For the things that kill you in one hit your only choice is to not get hit, freeze helps with this, as a mage its my only option alot of times. I killed Seth at level 3 with freeze and meteor and I had 80 hitpoints... one hit and I'm dead. I like it and I will say that it gets better. Your arsenal gets more diversified and charms allow you to compliment your stats. Did you get any charms from all those orc killings? If so put a point into enchant weapon and add those charms to your armor. Also, agility is your friend, its been my savior more than once, when I dont have my distances and timing in unison and the boss takes a swing at me, he misses.. if not I'm reloading. Another thing you could do to get some real quick temporary hitpoints is take a level in bless, hit it then eat some bread real quick *quicksave* then engage the boss. This gives you a few seconds of more hitpoints, as does aura of guarding.
Calonderiel
