Enemies - Level With You or Set?

[ritnfool]

I've just gotten my first Shout, and are Level 5. I wanted to do some sidequest work, but am worried about the levels of the enemies I'd face. Are they at set levels (like a traditional Dragon Quest game), or do they "level with you" so you don't walk into a one-hit kill zone? I was thinking about healing the tree in Whiterun and some other stuff I've gotten so far.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I'm working with Light Armor, and are concentrating on a 1H-with-Shield Warrior character, if it matters.

[voehringer_nitron]

Dungeons have minimum, and in some cases, maximum levels. For minimum levels, enemies will be at least that level, even if your character hasn't reached it. Maximum level means they won't get any stronger than that, even if you are.

Since you have your first shout, you have been to Bleak Falls Barrow, enemies there scale from level 6 to 20. So, if for some reason you decide to come back at level 30, enemies will be no stronger than level 20.

Some locations have a much higher minimum. High Gate Ruins (where you can find a word for the Storm Call shout), for example, is level 24 and up.

[alexander_dougherty]

It's a mixture.

As you level up, the range that enemies can spawn at increases, but they don't spawn at the max level, they spawn randomly within the range allowed... with most of them spawning in the middle of the range.

Some areas have max or minimum levels for enemies to spawn at.
You tend to get higher level enemies as you go north and west (or is it North and east?).

And some enemies only spawn once you reach a certain level, legendary Dragons for example are level 70+

[258789553873]

As stated, things level with you. Most of the time you can go anywhere you want without much problems, but SOME things in the game are set to a super high level as a minimum. Giants for instance are level 32, no matter what your level is. Obviously, you want to avoid them early on. Falmer and Dwemer dungeons I've found can have a pretty high base level (in particular I had one playthrough end after I went into a falmer dungeon for the companions that was setup so you couldn't leave out the entrance, only to find that everything in there was well above my level and undoable).

Really, as long as you avoid Falmer and Dwemer lairs and giant camps until mid game (level 20~30), you should be fine. You're not going to run into anything high above your level on the roads, or in bandit camps (those only scale up to level 24 anyway). Forsworn are the same, but they're all magic resistant and are far more likely to have spells, including powerful ones like fireball and ice storm. They also have a far higher level cap (which is in the 50s I think, not sure, I know the highest level ones are too high of level to be affected by the dead thrall spell). As far as I'm aware though, none of the forsworn camps have a high minimum level. They tend to only come across as being slightly harder than bandits. Of course, this could depend on your build; mages will find them harder than warriors due to their magic resist.

I believe bethesda originally recommended you avoid the mountains and snowy areas until later. Though honestly snowy regions only have stronger animals; everything else is the same as the ones that spawn everywhere else. Though falmer lairs ARE far more common. Most of the caves in the north are inhabited by them I think.

[Draufen]

though i learnt from uesp that trolls+giants are all fixed lvls, i think it was 30; but i guess you might know this yourself, if you accidentally came across them

[pemmons1]

It might be a good idea not to begin the main quest line immediately. In my next game, I plan again on activating the Thief Stone first, taking Faendal as a follower, and joining the Companions to work on combat skiils via their quest line. At the same time, to develop alchemy, smithing, enchanting, and sneaking. One way to develop smithing is to build a Hearthfire home, perhaps Heljarchen first because it is not too far from Whiterun. These skills will all stand a player in good stead for combat without much risk while leveling them up. The main drawback is that you don't get Breezehome until you have begun the main quest line. You may be living out of a barrel in the basement of Jorrvaskr for awhile, and getting hassled by Ireleth whenever you visit the mage or use the enchanter in Dragonsreach.