No no, I think you misunderstand me. You're saying they must have some perks, like 20%, 40%, 60%, etc improved damage right? I'm saying that they don't have any perks, they don't have a perk system, they don't even have ANY system. They are hardcoded to do arbitrary amounts of damage depending on level. They are not modeled the way the player is.

On topic, though, my $0.02 is that you should put a few points into those perks. In fact, I think calling them "perks" is really a misnomer. They're skill trees. A perk that does 20% to 100% more damage is not a 'perk', it is a fundamental part of using that skill. If you want your character to swing a one-handed sword with any ability, you're gonna have to invest at least a few points.

Perks are not required for killing scaled enemies, however smarter play typically is. You can avoid any melee attack in the game if you play well enough at it. And slowly whittle down their health with your unperked (but hopefully still skilled) attacks. If this marauder is some form of caster bandit chief, well good luck.

I one hit kill normal bandits. Bandit plunderers sometimes take me down to 40% HP. Level 28. (smithing 90, heavy amrmor 60, block 60, one handed 70, ebony stuff)

I think the difference between bandits shouln't be that big.. Bandits are weaker than mudcrabs right now and some are stronger than dragons.

OH MY GOD I'M TRYING TO TEST THIS CRAZY THEORY I HAVE AND IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE WORKING


WTF!?!

When they count the most? What does that mean? There's only so many ways to do damage and take damage in this game. The 1H skill damage only goes up .5% with each skill point. You have to invest in the tree to do any real damage. Your only other chance is to Smith Ebony or higher weapons and enchant them. The same applies for your armor and Block. As someone already mentioned, these are less perks more actual skill trees. You can't get by not spending perks and the fact that you haven't spent any in 13 levels is why you are getting destroyed. There's no real point in saving them. Maybe one or two at the most if you have a short term plan.

A simple paralysis poison will cure your bandit problems instantly.

Go beat on some mudcrabs for a while, be sure to let them attack you, watch your health, when it gets low kill the mudcrab, rinse and repeat, this will increase your armor rating.

I do all my combat in light armor, mostly fur and foresworn, level 33 and I can thrash a bandit chief on default level.

I love it. It keeps the game challenging. I can take any bandit one on one, but at level 43, I still have to be very careful when rushing a group of them.

You can level enchanting/smithing, put perks in them and make good equipment to compensate for poor combat skills.
You can level combat skills, and put perks in them to compensate for poor gear.
You can level alchemy with perks and make lots of strong potions.
You can level speechcrafting/lockpicking with perks and buy good gear and lots (and I mean lots) of potions.
You can level sneak with perks and assassinate enemies.
You can level magic with perks and win fights with magic.
You can level pickpocketing with perks and steal your enemies equipment so you can kill them.

You CANNOT level combat skills and save the perks with the intent to use them on your low level skills when you get around to actually using them. In other words, don't save 13 perks because you plan on turning your level 30 enchanter (you can buy better enchanted gear) into a level 100 enchanter. You need to either level enchanting or use the perks in skills you have already leveled.

Yes you can >.> paralysis and health damage poisons work wonders + ingredients are easy to find and cheaply sold in stores.

This is a good idea. Those skills are great to use even as you level them up. I made a couple enchanted daggers with common soul gems at low level they worked great for many levels. Plan your character, use your points as you get them and use your skills. You casn always make a backup save before you spend points and spend them and go and try out your skills and if you don't like the results, revert.

We have a winner!

I'm sorry, you can, if you want to constantly pause your game to reapply poisons every two seconds. Sounds like a blast.

:brokencomputer:

You are describing my character and there is still frustration and running around, lol.

I've seen random high-level bandits with the decapitation perks, and Mercer Frey is known to have Silent Roll.

You don't need to reaply it every two seconds. Dualwield weapons - 1 poisoned 1 not. Use the poisoned 1 when you need it.

Edit: And please do not comment in this manner on stuff you haven't tried.

That is correct there are some perks npcs may have access to. I get beheaded fairly consistently by scaled bandits if I let them get me low enough.

Yeah, as far as know humanoid NPCs definitely use the perk system. I've had my head lopped off on my first character multiple times.

Ah, the good old days in Oblivion where every bandit had Daedric armor and weapons at high levels.
:P

honestly why bother with alchemy when you can get a paralyze enchant with a petty soul gem and still have more than enough charges to kill anything without them doing crap to you.

i'm a mage and i wear a robe, and i can go toe to toe with a lot of fairly powerful enemies for a while at least, usually in enough time to kill em..not sure what you're doing for armor or defense, but i use alteration for magic armor, i use a little light armor like boots, helmet, wrist bracers..you need to put some points into health, maybe 2 or 3 light armor perks, go find the lord stone and that gives you 50 more armor rating, plus some magic resistance, so you shouldn't be getting that tweaked out. use a follower that will help.

I appreciate all of the responses. I let my frustration get the better of me. The problem was in the gear selected. The Nightingale Blade (Epic) was equipped and only does around 28 base damage. However, the Skyforge Enchanted (Legendary) blade does around 40 base damage.

I proudly accept the Bonehead of the Hour award in honor of all who have made boneheaded mistakes. Thank You. Now, will someone please take it off my hands?


Regarding distribution of perks into combat skills: When I finally distribute perks to combat constellations, I won't have over applied. I'll only use what is needed.

Besides maybe Locking and Speechcraft pretty much all Skills and their Perks will make your character better in combat.
Had you actually used your points in Smithing and Enchanting you would have better equipment and wouldnt have that problem.

For fun. Pure warrior, a pure mage, thief, hybrids... Every style has its charms - but we're getting off topic here >.>

I'll comment on whatever I want, thanks. Fact is, room full of bandits you have to pause and reapply for every one of them. You want to do that, more power to you. If you can kill them without the poison then it's even more pointless towards the OPs issue.