So far, I've played Skyrim as a fighter mage and a thief. I thought I would try something else and I came up with the following "challenge build". The rules are:

(1) When possible always have a follower. Any follower is fine.
(2) Unless a follower is unavailable, or a quest requires it, offensive skill sets are banned. No melee, archery, destruction or conjuration.
(3) When possible, clear out dungeons. This isn't a sneak build.

I recommend the following skills for perking:
- illusion (primarily for rally, but calm and frenzy are useful too)
- restoration (healing)
- blocking (sans shield bash)
- heavy armor
- smithing
- enchanting

I'm up to level 18 on this build (adept difficulty). Currently working on the companion quest line and the Mage guild, also grabbed one artifact that is useful for resetting follower levels. Playing on vanilla (ps3). What do you guys think? Any follower recommendations, or spots you think will be trouble?

I always find Companions making the game too easy, I never use them. Preference, though. Looks a little like my Cleric build (see signature), but instead of Illusion I have Alteration for the armor buffs. Also, I recommend sticking to one crafting skill only to keep the game balanced.

Ran into a Draugr Deathlord just now. Wow, fairly early. And they svck! Lydia went down in 2-3 hits, and my healing couldn't get her back up quickly enough.

Finally beat him by hiding on an out of reach ledge while I spammed healing hands. I'll probably stick to some easier dungeons until I can get my levels up a little more. Trolls = OK, but deathlords = NOT OK!

The problem is going to be that Lydia will eventually max her level and the content will just trash her, leaving you to fight or flee. But it sounds like your offensive skills will not be leveling up as you go, so then you'll get trashed. If you were on the PC there might be some alternatives, but on the PS3 I'm not sure this will work well for very long. Its a shame because its a playstyle that interests me.

Now see... I'd have gone the whole Healer / Minion-Master route... with the following modifications:

#1. No armour. Seriously. Your companions job is to defend you. If enemies get through... RUN AWAY! ... Also no weapon / shield either. Turning invisible is probably acceptable in emergencies.
#2. Get as many varied companions as possible... That means one humanoid, two dogs and a horse at the least...
#3. Conjuration. To summon MORE helpers. No weapon perks / spells though. The perk to dual-summon is the most important.