Imagine this: You are a level 5 warrior/rogue, travelling from Riverwood to Whiterun to meet the Jarl. Along the way, you find a Giant. Knowing how idiotic strong they are, you either fight them and suffer a certain death or run past it and make it to your objective.

Now, this situation occurred to me whilst rolling a Mage archtype. Focusing on Destruction/Restoration/Conjuration. I am level 5 and currently cannot use Conjuration. Boldly, I assaulted this Giant with flames on each hand, since holding a healing spell in one hand is futile since any damaging strike will outright launch you into orbit. Using the environment, observation of his movement and attack patterns, I actually managed to kill him, without taking damage.

Sure the battle might took a minute or two and a lot of running and using elevation, but I managed to do this on a level and fashion I held impossible. So to all you Mages out there. Use your wits, common sense and your arsenal beyond Destruction to survive. Currently summoning a Fire Atronach as my 'defence' helps me out in a lot of situations.

Take this as an encouraging thread and find comfort that this is a viable choice. I know I am not level 40 and have yet to suffer for the non-scaling of my Destruction spells but there are always ways to compensate for this, I am sure of it!

There is no shame running away from a giant at level 5. Giants, just like other creatures and certain dungeon bosses do not level. They are powerful right off the start. I thought most people were complaining about leveled creatures since Oblivion and the game being too easy.

I wasn't saying other types are cowards or there is shame in running with such low level. I was simply pointing out a Mage can be a very fun archetype and found it surprisingly effective and viable to deal with threats in creative ways. Which is taking a Giant with just a flame spell.

Yeah, sure, can be done.. at low level.