Wow, I'm ending the Raven Rock quest and confronted Carnius Magius
about the Skaal Attack, and he went berserkers on me. Totally caught me
off guard, and to no avail, I got owned.

He's no Gaenor, but still not to be taken lightly as I did. Sad to say but
it took me 3 tries to take him down. I was only wearing the local bear
armor. I had to go back to Vv and break out my good armor (rated 130)
and longsword plus about 4 bottles of exclusive health restore.
AND I had help from a summoned Creeper. Wow, what rush!

Has anyone else been surprised by his health and been whooped by him?

Well I wasn't surprise that he was hard, but his health was larger than I excepted but I knew he was a heavy hitter with that Mace because it does like 5-45 damage...

yeah, i made the same mistake a few days ago, but i was only level 14, so i got super owned in 2 hits lol and when i reloaded i was all the wayy back at the quest for stealing ore.

I figured he was trouble so i had alot of potions ready in advance so i could deal with him.

I didn't do that, but I do follow my instincts and save save save.
LOL...I had close to 400 saves just doing the MQ. I gotta try this
ironman thing I've been hearing about. Knowing what I know
now about the game I'm sure its not so bad. I'm sure it would
be a major challenge for a fresh player.

Looks like I need to stop using the black/white cheats. I really haven't felt any such rush since I found out about them

Dungeons used to scare me [censored]less... now I just stride through them without a second thought. I'm definitely going to refrain from using such cheats for the final quest.

For a bureaucrat he was incredibly strong and soaked up a lot of damage. He's obviously had some training in the martial arts.

Don't get me wrong..he's no Almalexia, Gaenor or Hircine but he is no slouch and ranks easily in the top five toughest fights for all my characters. I'd recommend taking potions and enchanted items.

A few times i decided to kill him for fun. No cheats,glitches or mods were used. He was tough the first time because i had forgot the health potions i was going to bring.

Trust me, I have a game save right up to the point of confronting him put back
just to try different methods of killing him.

I'm still not bad enough with my new character to f with Gaenor yet.

There are some arrows in a hollowed out tree stump behind the Thirsk mead hall you may find useful, if you have any skill at all in Marksman.

I'd save those for a certain Frost Giant and Daedric Prince however.

edit: Just never EVER use one of those on Gaenor! The reflect will end you.

I rather foolishly thought 'sod it, he's a 40-something merchant with egomania, and I'm a semi-divine being, nooo problem." Didn't go too well.

I never saw a problem with him. One health potion (custom made to be about 12hps for 30secs.), a daedric wakizashi, and a burst of adrenaline rush and he was down without a problem.

Nope! Then again, i was badass level 37-39 at the time with a Daedric Wakizashi that was enchanted with 20 something to 40 health absorb. i had all glass armor on (except i may have had a right fist of rangulf [however it's spelled]). also, i was a good three yards from him. as soon as i talked to him about the raid on Raven Rock, he did get pissed. i was ready (as i like to read what people say) and clicked Goodbye. once i did I drew out my Wakizachi of the Shade (name of my wep btw) and clicked my attack button once. Downed. Then again, i guess i forgot about the level mod down to -100 after MQ on the mainland as the expansion keeps killing me fast. still, he was easy, even when he didn't get a chance to attack me.

Stop bringing back old topics that have been dealt with and answered.