I know that strength effects your ability at melee combat, but I'm wondering by how much. In particular, I'm wondering if strength (as is the case with other games I've played) has any significant association with blunt weapons such as staffs.
The reason I ask is because I decided to specialise in blunt weapons this time around, and I'm finding my character's ability to pulverise something with a daedric staff is not much less than in the past when I have wielded a daedric claymore. Yet, a claymore is supposed to dish out significantly more damage.
note: I always begin the game with the difficulty level set at 50, and increase it by ten notches each time I level. I also try to have as many multipliers as possible, though that is more difficult now with using NOM. Indeed, I probably have fewer multipliers now (since NOM requires you to sleep)... so this doesn't make a huge amount of sense...