Awhile back I came across a post talking about level scaling mods and somebody mentioned one that I had never heard of before. Adventurers Oblivion (found at http://bncomputing.com/ob/adventurers.html)

I downloaded it (it's only 777k big), and after messing around with it for about an hour I've found that I'm really intrigued with it. From the description of everything it does, it just might be the level scaling mod I've been looking for all these years. I like OOO and Fran's but I've always wanted a level scaling mod that was very minimal and tried to stay close to vanilla, but got rid of the major annoyances like bandits with rare high level equipment.

If anyone else uses this mod I'd love to hear some comments on how this plays once you get up there in level, say level 25 and up. The description of the mod doesn't make it clear whether or not at high levels there will still be lower level creatures to be found. It does mention that right from level 1 there is a small chance of coming across much higher level actors, but it doesn't say whether the reverse is true.

I really like how it changes healing, you can't instantly heal yourself like in vanilla, it's even more unforgiving than the OOO setup. The basic heal spell you start with is magnitude 1 for 15 secs heal. The basic healing potion is magnitude 5 over 4 seconds. I also like that it says that the main sources of obtaining really good equipment are quests, oblivion, and bosses.

I'm hoping this one turns out to be the level scaling mod I've always wanted(which is funny because apparently this mod has been around since 2006). I've tried them all and I always end up despising some part of them and never play through a whole game. One I really like was TIE but for me the weapon changes make the game way to difficult. I like OOO but I end up hating the fact that you really can't do anything "fun" until you gain like 15 levels, also once you know where to find some really nice stuff, like Pegasus bow, it's too tempting to just go get it at level 1, I just don't like static loot locations.

Anyone else use this mod extensively? Please comment on what you liked and hated about it, especially with regards to the higher level play.

a bit too unforgiving if you ask me I'm so get so tired of hearing the (Mario) death theme every time I die...feels like a teabag to me every time it happens. However, I do enjoy the idea of actually getting good loot from Oblivion...you know...the equivilent of Hell in the game? The realm of the existing "gods"? Why is there always such crap loot in there except the rare ONCE IN AWHILE Punished that may contain one good piece of equipment and a barely worthy amount of gold to call it "loot".

And bosses? It wasn't until about a year ago (I have owned Oblivion since it was released nearly) that I noticed a friend owned the official Oblivion guide, and I flipped to a page that said there was a boss at the end of a ruin. At that in the point it shocked me, there are actually enemies that are considered to be excessively harder in the game than normal enemies at your level? It wasn't until OOO that I could really tell what enemies were bosses and what wasn't...but even still those "bosses" didn't feel like bosses, but just over-powered normal enemies...like an enemy I should be fitting at a higher level. (Which I know that sort of contradicted my previous sentence but I cannot describe exactly what it is like fighting an enemy).

As for quests...I actually thought a lot (but not all) of the quests in Vanilla Oblivion was pretty gracious with their gifts. I remember when I got Red Wave (vanilla enchanted Cutlass) and I thought it was one of the most epic weapons I could get! Oh, and when I finally heard that "plink" and the xbox achievement thing came up, telling me I completed the Thieves guild, finally seeing the mysterious Gray Fox's face for the first time was great, but the best reward was his mask. It was like having 2 profiles in one profile! I played both the benevolent hero and the malevolent thief.

Anyways, it sounds alright, but I still like my OOO - even if it's unfair sometimes! I was just minding my own business around Bruma one day and next thing I know I get pawnched in the face by the Abominable snowman and die in one hit! WTF is with that? Anyways, nothing is perfect, but I think OOO (in my opinion) hit about 75% close to perfect. However, once I can get my oblivion to a more stable state I will download it and run AO on a new profile (I have wanted to play an Argonian, as my first profile I EVER, ever ever ever started on TES was an Argonian) and I will let you know my thoughts if you still care to know at that time, which who knows how long it will take to get my Oblivion stable.

I've been using Adventurers for some time and I like it. I mainly got it because I wanted a smaller, lighter alternative to OOO or Frans. As you say it does thing like healing quite differently. I'm lvl 39 and, yes, I do encounter quite a lot of lower level creatures. Just when I think the game is too easy I meet some lich or vampire that wipes me out. It's unpredictable which I like.

I'll answer my own question after playing with this for awhile:

Adventurer's Oblivion gets a lot of stuff right, but there are a couple of little things that unbalance the game too much. The big one is that it does not take long at all to have more septims than you know what to do with. The reason is that AO increases the value of most loot by quite a bit. I completely understand what the author was trying to do, that is higher quality items made from higher materials should be worth more than the vanilla prices, however the side effect is that it is way to easy to make money in AO. I mean it completely takes away any sort of struggle to make money in the game.

If you can get past that I think AO makes a very nice light weight overhaul. If you're like me and you don't really like the extensive changes that OOO makes, AO is a nice alternative, it keeps the game much more vanilla like and removes the bandits with daedric armor. It also balances the weapons better than vanilla. A 2H weapon does way more damage than a 1H. Bosses are better balanced as well. The thing I also like is that Bosses in AO tend to actually stand out because they are much better equipped.

well that is good to hear
Am I going to get slack for continuing use of OOO?

I can never get to that point where I have money to just blow in Oblivion. well, not when it is modded. I have so many things added to the game that cost money that I never have a moment where I don't need money. Even my own mod is screwing me over in money