Help me develop: one-hand duelist / battle mage skill line

ArcaneScientius

Hi guys. I met some swashbucklers enemy NPCs in southern Elsweyr that can do backflips. Another NPC class also has a jumping-spinning heavy attack that looks great. We have all seen the battle mage NPC characters who sometimes use their staffs as melee bludgeoning weapons.

These backflip, staff strike, jump-and-spin attack and one-handed attack animations can be reused for a weapon skill line.

Resources used:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Vanquisher (spec. retaliation attack)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Battlemage (spec. quick strike)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Alchemist_(NPC_class) (spec. puncture)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Swashbuckler (spec. somersault)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Buffs
Community thread that I read dealing with some of these issues: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/550863/what-is-the-next-class#latest

Seeing the NPCs got me thinking about the spell-sword class/archetype, which is missing in ESO. I know people are asking for another class, but I think that a skill line focused around only a one-handed or single weapon, (but how to balance loss of set bonuses for not having shield/off-hand/2H?), weapon can be interesting.

Aim: to develop a new skill line focused around utility and mobility skills to help combat casters as well as something for stamina builds. This is not a damage focused skill line, but maybe should include some magic-based melee attacks for magic users, and provide some access to minor buffs and debuffs. I want to provide some melee benefits to magic users, whether staff or single weapon, to create a spellsword or battle mage type skill line.

Reasons: some weapons are parts of sets that are mainly focused around spell damage, like the shalk set, but weapons do damage based on stamina max and weapon damage, basically excluding the use of such a weapon as anything other than a fancy wand. Using a melee weapon as a wizard does not prevent any class-based skills being used, and only affects light and heavy attacks that will not scale based on max magicka for casters, but also do not provide any bonuses, even though they could, such as maybe better defence or stronger melee attack.

Problems: weapon skill lines rely on stamina for damage, making them generally poor choices for casters. Therefore, such a skill line would have to provide for both casters using the skill line and stamina builds, but, again, not another damage skill line, but an evasion, gap-maker (opposite of gap-closer) and general mobility/utility skill line.

Suggested skills and passives: (all actives and passives require a one-handed weapon equipped and nothing in the other hand, or a staff. I used many of the abilities of one-handed NPC enemies as a reference for already in-game animations and potential duelist abilities).

Passives:

1. (when wielding a single weapon only) Gain +2%, 4% and 6% movement speed and reduces the cost of roll dodge by 2%, 4% and 6%.

2. (when wielding a single weapon only) One handed weapons reduce the cost of duelist skills by 2% and 5%. Wielding a staff grants minor protection after a duelist ability is used, reducing damage taken by 5% for 6 seconds and 12 seconds.

3. (when wielding a single weapon only) Reduce the cost of break free by 2%, 4% and 6%. If wielding a one handed weapon, break free costs magicka, not stamina. (I am running a bit low on ideas.)

4. (when wielding a single weapon only) One handed weapons reduce cost of magic abilities by 120 magicka, 140 and 160 magicka. Wielding a staff reduces the cost of duelist abilities by 2%, 4%, and 6%.

5. (when wielding a single weapon only) One handed weapons increase the duration of damage shields by 1 second, 2 and 3 seconds (! this may be too strong). Using a duelist ability while wielding a staff removes up to 3 negative effect(s) and heals for 800, 900 or 1000 health per effect removed.

Skills:

1. Puncture
The PC thrusts their weapon with disciplined precision, dealing minor physical damage. Also afflicts the enemy with minor breach reducing their physical and spell resistance by 2974 for 8/10/12/15 seconds. If max magicka is higher than stamina, the damage scales on max magicka and spell damage.
morph 1: gain minor expedition for 15/17/19/21 seconds, increasing movement speed by 15%.
morph 2: apply major maim to the target reducing their damage dealt by 10% for 5/6/7/8 seconds.

2. Retaliation (pirouette strike)
The PC jumps and spins, hitting the target with their weapon dealing minor damage and applying the concussed status for 4 seconds. A pirouette strike against a concussed enemy is always a critical strike. If max magicka is higher than max stamina, the damage scales on max magicka and spell damage.
morph 1: grants major intellect increasing magicka recovery by 40% for 5/6/7/8 seconds.
morph 2: grants major endurance increasing stamina recovery by 40% for 5/6/7/8 seconds.

