor and Legendary Daedric gloves as LethalBubbles said, and enchant it with unarmed damage bonus, you'd never need to pick up a sword again. Unarmed might not have a skill tree, but it has the potential of having the highest melee damage output in the game. Make you're own monk class like that. Imagine he's a practitioner of the Whispering Fang style.

It's not the same. With weapons or magic, you have some form of progression as you get better. Just turning the game to easy and fighting with your fists isn't what people are asking for. The ability to punch things to death is already in the game, like a few others here are saying. What I want is the skill, so that you get a sense of progression as you go from beginner to master. Without the actual skill, it just feels hollow, and you really really really have to put the rp goggles on to be able to stick with it.