Here's my question...why is the Dragonborn seemingly the only character in the game with access to standing stones? Shouldn't NPCs also have access? I'd love to see a random bandit suddenly use the ritual stone to revive his dead comrades to try to kill me. Thoughts?

If I recall one of the books on them properly, they don't react to normal people, and it drove one author completely batty because of it.

I agree as it increases difficulty somewhat with a lot more diverse and interesting battles. But of course some standing stones have no noticable affect on npc's which is why I would also add NPC's the ability to raise skills same as I do. Which they do in a way but, harder battles early on would make me want to run away and try again later with better gear. Which skyrim poorly implements unfortunately. Morrowind or even the ridiculousness difficulty setting in oblivion were more spontaneous than the kill everything in skyrim. master difficulty easy mode if you know what your doing. Maybe a scouting ability that marks your enemy and relays its stats to you in a note or journal. The vampires make use of their powers so why can't a breton or a dark elf or even an argonian use their passive skills. There is probably a mod for all of this but, get what your saying. Having a nord with heavy armor with the steed stone running faster than you with heavy armor . Another thing I want is NPC's to have perks. Not just Dual casting etc, but, actual toughness that the dragonborn has to overcome. Not just some weak bandit that has an iron sword .