3. Somersault
The PC does a backwards somersault and handspring, putting 15 m (or most common value) distance between themselves and enemies and gains minor resolve granting 2974 physical and spell resistance for 5/6/7/8 seconds.
morph 1: converts into a magicka ability. Grants major protection for 8/9/10/11 seconds, reducing damage taken by 10%. Reduces the cost of your next spellsword ability by 15%.
morph 2: grants major evasion for 8/9/10/11 seconds, reducing damage from area of effect by 20% for duration. Reduces the cost of your next spellsword ability by 15%.

4. Hissing strike
The PC performs a quick strike in a narrow cone in front of them to force enemies onto the defensive, dealing minor physical damage and staggering enemies for 1 second. Using a one handed weapon gives a 10% higher chance to apply the weapon's enchantment to enemies hit. Wielding a staff also pushes enemies back 3 m. If max magicka is higher than max stamina, the damage scales on max magicka and spell damage.
morph 1: enemies hit are also affected by minor brittle, increasing critical damage taken by 10% for 6/7/8 seconds.
morph 2: Enemies hit are afflicted by minor cowardice, reducing their weapon and spell damage by 215 for 6/7/8 seconds.

5. Javelin
Throw an icy spear that deals minor physical damage to the enemy. Pushes the enemy back 3 m and applies the chilled status effect for 4 seconds. If max magicka is higher than max stamina, the damage scales on max magicka and spell damage.
morph 1: use second time to teleport to an enemy hit by the ability and gain minor brutality for 5/6/7/8 seconds.
morph 2: reduces enemy move speed by 70% for 5/6/7/8 seconds.

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Please criticise, change and/or remove or add any parts that you want to roll your own version, or create your own version of a new magic/utility skill line.

What are your thoughts guys?

washbern

I think you have some interesting ideas, but IMO none of these skills / passives are actually better or on par with other weapons / guild / class abilities. None of these introduce any new mechanics and give rather bland, same old same old gameplay.

Also wielding a staff makes absolutely no sense because then you will be profiting not only from the staff passives but also from this tree which then will make it inherently better to use staff than anything else.

Ryuvain

Yeah, wanted a swashbuckler or monk/flame fist skill line or weapon ever since playing southern elsweyr.

Who wouldnt want to use their bare flaming hands to beat up Molag Baal or using backflips and pokes to interrupt enemies?

ArcaneScientius

Thank you for the feedback, guys.

washbern wrote: »

I think you have some interesting ideas, but IMO none of these skills / passives are actually better or on par with other weapons / guild / class abilities. None of these introduce any new mechanics and give rather bland, same old same old gameplay.

Also wielding a staff makes absolutely no sense because then you will be profiting not only from the staff passives but also from this tree which then will make it inherently better to use staff than anything else.

I agree that these skills or passives are underwhelming. My aim was not to replace or displace any of the weapon or armour skills, but rather to add more tools to the toolkit, specifically mobility and to add some draw for a mage to use a sword.

The duelist/battle mage skills above provide access to fairly rare minor buffs and debuffs, such as minor cowardice which is only applied by one nightblade skill morph or alchemy poisons. The aim was to add something that is not very common in other skill lines or class abilities without replacing them while still being different and complementary.

It still needs a lot of work and many changes, but the animations are in game already, there is precedence of different destruction staffs unlocking different passives (hence the passives linked to staff or one hand in this theoretical skill line) and this weapon skill line can be added to the game for all classes, reducing the balancing required compared to e.g. a new class.

If you permit me, I will take your correct criticism as a bit of a complement as well because if the skill line above is same old same old then it is more or less in line with other skill lines available and therefore not overpowered. I did not want them to be better than class/guild/weapon skills.

I do not think there are any other skills or abilities that allow one to jump away from an enemy, so there is one ability that is not the same old, and greater access to a variety of admittedly minor buffs and debuffs does add something that the other skill lines do not have, or have only sparingly. It also adds mobility buffs, albeit mostly minor ones, and some caster utility in being able to purge negative effects if using a skill. The aim was to present a set of skills that can potentially complement some builds or classes, but, again, mainly through providing utility skills.

I agree with you that it needs more work to be more unique and/or flavourful, so please do not see my response as defensiveness. I welcome the feedback and constructive criticism.

As a follow up, what abilities or new mechanics would you like to see in a battle mage type skill line, either that are present in other skill lines, or that you would want in game?

2. Staff passives problem
Two main issues, one of which I noted in the OP, is that there is no solution to the problem of missing one hand's worth of set piece slots (if using one hand weapon) and the other problem is as you said that one would be able to access the passives while using a staff.

