I have tried two different characters in Dragonborn. I have only played each for a few hours. My level 45 character can pretty much handle the Ash Spawn. The Deathlords are a little easier to handle. My level 20 character is having a tough time. I can not find what level the Ash Spawn are. They are tough on the lower level character. More than one will overwhelm my level 20 character if there is not enough room to maneuver. Level 20's spell hardly seem to affect the Ash Spawn, (using frost, no fire elemental damage). Level 45 can kill them with spells as long as they are distracted, but weapons with electrical damage do best. I am guessing the Wikis can only give us this information after the PC version comes out next month.

Also, how does the redoing your perks work? Is it something you can do after completing the main Dragonborn quest?

Any level but it is geared towards higher levels.

As for resetting perks, it is done after completing the main questline yes. There will be an option for a dragon soul per perk to tree to reset that tree.

Late 20s is about as early as I'd go, but the material will feel less challenging (on Adept) if you wait too long, so I'd say 30-35 is about ideal.

Yeah, 30+ would be good, since you should have some pretty neat perks by then.
I went there at level 1 after finishing it with my main. I'm still crying. I died so many times. And that was actually on Novice.
On the plus side, the loot has been better now.

My second play through of it was with a lvl 6... That was an experience.

Around 30.

I had one character go there at lvl 12 and they enemies were too tough.

I think I went at about 45 and I still found the Ash Spawn to be a little difficult. One or two is fine but if you get three or four on you, it can be problematic. It doesn't help that I was playing as a vampire, and thanks to Dawnguard making it so I'm not attacked on site in cities at stage 4, I tend to let my character remain "thirsty" for a bit. I get away with this because of playing a Dunmer, but until I made the actual effort to get some gear with fire resistance, I was hurting until I figured out how to defend against and fight them.

But yeah ... with the Lurkers and Ash Spawn I'd say late 20s/early 30s is a good place to start.

Also, I'm pretty sure some of the side quests don't become available until you reach a certain level too.

I hit the island at level 10 and never looked back.

I started at lvl 10 and it was too hard. Try going in at lvl 20. Take it to note that I play on the highest difficulty as a mage so I wear no armor. Yeah, I'm a bad@$$ like that.

With level scaling and the option to change your difficulty level, I think any character at any time can complete any part of this game that you want them to.

edit - My character is level 55, and to be honest I haven't found anything in Solstheim to be remotely challenging.

I keep it on Adept difficulty level when I play. If I lower it to Novice or Apprentice, I kind of feel like the game won. I won't hesitate to lower it if I need to get out of a difficult situation.

I'd say 36.

At level 53, I found some moments difficult, but not anywhere near as hard as playing at level one.

I was experimenting not too long ago on what Level is most reasonable, and for which "Class" (Warrior, Mage, ect.)

I found that when you're a "Warrior" kind of Character, it's best to start around level 20-25, as the enemies are more to your level, but still a challenge.
When being a Mage, I found it was best to start around level 30, as you're probably got some higher tier spells, plus enough Magicka and Perks to hold your own. Enemies can then be damaged much more easily witht he better spells, which is pretty obvious anyways, but still.
I started a Sneaky Ranger character at level 22, and the enemies were quite a challenge. But, I have to be honest, I'm not so good as a Ranger character, expecially the "Sneaky" part. I did, however, find that it's best to start around Level 25 if you're that Sneaky Ranger Character.

So all in all, it's best to start around Level 25-30.

Started it at lvl. 17 on Master. The Ash Spawn gave me pause but I handled them. Had I rolled any other character than a dual-wielder, it would have been a lot tougher.

Interesting observations ... I've been thinking about this a lot.

My sneaky character was doing well in Skyrim because his early points went to sneak and bow, so he hit very hard from the shadows and basically one-shotted most enemies. Thing is, though, against multiple enemies in Solstheim with longer health bars, those one-shot battles didn't work, and he suddenly felt very weak. Remember that once you're in combat you are throwing away a hell of a lot of points and perks in Stealth, so you're character starts to feel gimped.

It's the same with a god-in-the-making character, where a lot of points have gone into Smithing, Enchanting and Alchemy but you haven't got any of those high enough to be o/p.

If I were trying Solstheim relatively early, I'd try to go for a build where every point went to damage output and mitigation, whether along mage lines or warrior lines. You'd also need as many level-up bonuses in health as possible, so you'd need to find magicka- or stamina- boosting gear early in Skyrim before going. The Gauldur amulet quest might help, but I'm not sure how hard that is for a starting character.

This is exactly what I was trying to get at with the "Sneaky Ranger Character" part.
Yeah, I could nearly One-Shot an enemy, but in this DLC, enemies come in Groups, so the Stealth aspect of things has gone right out of the window.

