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All three cause x6 dmg @ 25+ sneak. Are blade/blunt eminently superior to hand to hand in sneak attacks or can hand to hand be sufficient on it's own?
I guess blade/blunt can be poisoned and hands not. But with hand to hand, assuming no armor one needs no repair hammers. Opinions?

I did some testing last night. Minotaur levele 47, HtH = 100, Blade =1OO


Ebony gauntlets vs. a fine steel longsword. Sneak at 100 and Chameleon at 95%

HtH took five hits to kill the minotaur, while the fine steel longswords took only four.

My enchanted Daedric long sword with 100 drain health etc would have done it in two hits.

The problem was getting close enough to hit the thing because I always wanted to punch fromthe sword range I normally use, and that might be a problem in a real fight situation where the big punch knockes the monster back.

Is HtH a viable alternative to using unechanted swords? Yes, IMO. I always have HtH as a major skill, which means that I ONLY use it to level up, but that usually comes at upper levels (20-30) in oblivion worlds. You may get carpel tunnel syndrome from all the button tapping though. It would be similar to dagger fighting.

Thank you for the testing.

Gauntlets don't increase Hand-to-Hand damage.

At least I don't think they do.

I think there is a mod that adds their weight to damage calculation though.

Marksman make the superior Sneak Attacks (even if it's only a 3x instead of 6x) as you can pop someone from a distance, and if you use poisons, the target will likely die from the poison before they can close the distance and attack you.

Between Blade and Blunt, I'd say Blade is superior due to the speed. But since I've never successfully sneaked up on somebody without the help of Chameleon/Invisibility (they always notice me before I even get close!), the difference is moot.

I was rushed this morning and just added the gauntlet info because that was what I was wearing at the time. It is sad that the only HtH gauntlet bonus I have found, 'Hands of the lion?' is to the skill, not damage.

You can do both if you have one as a minor skill and one as a major. That way when it becomes difficult to add points, you can switch to building the other. I carry around the Honorblade from level-1 on, but I mainly use a silver dagger to build up my skill points and an enchanted blade to kill on command.

It's a big long game and you can wear a lot of different hats along the way. I find it best to concentrate on one thing for a set of levels. I am mainly an archer from level 11-on because I have built up my Blade/Strength and Destruction/Willpower by that point and need to build up agility, but some levels I will switch back to mainly killing with HtH. After level 3 or so 99% of my Destruction points are built by corroding armor on mooks I killed some other way.