I do not have a solution to the set slot loss, but the passives can maybe only be active if a battle mage skill is slotted, partially reducing the problem but unfortunately not eliminating it.

My skill bars already runneth over, and having to choose between staff skills, class skills and duelist/battle mage skills would only add to this problem, but would also mean people would only slot duelist/battle mage skills if they saw value or utility in having them on a bar.

Competition for skill slots on a bar means that I wanted to ensure no duelist skills are chosen ahead of another skill except if it makes sense (i.e. no duellist skill is overpowered or must-have) and the active skills are of minor relevance to damage output, so slotting one would tend to be at the expense of damage and therefore almost solely taken for its utility.

Ryuvain wrote: »

Yeah, wanted a swashbuckler or monk/flame fist skill line or weapon ever since playing southern elsweyr.

Who wouldnt want to use their bare flaming hands to beat up Molag Baal or using backflips and pokes to interrupt enemies?

I could potentially add unarmed to this skill line (providing three separate sets of passive benefits, similar to destruction staff skill line), but the main problem with unarmed is that there is then no boost to weapon or spell damage from a weapon or staff and therefore I am missing a means to scale the damage (as damage scales on max magic/stam and spell or weap damage).

Otherwise, if I had to design an unarmed skill, I would say unarmed would provide less defence (since you cannot block a blade with your bare flesh) than a staff or one hand weapon in terms of passives.

I would probably try to add passives for different armours, such as using heavy armour provides a buff to blocking, med armour reduces the cost of duellist abilities or has a passive counter that allows the next ability to be instantly cast (kinda like sorc crystal shards) to make for fast rotations (but not very damaging) and light armour can increase your base movement speed or add a passive to increase your unarmed damage giving the monk in robes archetype.

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Thanks again, guys. Any other ideas or criticisms are welcome.

Ryuvain

For the unarmed damage problem you could have a passive like this: while unarmed your weapon damage increases by 1000 (level scaled) + 4% of your max stamina.

Another passive I thought up: When at least one of your hands are unarmed you dodge single target physical attacks while blocking at double the cost.

That would also give a solution to both having weaker block.

For unarmed enchant/trait loss:
One unarmed hand makes your helm count as 2 pieces for items set. Two unarmed hands makes your shoulders count as 2 pieces for it's set.

Just some ideas.

Stellarvorous

In order to make this skill line truly fitting in ESO currently youd have to incorporate some of the new *Features* we are currently blessed with

I got some ideas for skills to make it work


1 Flail- Swing your weapon in a frantic attempt to hit the foe who appears to be in front of you on your screen but according to their screen and the server they are 40+ meters away

2 Pain bringer- Summon a cross eyed jester to taunt your foe with a ability that deals no damage but locks them in combat for 45 mins also snares immobilizes and stuns your foe for 5 mins if they attempt to flee from you this ability bypasses CC immunity and immovable pots


3 Daedric Pimp Hand- Call forth a Colossal Daedric hand that slaps the ever living *** out of your opponent crashing them to their desktop Activating this skill again in rapid succession changes it to Daedric Back Hand denying them the ability to log back in within a timely manner because *This Account is already Logged in*


4 Behold the Power of the Dark Side- Empower your self with supernatural forces that buff all of your proc sets damage by 25% stacks with Call of the Wild


5 Call of the Wild- Grant your self and allies a 25% damage boost for each 50k WW in your group damage modifier scales with players using crimson for maximum effectiveness


Passive lines

1 "Were killing it!" -Proclaim this will be the year of performance that will result in solutions and fixes for the mass of on going critical problems across the game For PvE/PvP And fix absolutely none of it

2 Immersion -Summon the power of a role player and examine the soul of each and every NPC you encounter down to its shoe laces and jawline locate a imperfection of a minor detail and invoke the power of the Devs to fix it in a timely manner while the other problems across the game continue to worsen

3 Make it rain- Wield the ungodly power of a Daedric prince and watch the crown store crash then get fixed in a few short hours with actual communication and honest concern from the Devs


4 The Blessings of Silence - Tell your player base that everything will be fine and new solutions will happen in a timely manner over the next year while other issues crashes glitches bugs lag ect proceed to worsen with no end in sight then cut all forms of communication aside from a few vague posts while pretending to actually care about the on going worsening issues


