I've been coming across some very powerful foes during my time so far. Not like, "Hmmm this place looks dangerous, uh oh I think I better back away!" No its more like, well this is pretty faceroll *BAM*... and I'm dead. This feels wrong. If there is going to be such a powerful enemy that can one shot me, why are all of the other enemies I'm facing such weaklings? If they have a more powerful leader I would think the pawns would be more powerful to give you a heads up like "Oh hey we are actually pretty tough better think a bit more before you charge in!"

In other words I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this and I'm also wondering if this is maybe glitched or something. I understand powerful enemies that should be harder to kill, but there is no fight, there is they hit you, and you die, or you run around and TRY to avoid any attacks until you whittle them down which just feels stupid... thats not strategy, thats not using your abilities to try and best them. It doesn't feel right at all. Experiences? Opinions? This is really bugging me right now.

The irony here being that that is, in fact, strategy.

Get stronger then come back, youre probably going into areas above your level

I had this. A captain of a bandit crew in a pirate cave related to a Solitude quest. He was easily 10 levels above everything else in the cave and could one-shot me. Took me 5 or so tries to kill him using long rage and smart environment use.

I liked it though. Added some spice and challenge to the game. I felt really awesome when I finally killed him and yelled triumphantly at my screen.

It's the new leveling system. Some enemies will be stronger than others. So keep leveling up.

try a giant...

I swear those guys have "nuclear clubs"; 1 hit and you can start singing...

"my dream is to fly, over the rainbow, so high..."

remember, the dungeons have level ranges. if you are level 10, but the min lvl of the dungeon is 20, the bosses will be set to 20, the trash mobs may be closer to your level tho

Well I guess its intended from a couple of the replies. Does this really not bug anyone else? I enjoy a difficult fight, when I first found the bears I was proud to get the better of them, but this really really feels like overkill. Every captain or boss-like character is immensely powerful, there doesn't even seem to be a difference in their power! I mean come on, not every leader should be the same power. I don't even think I'm in that high of a level area (not that I think I can even check!).

If it helps, I'm attacking a Forsworn camp to the east and a little south of Markarth. I'm about halfway past level 14. Is this too high an area for me, because it doesn't feel like it. Should I just start being extra careful around camps and areas where there could be some sort of captain?

Yea its funny how I can kill werewolves but a darn sabre tooth cat can pwn me in two bites.

I like that you can meet some stronger enemies, At least there is some challgenge to overcome, because most of the time you pwn everything that comes in your way

At level 4 i came across a Flame Atronach which literally ate my entire inventory of healing potions, the game is certainly keeping me on my toes as i now have the feeling that ill bump into more higher leveled enemies at lower levels

That would be tactics.

Strategy is "I'm going to use magic to defeat my opponent".

Tactics is "He's lunging for me now, I'm going to use my shield spell."

Strategy is your overarching plan. Tactics are the plan's details.

Nice try though.

Yeah i had similiar experience today. I was in a dungeon just a bit north-east from whiterun that is full of falmers. I was level 14 and i was able to kill falmers pretty easily. At the end of the tunnel was the boss. I thought "alright, only one falmer archer. This should be easy!" How wrong i was... It wasn't actually the archer that killed me but his little friend. A giant ****ing machine. I didn't even see it first so i sneaked behind the archer, used dagger to hit 6x damage, almost killed it and B00M. One hit KO out of nowhere. I was glad i had quicksaved at the entrance to the room. Used a bit of my sneaky tactics to kill the archer from distance while avoiding contact with the machine. The machine was quite easy fight in the end. It did quite a bit of damage when it was able to hit but his defence and health was pretty low.

The Dwemer ruin with the collapsing floor is worse. Not only are the Falmer a nightmare to fight at low levels, there's also no way out once you go in except past them.