REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEE EEEEEEEEEe

The answer is no. A big fat no.

Every few weeks in global this topic comes up in global, and I take it a bit to personally when people say Sword/Unarmed or Unarmed/Bow is gimped, because its not. All it does is limit your choices; it in no way "gimps" the toon. Here is why, as a matter of undeniable fact:

1) You have a full bar of skills - I use Headbutt, Punch, Infuriating Fist, Bodyslam, Knee Kick, and Kick/Jab depending on what mods are more relevant for the situation. I used to have Slashing Strike, but couldn't spare mods for it (dedicated them to Kicks/Punches)

Bodyslam and Knee Kick do great damage output, Infuriating Fist is my taunt, and Kicks restore a shit ton of Armor, punches mitigate damage. Headbutt is also a hell of a skill, mitigates damage, does good damage, low power cost.

2) More than enough Mods - As I stated earlier, I had to take Slashing Strike off my hotbar because I didn't have enough mods space, even with fully augmented yellow armor (6 mods per piece).

If, say, I had mod slots open or combat hotbar spots that were unused, then I would be willing to admit I'm gimped.

TLDR; It does NOT gimp you, merely limits your options in terms of what combat skills/mods you can use (and for the record, it doesn't even really do that; hip throw is the only skill that I really miss - Mamba and Cobra strike are poop.)