First priority is a balance mod. It's a toss up between Francesco's leveling mod and Adrenaline Oblivion. I'd like a compromise between the two if at all possible. Didn't notice away to adjust spawn counts in Francesco's customize options. If push-REALLY-came to shove I could get in the CS(some Morrowind experience).

I have a vague memory of a really good wig(wearable hair) mod that wasn't by Seph. Been looking for three days now.

Another vague memory. Did someone make an off-hand version of the Real Swords mods? Where can I find it?

Are there any mods that add magical "effects" not just individual spells? This could be virtual, not necessarily a new effect in the CS. Something that can be use in enchanting and/or spell making/alchemy.

And one quick question. Can Wyre Bash/OBMM merge leveled lists?

As far as spawn counts there are several OOO does this and level list. Also Wyre Bash one of its very basic functions is merging things like level lists.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10155 a quick search on google there are no pictures.
http://www.gamesas.com/redirect.php?site=http://www.slofshive.co.uk/index.php?page=modarticle&modarticle/id=5q0fzagu4uc another one. has pictures. The link for the last one does not work correctly you will have to copy and paste from the address bar on the new page that loads.

Balance: FCOM !
Magical Effects: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9424 ?
Wrye Bash can merge leveled lists

Incidentally, I'm having trouble understanding why OOO has compatibility issues. Most of the mods it's incompatible with do the same things OOO does. Or simply adjusting the load order and merging lists would seem to fix most problems.

The problem is scripts. Two scripts doing the same thing can yield rather ugly results. But in practice, the script incompatibilities I've seen with OOO are mostly cosmetic.