>Or just conjure up a 2-handed weapon along with an atronach,
>and go heavy with alteration/conjuration. Nail enemies from
>both sides.

i ended up doing this, minus weapon conjuration, as i found it was too slow. better to put a few perks into smithing. also i'm a redguard. named susannah. i'm lvl 30-ish and just went no armor. doing pretty well in melees. i really need a missile attack though. mages are tearing me up.

alteration is 50-ish, as are smithing, enchanting and two-handed. i find i'm not blocking that much, so block is only in the low 30s. i ended up putting a ton of time into "training" (read: exploiting the system) conjuration so i could get the dead thrall spell which apparently is ridiculously powerful if you pick the right enemy to reanimate. haven't actually been able to cast the damn spell yet though. working on getting a "reduced conjuration cost" outfit going

i originally intended on jumping back in skyrim for the companion achievement set and then switching over to dragon's dogma but i just got sucked right back in!