ChefDom Welcome to the forums! Sounds like you already know what you are doing and I don't have much to add to what others have already said about you needing a better AR to play DID at that level. Here is a useful link to the UESP page on Skyrim armor. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor There is a chart on that page that plots displayed armor rating against increased physical durability.

Since you are new to Skyrim, I was not sure of you were aware of the UESP site or not, but it has a ton of info about Skyrim and is pretty well organized. Don't know if that type of info is of interest to you and I will warn you that the UESP site has a lot of spoilers.

If I was to play a dead is dead character it would have to be a sneak type character because my Thief/Assassin is never surprised by anything. He always gets the first hit in and can disappear at will when the going gets rough. From my experience a warrior is pretty hard but a mage would present the most challenge due to very low health and little to no armor. I don't think I could do it though because I tend to be too careless and end up dying from something stupid and I'm not about to lose a character for that reason.

Just to add to what others have said, if you're going to rely on your armour to soak up damamge you do need a few more perks in it. My new sword and board Red Guard has 2 levels in Jugernaught at level 6. By level 26, if heavy armor is your primary means of defence, I'd expect at least 4 levels in Jugernaught and Well Fitted.

Thanx. I took a look and it was very helpful. Again, thanx to everyone else for the advice! Its a good place for tips and others might benefit from reading here.

Sneaky types definitely have a (much) easier time of it in the early levels, however a warrior or mage type can actually have an easier time of it at higher levels thanks to certain perks. That does depend on opponent and difficulty setting, though, as certain opponents are almost guaranteed death for a melee character on high difficulties unless you have ton of armor and resists.

Melee on Master is definitely rough in the early going, especially if the other guy is wielding a 2H weapon. I use a lot of hit-and-run to string out fights during that time, so that I can pop heal spells between 'rounds' to insure they don't get an auto-kill hit off. I don't use followers, though; someone who does would have an easier time of it, since they, being NPCs themselves, get the buffs that level of difficulty gives.