ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Thread must not be confused with the similarly named tree. I just named it this cause it is dirty.

The idea I'm about to describe fits best with Marauder, or maybe some new class that could be something like marauding Marauder x2.

Basically what I'd want to see is a class able to throw in unarmed punches with their free hand instead of dual wielding.

Actually there could just be some new tree using such abilities instead of dual weapon stuff.

One of the skills would of course be the unarmed thing that would passively give you a certain chance to do an unarmed strike at your opponent.

One skill could be a sustain that would override the unarmed punch and instead throw sand at your opponent trying to distract (daze) or blind them with some probability.

There could also be a sustain that would also override unarmed punch, basically holding your one handed weapon two handed to give maybe a little added damage bonus and accuracy. Maybe a small armor penetration bonus as well.

The fourth skill would be active one, maybe instant cast to fit into theme of doing stuff with your free hand. Maybe a preparation thing that would give you a one turn speed penalty after which you would get a speed bonus of some sort for your next skill execution.

What about % of a bonus headbutt attack (as Skullcracker, but weakened)?
Or stomp/kick, based on boot stats?

Also, for holding a one handed in two hands: I have been thinking of that as an addon for a longwhile, but the one time I tried it I ran into some technical issues. Would not work with knives, obviously, but it would boost damage slightly and let you use 2h talents.

Could this perhaps be added to the Marauder so that you could have an additional option for playing them?

If you take a look at the Stoic class addon, that has a talent similar to your proposed T3:

"Draw Stance: You focus solely on your mainhand weapon, increasing armor penetration and defense. You also gain stun and confusion resistance, and counterattack strikes. While this talent is sustained, you cannot block or use talents that require an offhand weapon. Draw Stance requires a one-handed melee weapon in your main hand to use. Draw Stance and Swashbuckling cannot be active simultaneously, and activating one will place the other in cooldown."

While it's a neat idea for an ability, I don't think it really fits with your tree. I prefer the idea of a tree focused more on the whole free-hand thing. The stuff below about kicks is a good idea too. Perhaps something along these lines?

Brawling:
Brawl - Leaving your off-hand free allows you to exploit openings with vicious punches, giving you a x% chance on attacking to make an unarmed strike.
At talent level 3 you have a x% chance to kick the target in an attempt to shatter their legs (or equivalent), dealing Physical damage and Slow, improved by boots.
At talent level 5 you have a x% chance for your critical strikes to stagger your foe, allowing you to headbutt them for x damage and x turns of Confusion, improved by headgear.
Cheap Shot - You use your free hand to throw dirt into the target's eyes, Blinding them for x turns. Instant. Each point in this talent improves the effectiveness of Brawl's status effects. (kinda boring, I'm sure someone has better ideas along this theme)
Snap Kick - Make a swift kick against the target, dealing Physical damage and knocking them back, as well as pushing aside any targets in their path. If the knockback succeeds you will rush to the target and strike them twice for x% weapon damage, with a x% increased chance of Brawl. Each point in this talent increases the damage of all Brawl attacks. (long range pushback, used to split up crowds, escape or get close to ranged)
Relentless Assault - You sheathe your weapon and unleash a devastating string of attacks against all adjacent targets, dealing x Brawl attacks split randomly. Each target can only be hit by up to x attacks (high cooldown, large number of attacks)