I try to RP a bit too. The Realistic Difficulty mod has completely changed the game for me. Before this mod, I was getting tired of laying down spell after spell, shooting arrow after arrow, being decked out in the best armour, hitting with the best weapons, and still dying after a single arrow to the head. I was really frustrated by the hack-and-slash style of a game, hit the enemy 15 times but only be able to take a few in return, and turning enemies in to a quiver of arrows and bathing them in magical fire.

This mod changes all that, so that the player and NPC's have an equal damage modifier. So at Adept difficulty the player does 100% and the enemies do 100%, at Legendary the player does 600% and the NPC's also do 600%.

The way the game works now is so much better, no longer can a bandit in fur armour withstand a flaming battleaxe to the head, or kill me with a steel dagger. I can blow up entire detachments of Imperial soldiers with a single spell. Body armour does the same thing as it does in real life - stops the minor bumps and scrapes, but doesn't stop a greatsword from slicing you in half. Even with ebony armour, the Ebonyflesh mage armour spell, and Dragon Aspect armour, I can only take a couple of hits. Fighting Draugr Deathlords is an incredible test of skill, not "how many more times do I have to slash him". A Deathlord can blow you off your feet with a single word of his Thu'um. Every enemy presents a unique challenge, Imperials have been the worst so far because they have a bad tendency to send a few footsoldiers right at you while leaving the bulk of their forces behind to shoot arrows at you. Mage battles are insane and so much more satisfying, watching the spells bounce off their Wards as they grow weaker and weaker, until their grip fails and they are blown away by lightning.