5 Cant touch this -Invoke your godly tier skills and break all stuns and immobilizes when you press the correct button combination in a timely manner Consumes all Stamina Magicka and reduces your health to 1 applies CC immunity for 1 second Crowd control break has a 35 min cool down denying you the ability to use it again till the cool down has wore off
(Also places you in combat with the nearest hostile Npc for 15 mins)

Ryuvain

Stellarvorous wrote: »

In order to make this skill line truly fitting in ESO currently youd have to incorporate some of the new *Features* we are currently blessed with

I got some ideas for skills to make it work


1 Flail- Swing your weapon in a frantic attempt to hit the foe who appears to be in front of you on your screen but according to their screen and the server they are 40+ meters away

2 Pain bringer- Summon a cross eyed jester to taunt your foe with a ability that deals no damage but locks them in combat for 45 mins also snares immobilizes and stuns your foe for 5 mins if they attempt to flee from you this ability bypasses CC immunity and immovable pots


3 Daedric Pimp Hand- Call forth a Colossal Daedric hand that slaps the ever living *** out of your opponent crashing them to their desktop Activating this skill again in rapid succession changes it to Daedric Back Hand denying them the ability to log back in within a timely manner because *This Account is already Logged in*


4 Behold the Power of the Dark Side- Empower your self with supernatural forces that buff all of your proc sets damage by 25% stacks with Call of the Wild


5 Call of the Wild- Grant your self and allies a 25% damage boost for each 50k WW in your group damage modifier scales with players using crimson for maximum effectiveness


Passive lines

1 "Were killing it!" -Proclaim this will be the year of performance that will result in solutions and fixes for the mass of on going critical problems across the game For PvE/PvP And fix absolutely none of it

2 Immersion -Summon the power of a role player and examine the soul of each and every NPC you encounter down to its shoe laces and jawline locate a imperfection of a minor detail and invoke the power of the Devs to fix it in a timely manner while the other problems across the game continue to worsen

3 Make it rain- Wield the ungodly power of a Daedric prince and watch the crown store crash then get fixed in a few short hours with actual communication and honest concern from the Devs


4 The Blessings of Silence - Tell your player base that everything will be fine and new solutions will happen in a timely manner over the next year while other issues crashes glitches bugs lag ect proceed to worsen with no end in sight then cut all forms of communication aside from a few vague posts while pretending to actually care about the on going worsening issues


5 Cant touch this -Invoke your godly tier skills and break all stuns and immobilizes when you press the correct button combination in a timely manner Consumes all Stamina Magicka and reduces your health to 1 applies CC immunity for 1 second Crowd control break has a 35 min cool down denying you the ability to use it again till the cool down has wore off
(Also places you in combat with the nearest hostile Npc for 15 mins)

How do I like more than once? Oh wait, still in combat my bad.

ArcaneScientius

Ryuvain wrote: »

For the unarmed damage problem you could have a passive like this: while unarmed your weapon damage increases by 1000 (level scaled) + 4% of your max stamina.

Another passive I thought up: When at least one of your hands are unarmed you dodge single target physical attacks while blocking at double the cost.

That would also give a solution to both having weaker block.

For unarmed enchant/trait loss:
One unarmed hand makes your helm count as 2 pieces for items set. Two unarmed hands makes your shoulders count as 2 pieces for it's set.

Just some ideas.

These are excellent ideas. Thank you.

Dodge
I love the dodge mechanic you suggested, but I would say it should work for any single target direct attack, not just against physical attacks.

I have been looking for something like this because, at the moment, the main ways of surviving big hits are to a) have a damage shield that provides an ablative resource (health) before the actual resource is impacted, b) blocking and having high resistances (heavy armour and abilities) or c) moving out of the way, either by roll dodge or simply avoiding the hit, which is not always possible.

A double-cost dodge mechanic where you can avoid all damage for twice the cost of a successful block (also taking into account that you will then not cause disorientation in the attacking enemy compared to if you successfully block an ability or heavy attack) can provide an interesting new way to tank certain fights by avoiding the damage entirely.

The downside risk is that if you do not have sufficient resources to dodge (double the cost of a successful block), you will take full damage without any mitigation except from resistances and abilities (like spirit mender necro morph).

High risk and high reward type mechanic.

I can see this mechanic leading to some PvP issues, but reducing your damage output by replacing a skill for a moderate utility skill and needing to swop to other bar with single hand weapon from 2H/DW/Destruct damage-focused front bar and dodge at the right time, it could be useful for skilled players. I don't PvP a lot, so I cannot actually comment.

