My Khajiit Monk and my Dunmer Witchhunter seem to be stuck at 30 Endurance for the rest of their lives, because I don't want to come up with a feeble excuse for cheesing Spear or Medium/Heavy Armor training. I'd rather just take those miserable 3 points of Health at each level up and hope they don't croak at the next enemy encounter.

I will probably have them use fortifying potions or spells to remedy the situation, but I find it a bit annoying.

Obviously, some attributes have it worse than others. Athletics and Acrobatics, for instance, level up spontaneously during regular gameplay, so Speed and Strength (and in some cases, even Personality with its Mercantile link) aren't that problematic. But you can't just accidentally use a spear or wear heavy armor. Maybe I should just mod Athletics to govern Endurance! Nah...

What are your roleplaying methods to counteract such character inadequacies?

I am actually and seriously thinking about placing a good level cap and fixing multipliers to 5. But that would be a modding solution.

Leaving out Mods and training your only alternative is to actually use a spear or wear heavy/medium armor.
Even with a skill level of 5 you should be able to kill mud crabs and other small vermin with a spear.

There are also 15 books available (somewhere) that will raise those 3 skills.

Or.....raise Endurance 1 point every time you level up.

I used to be concerned about efficient leveling, but now I just play and don't worry about it. From a role-playing aspect, I think it's better just to pay your class and level the attributes that are attached to your major and minor skills. For me, it's more about balance and trade-offs. Since my PCs that can use sneak or illusion are able to creep up on a individual and score a kill, it makes sense to me to not be has "healthy" as a combat class PC. Conversely, most of my combat PCs do not have high agility until close to the end of leveling and they usually have low intelligence, wisdom, speed and personality. I do realize that some like efficient leveling, but I just don't care anymore lol. If you are into mods and a more organic leveling experience, you might want to check out http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=2030. I myself haven't used it yet, but many people enjoy using it.

My very first character, or at least the first character that I played to the end of the main quest, was probably the most inefficiently leveled and poorly "designed" characters I've ever played. however, he still ended up with a ton of health, and with alchemy to help boost both the amount of health and the rate at which it regenerated, he only rarely died past level 20. I don't think I ever saw an x5 multiplier with that character, in fact I remember thinking that x3 was the maximum until I read otherwise.

Medium armor is everywhere, so I don't think it would be too farfetched to throw on some medium boots or bracers for a few levels and gain some endurance that way. Even when I've played an unarmored character, sometimes I just put it on for a short while because I looted it from somewhere.

I've already tried GCD, but it didn't really stick. I want to experience the game using its own rules.

Hlormar's suggestion of just playing the class as it is (and in accordance with the character's background story) is what I'm doing at the moment, Endurance be damned. But that part of OCD I apparently have is calling me names.

I think I'll just keep on playing this way with potions as support, but thanks for all your other suggestions. The +1 (or +2 with a proper book) method hasn't really occured to me either! Thank you jeabo!

The game is about choices. If your monk were a female Khajiit with favored Endurance and The Lady as birth sign, then you would start with 75 Endurance. Pretty much the same applies to your Dunmer.

I never use trainers or books or mod anything. I level up by using my Minor skills first. I make about 5000 potions to max Alchemy. I then travel all over Vvardenfell helping NPC’s by bribing them with Speechcraft. Next, I max Enchant by making a lot of minor items that “disintegrate armor 100 points for 1 second on self”. I use these to max my Armorer skill. Finally, I max Mysticism by casting Trap the Soul on summoned Daedra. This gets me about to level 43. I have millions of drakes, lots of enchanted gear, I’ve done a recon of the urban areas and most NPC’s treat me like a rock star.
Now with several hundred health points, I hone Block, Heavy Armor, Short Blade and Marksman skills in combat against summoned Bonelords and Daedra (no cheesy mudcrab academy), all the while running everywhere to max Athletics. It’s not really a grind to amass millions of drakes, hundreds of enchanted items and tons of Daedric and Ebony weapons and shields. With maxed attributes and skills, I'm ready to rock.

I was actually asking about any suggestions that would cater to roleplaying, not powergaming, but thanks for playing.

I have since decided to live with the characters' deficiencies (as long as they do, that is). None of the characters in question had any reason to train either of the three Endurance skills, so that was pretty much the only roleplaying decision I could make, really.

Might as well summon the mods to lock this thread...

before this thread gets locked, I'd like to give you an update on my not caring attitude. Drusilla and Etain both died (for different reasons) but Bear is doing quite well. I have started yet another stealth PC named Feltchen and so far so good. The lack of strength and endurance has made me really focus on marksmanship, sneak and short blade. The attributes that I am focusing on are agility, speed and intelligence. So far this type of game play has been really fun and I highly suggest that you continue playing in that way! Cheers!