For example at one point when I play a mage, I'm gonna dual wield spells but I'm going to keep a drain health enchanted dagger in my inventory in case I run out of magicka in the middle of a battle. Your backup plans for the characters you'll play?

My backup plan will be the on/off button.

open console...type kill

Thinking about making my axe/shield or sword/shield Nord warrior carry a bow just in case maybe the hunting bow i saw on the Tokyo Games video i saw

some form of stealth enhancer I hope.

Chameleon like spells.

My character will use alteration magic for shielding spells and restoration for restoring health while my summons kill my enemies as they beat me in my heavy armor with my shield up, but if my summons get attacked I will draw out my mace and defend them. So you could say my backup will be my mace, I'm going to try to get by through the main storyline of Skyrim without using dragon shouts but if everything goes downhill I suppose my character could use a dragonshout as a desperate last restort.

My usual tactic.

LEG IT!

I only have plan A:

Notch, draw, loose, notch, draw, loose, notch, draw, loose, notch, draw, loose, notch, draw, loose, unsheathe sword, hack, slash, poke, hack, slash, poke, hack, slash, poke, svck in air, Fus Ro Dah.

And repeat.

if I can't kill my enemies, dying an honorable death is the only back up plan a warrior needs.

plan A:kill everything, if fails use plan B

plan B:run like hell, if fails use plan A

has never failed me.

Plan A: fling fireballs from mid range, close distance, thump with enchanted war axe and torch with spells.

Plan B: thump harder with enchanted battleaxe.

Walk away, whistling like I didn't just try to backstab him.

Then you never accidentally saved right in front of a Blind Deathclaw in Fallout New Vegas at level 5 I wish I had a backup plan in that game for such things, even considering using the console to kill it :S hope I won't make such a mistake in Skyrim.