Ok. You have convinced me. I will add unarmed to the skills and passives, maybe changing some of the effects if using unarmed (e.g. to add an elemental effect to attacks since you cannot have enchantments or poisons (though I don't know if the poison slot is unavailable if there is no weapon equipped)). It will take a while, but I will draft some unarmed passives and some changes mainly to offensive skills.

Unarmed Weapon damage
Firstly, I think that we would need to make it + 1000 for weapon and spell damage if unarmed, so that class skills (whether magic or stam) will be viable and retain moderate damage compared to other weapons.

10% of 20 000 (average max stam, most ppl have much higher values than this) = 2 000, so 5% would be 1000, and 4% would be 800 extra weapon damage.

I think +4% weapon damage from stamina is too high (giving you, with the passive 1000 boost, about 1800 weapon damage for 20 000 max stam). I will have to look at the damage formulae, but while it may be too strong, it can reduce the impact of not having enchantments and poisons, so slightly higher base damage (with elemental effects) could be viable for unarmed. I think +1% max stam with one point passive and 2% with two points in the passive (looking at the second passive ability set) and maybe only for 5+ light armour pieces equipped to reinforce the light armour for damage flavour.

You do not need to scale the weapon damage boost with level, because ESO already has this feature. A white level 1 sword used by a level 1 will provide the same damage as a white CP 160 sword used by a CP 160 character. Therefore, the 1000 boost is a good baseline throughout the game, albeit a touch on the low side even compared to white quality weapons of correct level.

Now, this resource (weapon damage) would also impact on the damage of class skills (if using the stamina morph), so an unarmed character would not be punished for using stam class skills on their unarmed skill bar.

It does seem that the current views you and I are expressing for an unarmed skill line is mainly focused on stamina (monk melee combat archetype, ES4 monk had fists and bow as main skills so very much stamina/physical damage focused), so I will have to think how this would work with a magic user who wants to also only use fists. ... Maybe providing the same 1000 spell damage boost would be enough, since they can then stack their preferred resource (max mag or stam).

Set Problems
A problem comes from not being able to upgrade your fists, like blue/purple/gold weapons; the quality of which does improve weapon damage compared to white quality. While this problem can be overcome by providing a higher base damage for unarmed (you don't want to load too much onto one dimension like base damage or it can potentially be exploited or lead to imbalances).

The opposite problem is that you will need fewer (as in none) resources to compete effectively with those people who improved or have purple/gold weapons, reducing the need to collect gear sets.

While this may appeal to people who do not care to collect gear, it does introduce a moderate balancing issue where you need to invest less to compete effectively, but you also lose the utility of enchantments and poisons so it could work out moderately fair.

A further problem also comes from a single slot providing double benefits for sets, as you suggested. With the precedent of staffs and 2H weapons providing two brackets of any set, and therefore you do not need to collect e.g. two weapons of a single set if DW compared to 2H and staff guys only needing one to get 2 brackets of set bonuses, it could be made to work without being overpowered, as well as providing an unarmed character with some different flavour.

I'll be back with an unarmed passives and etc.

Ryuvain

ArcaneScientius wrote: »

Ryuvain wrote: »

For the unarmed damage problem you could have a passive like this: while unarmed your weapon damage increases by 1000 (level scaled) + 4% of your max stamina.

Another passive I thought up: When at least one of your hands are unarmed you dodge single target physical attacks while blocking at double the cost.

That would also give a solution to both having weaker block.

For unarmed enchant/trait loss:
One unarmed hand makes your helm count as 2 pieces for items set. Two unarmed hands makes your shoulders count as 2 pieces for it's set.

Just some ideas.

These are excellent ideas. Thank you.

Dodge
I love the dodge mechanic you suggested, but I would say it should work for any single target direct attack, not just against physical attacks.

I have been looking for something like this because, at the moment, the main ways of surviving big hits are to a) have a damage shield that provides an ablative resource (health) before the actual resource is impacted, b) blocking and having high resistances (heavy armour and abilities) or c) moving out of the way, either by roll dodge or simply avoiding the hit, which is not always possible.

A double-cost dodge mechanic where you can avoid all damage for twice the cost of a successful block (also taking into account that you will then not cause disorientation in the attacking enemy compared to if you successfully block an ability or heavy attack) can provide an interesting new way to tank certain fights by avoiding the damage entirely.

The downside risk is that if you do not have sufficient resources to dodge (double the cost of a successful block), you will take full damage without any mitigation except from resistances and abilities (like spirit mender necro morph).

