The entire point to honor mode is to go slowly and make good decisions. The orc at the beach is not an issue because you dont even need to fight him. You can sneak by and let the guards engage him while you take them out from long range. I did exactly that the 1st time I played the game and I had no points in sneak.
Most issues however can be solved by simply getting fire and poison resists up. Yes, traps are cheap, but for the most part they are easy to avoid IF you are not rushing. They can also be made near trivial with correct itemization. For instance, the only real deadly traps are fire based... so stack fire resist. Its not that hard. Poison is almost entirely trivial because of the zombie talent.
It can be done, but the game is long... and sometimes, patience is your worst enemy (at least its mine).
