I think this really points out some balance issues. My mage follower can nuke endlessly and go toe to toe with any master necro or other powerful NPC/Mob.

My warrior follower, in full enchanted ebony dies easily to high level bandits, and lasts 2 seconds on mages/necros.

Lately, I've been using my warrior follower a lot more just so I can level up light armor easier. (Mage follower kills things too fast). I know in general people say "don't use followers" but I like party based RPGs, I like pets in RPGs etc... and followers are great at carrying stuff.

So other people have same experience?

BTW I can't use mods so please hold off on listing all the mods that fix everything wrong with Skyrim I know there are great TES mods for everything out there, but they don't allow it on consoles.

I use extra difficulty mods and I don't even die that fast w/ ebony.

Are you at armor cap with smithing? DO you have magic resist? Take magic resist stone , do book of love, and maybe a magic resist item.

Followers, booheads. Not his player char.

magic resist: neck,finger,shield.

The followers that you get, did you just meet them for the first time or did you meet them first when you were in level 5? My understanding is that followers stay in the level when you first encounter them, i.e. when you enter the same cell as the follower to be. You can reset the level using wabbajack or console commands.

Maybe you know this already and you did that already. If they are dying easily to magic users despite that, it's probably because they don't have any elemental or magic protection. Wearing ebony armor does not help against fireballs or lightening. You can enchant their gear with some magic resistance and/or fire/frost/shock resistance enchants.

Can't use console commands. I did meet Lydia level 5, and mage like level 20something.

I did give them both a couple of resist items, but not as much as my dual resist stuff.

I think that nails it tho. A mage follower doesnt even need resist items since the mage just spams magic and kills everything. The Warrior has no innate resist, and needs to slowly hack and slash. The balance is way off with NPCs. The complete lack of any innate resists really ruins the warrior class.

I guess the balance is a 2 handed warrior can 1 hit kill anything, but I find that balance to be broken as well. I think it's silly that you can get 1 hit killed or 1 hit kill anything at level 1 or level 50.

Is your warrior focusing on two-handed, sword and shield or one-handed dual wield?

I had a lot of trouble with mages during my 2-handed warrior playthrough until I realized the trick is to get up close to them and stagger them with a power bash block so you interrupt their spells or shouts. With sword and shield you do the same.

As for dual wield, that is perhaps the most challenging as it's not so easy to stagger opponents. You might need to get an enchanted weapon to help, or use ice form shout to immobilize enemy mages/draugr bosses. I went with a dual wield melee assassin and built up sneak to get the backstab and silent roll perks.

Sounds like a case of the stuck stats on the warrior follower (because you met them at such a low level especially) to me. I noticed Erik the Slayer getting knocked down too easily and checked...his health was supposed to be something like 450. Stats getting stuck had left it down at something like 220. Oops. Some console trickery later and he was back to being his usual damage sponge self.

You can try fixing the warrior follower without console commands, for the record. Get your hands on Wabbajack (if you don't have it already) and dismiss the follower from your service. (Be sure to take any stuff you gave them first--otherwise it goes walkabout.)

When they start to leave, whap them with Wabbajack. Do this in an isolated area and save beforehand...being isolated avoids other NPCs aggro'ing you, and saving beforehand is in case they turn into a dremora as opposed to a chicken. Then give them a quick punch to change them back to normal. Grab them, rehire, and stats should be where they normally would be for whatever their level is.

FYI, followers do have their own set level caps that not even Wabbajack (IIRC) will budge them past. Some are capped at 50, others as low as 30 or 25. J'zargo is the only follower who will scale up to level 81 with the player...unless you have mods. It's also possible that your warrior follower capped out at 30 or so, and that's why he's struggling now at 40. Edit: Actually if it's Lydia you're talking about, she's capped at 50, so that's not it. Must be stuck stats then.

J'zargo does generally hold his own much better in battle than Lydia or Jordis, although Benor and Uthgerd have worked better for me as warrior followers. Brelyna stays out of the way, letting her atronach fight for her, so I don't have to worry about her safety. Faendal always stays at a safe distance. The Companions followers almost always need saving, in my experience.

Just a note, I'm talking about Followers battling mobs/NPCs. Not my PC

My Azura / Mage follower can pwn. When I'm watching TV I just sit back and let her kill everything. Lydia, I have to constantly baby sit

My Lidia in full orcish armor is quite resilient, even on Master...I die in one full Frost Dragon breath, while she can withstand nearly 3 before collapsing.
Too bad that last Frost Dragon chomped and threw her down the mountain lol

As others have mentioned probably due to mage follower being tougher to having been first met at a higher level. Also many combat followers seem to have no or little magic resistence hence mages cause them immense grief.

I'm slowly giving Lydia more resist gear, but being level 45 now, it's so boring to farm souls for enchanting

I don't think she is level stuck tho, I've been testing her out on melee mobs and she does ok. She still pretty much dies in any fight with more than 3 mobs, but that's just because of BAD AI and cheap NPC casters with endless mana.

I get a kick out of watching her do slow mo Melee kills every now and then. But it's annoying that in real fights when I actually could use some help, she is the first one down, or wasting time using that stupid bow.