High risk and high reward type mechanic.

I can see this mechanic leading to some PvP issues, but reducing your damage output by replacing a skill for a moderate utility skill and needing to swop to other bar with single hand weapon from 2H/DW/Destruct damage-focused front bar and dodge at the right time, it could be useful for skilled players. I don't PvP a lot, so I cannot actually comment.

Ok. You have convinced me. I will add unarmed to the skills and passives, maybe changing some of the effects if using unarmed (e.g. to add an elemental effect to attacks since you cannot have enchantments or poisons (though I don't know if the poison slot is unavailable if there is no weapon equipped)). It will take a while, but I will draft some unarmed passives and some changes mainly to offensive skills.

Unarmed Weapon damage
Firstly, I think that we would need to make it + 1000 for weapon and spell damage if unarmed, so that class skills (whether magic or stam) will be viable and retain moderate damage compared to other weapons.

10% of 20 000 (average max stam, most ppl have much higher values than this) = 2 000, so 5% would be 1000, and 4% would be 800 extra weapon damage.

I think +4% weapon damage from stamina is too high (giving you, with the passive 1000 boost, about 1800 weapon damage for 20 000 max stam). I will have to look at the damage formulae, but while it may be too strong, it can reduce the impact of not having enchantments and poisons, so slightly higher base damage (with elemental effects) could be viable for unarmed. I think +1% max stam with one point passive and 2% with two points in the passive (looking at the second passive ability set) and maybe only for 5+ light armour pieces equipped to reinforce the light armour for damage flavour.

You do not need to scale the weapon damage boost with level, because ESO already has this feature. A white level 1 sword used by a level 1 will provide the same damage as a white CP 160 sword used by a CP 160 character. Therefore, the 1000 boost is a good baseline throughout the game, albeit a touch on the low side even compared to white quality weapons of correct level.

Now, this resource (weapon damage) would also impact on the damage of class skills (if using the stamina morph), so an unarmed character would not be punished for using stam class skills on their unarmed skill bar.

It does seem that the current views you and I are expressing for an unarmed skill line is mainly focused on stamina (monk melee combat archetype, ES4 monk had fists and bow as main skills so very much stamina/physical damage focused), so I will have to think how this would work with a magic user who wants to also only use fists. ... Maybe providing the same 1000 spell damage boost would be enough, since they can then stack their preferred resource (max mag or stam).

Set Problems
A problem comes from not being able to upgrade your fists, like blue/purple/gold weapons; the quality of which does improve weapon damage compared to white quality. While this problem can be overcome by providing a higher base damage for unarmed (you don't want to load too much onto one dimension like base damage or it can potentially be exploited or lead to imbalances).

The opposite problem is that you will need fewer (as in none) resources to compete effectively with those people who improved or have purple/gold weapons, reducing the need to collect gear sets.

While this may appeal to people who do not care to collect gear, it does introduce a moderate balancing issue where you need to invest less to compete effectively, but you also lose the utility of enchantments and poisons so it could work out moderately fair.

A further problem also comes from a single slot providing double benefits for sets, as you suggested. With the precedent of staffs and 2H weapons providing two brackets of any set, and therefore you do not need to collect e.g. two weapons of a single set if DW compared to 2H and staff guys only needing one to get 2 brackets of set bonuses, it could be made to work without being overpowered, as well as providing an unarmed character with some different flavour.

I'll be back with an unarmed passives and etc.

Glad I could at least help. I did think 4% might be high as well, wasnt sure how high it would need to be competitive.

Also I did give that passive for shoulders and helms to count as 2 pieces for loss of enchants. Same problem though with needing less gear however.

That weapon damage could count for spell damage too.

Only thing I can think of is needing to collect bracers for unarmed to fix the gear issue. Would work as a weapon but only changes the end of your hand style. Would basically be a weapon for all intents and purposes even though its not truly unarmed. Whatever you decide is best.

selig_fay

Problems: weapon skill lines rely on stamina for damage, making them generally poor choices for casters. Therefore, such a skill line would have to provide for both casters using the skill line and stamina builds, but, again, not another damage skill line, but an evasion, gap-maker (opposite of gap-closer) and general mobility/utility skill line.

Give him a temporary magic weapon. For example, the GW2 mechanic has the number of charges for a summoning weapon.I think that something similar was in the main quests of TESO.

It's like an idea for your 1 of skill lines if you want.