I'm wondering, has anybody really tried to level a more or less rounded character yet in Skyrim. I'm literally hesitant to even level up my alchemy or any of the magic skills I don't use that much, because I don't want enemies to scale to my level when the abilities I really on have stagnated. Is it pretty much a given that you have a pick a few perks devoted to killing and keeping you alive and level those?

Mine is pretty well rounded. I'm leveling up tons of stuff I don't use. I'm a mage with sneak at 60, smithing, alchemy, and enchanting at 40+. No perks in any of those.

If you're playing on normal, it'll be fine.

Depends on the tree. Some of the trees have worthless top tier perks, so you can generally either ignore them completely or at least get the one or two that matter to you. But the rule of thumb is to pick about three things you want to focus on, maybe specialize in the trees greatly, and accept that's all you'll get from them. For instance, instead of "I'll be a two handed player," it's "I'll be a greatsword player." Instead of "I'll be a mage" it's "I'll be a conjuration mage." Scratch that. It's "I'll summon zombies."

Pick one or two things and focus on buying perks that only relate to them.

Cool. I'm thinking I'll limit perks to archery and sneak with blades for now.