I was wondering if enemies have skills, perks and levels like the player. On many occasions at fairly high levels I've been almost sliced to bits by a bandit with a simple iron sword. Is it his skill and perks that make him so deadly with it, and conversely would I be that deadly with a simple iron sword at the same skill level and with the same perks? Or is extra damage being added by the difficulty setting?

I'm asking because I'm curious if the quality of a weapon isn't all that important compared to your skill with it.

And also because I want to play with a "fair", and "normal" difficulty setting, with no modifiers making it easier or harder. I'm assuming that would be Adept. But...

I've always played on Expert because I enjoy a challenge. I enjoy it when that bandit nearly slices me to pieces. But next time I want it to be mano e mano, skill to skill with no modifiers. Would that be Adept or is there always a modifier applied to damage depending on what type of enemy you're fighting?

I hope I've explained that clearly. Thanks very much.

Enemies have always seemed to get bonuses that the player does not.

For example, enemy mages at times seem to have almost an infinite amount of magicka, or extremly high magicka regen, while player mages have very limited of each. Another would be the issue with some archer enemies, draugr deathlords being the prime example, being extremly strong.

Difficulty can play a factor, as:
Novice - Player Damage (PD) x2, Enemy Damage (ED) x.5
Apprentice - PD x1.5, ED x.75
Adept - PD x1, ED x1
Expert - PD x.75, ED x1.5
Master - PD x.5, ED x2

Bandit leaders with two-handed weapons tend to have limitless stamina for limitless power attacks.

If you look at their names carefully, there are more than one kind of bandits.

Bandit: Level 1 weak. useless
Bandit Outlaw: Level 5. a bit stronger
Bandit Thug: Level 9
Bandit Highwayman: Level 14
Bandit Plunderer: Level 19
Bandit Marauder: Level 25. pretty strong

So remember this name: Bandit Marauder and be more careful whenever you see these guys. Also, within each class of bandits, there are 10 or 20 subtypes each with different weapons and races. I worry mostly about two-handed warriors and archers. One-handed Bandit Marauders are mostly harmless, because they don't do that much damage.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bandit