As for the Gear you wear, it's difficult to get decent Weapons and/or Armour/Robes in the early stages of the game. But, once you get to around Level 20, helpfull Equipment starts to show up in the odd Boss Chests.

If going to Solstheim as a Mage in the early stages of the game, I would consider completing the COW Quests to get the Arch-Mage Robes. They'll give you the Boosts to Magicka and Reductions in the Magic Schools you'll need, combined with maybe the Ring of Erudite (or whatever it's called) from the Dawnguard Vampire Miscellaneous Quest.

Doing the Thieves Guild Quests to get some good Sneaky Gear would help for "Sneaky Ranger Characters". Maybe Linwe's Armour (I think that's her name) for the added Bow Damage.

All of these things can be obtained before you even get to Level 20. So there's the way of preparing your lower level Characters Equipment-wise, but as for perks and Stat Points, I would just put quite a few points into Health and a little in Stamina for a Warrior and Rangers, and for Mages, I'de put like... 30/70 to Health and Magicka, with Magicka being 70 and Health being 30. So basically, for every 10 levels, put 7 points into Magicka, and 3 points into Health.

it all depends on how you want to play to be honest, and this is all my Personal Opinion. You can do whatever you want really. Run into Solstheim at Level 1 with nothing but a Shiv if you like. I'm just giving little Help Guidlines to people who want to start at a lower Level than my Personal Level Requirement (around Level 25).

I'm Lvl 81. So far it has been way easy on 81 but I'm about to restart on a lower lvl.

I've played through a few times now on different characters. The general trend I think is:

Level 1 - 10; too hard, Deathlords (and Scourges) and Ash Spawn will own you, quests are way too difficult (even killing netches is hard), but you can find some amazing loot to get you off to a running start

Level 11 - 20; still pretty difficult, but can be done, especially with the help of a companion like Teldyrn Sero, but you will find Deathlords a problem, and swarms of Ash Spawn can be a pain, again you can find some nice loot for this level

Level 21 - 30; probably the best level, you'll find some battles (usually boss battles and higher levelled enemies) challenging, but most won't be too hard or too easy, and you'll probably find some good stuff for your character too

Level 31 - 40; things will generally be easy, you may struggle with some things, but most things will be easy, and the equipment you find may be an upgrade but you may already have Dragonplate/Daedric and you won't be able to experience the new armours unless you downgrade

Level 41+; you won't find many things difficult, maybe the boss fights, and I doubt you'll find anything that's an upgrade to what you've already got unless you haven't used crafting skills at all

(This is all based on Adept difficulty)

I'd say 15-25 is a good range because you'll be able to experience all of the new stuff and it won't be too easy or too hard.

I agree with this except for the last - I'd say start at about 18-28. Your descriptions of what it is like at the various levels is very good.

Yeah, that's a better range I think. I first played through on my level 40 warrior who has full Dragonplate armour + weapons... it svcked finding Bonemold, Nordic Carved and Stalhrim stuff and not being able to use it without jumping down loads of armour rating. And on Master, on Solstheim, losing armour is not something you can do.

Me too. It was easy at that level. Took a newbie to the island next time and got handed my hat...took him back to Skyrim to level up a bit and came back for a better fight.

I agree. My level 81 is walking around with too much swagger like he owns Solstheim. I will need to create a new character. Perhaps a Dark Elf returning to his homeland???

Started a new character today and it's going to be my first attempt at Master difficulty (I've played about fifteen characters on Adept). I'm going to try Solstheim about level twenty, but so far I've been surprised at how like Adept this difficulty level is. Admittedly, I'm not making it hard: I've got a follower and Fire Atronachs. Still, I was expecting very frequent reloads, yet I've done Saarthal, two steps of the Gauldur quest (just the combination left) and killed the frost troll on the route to High Hrothgar. Based on a conjuration/destruction build I'm expecting my damage output to hit the wall by 30 and start falling behind but I don't want to use enhancements or melee weapons just yet.

Admittedly, I'm not looking forward to the Azura's Star quest (may have to leave that) but I certainly feel I'm laying the foundation for a visit to Solstheim down the road.

well, any armor points above 576 I believe (or around there) do not do anything. I'm rocking a carved Nordic chest and head, and dragon plate boots and gloves, and am about 20 over the cut off.

Longish answer...

I guess you'd call me a casual gamer (Bethesda games are pretty much the only video games I'll play). But I went into it at level 13, and was having a pretty hard time getting through fights without replaying them a dozen times over. After hiring Sero (I *love* him, BTW....especially his voice and random 'old man cough'), I had no problems. Default difficulty and ancient Nord armor, but I admit a little ace up my sleeve (purple fiery soul trap enchantment on a silver sword). Nothing improved either, because I don't ever do that (I think it ruins game balance).

TL;DR - 13th level with hired companion. If I can do it, anybody can.