just an idea for the balance
dont worry too much about it, instead of balancing the world around a character build the story to allude to danger in areas
make the difficulty dependent on where you are instead of how high your lvl is, its how i tended to mod my skyrim, it meant you did sometimes run into a place that was way too dangerous but as long as retreat is an option that isnt too bad, it could even give a goal, to one day become strong enough to walk there
it does require a bit more lore then there is now, maybe have some guards patrolling warning you away from a great treat or some peasant running away in a panic shouting about the horror they are running from, and maybe after you stop them and hear their tale if you feel brave enough you can get a timed quest to clear his home of that treat, a system like that will make the world seem more alive instead of just a reflection of the character but slightly less. it would require the story to be expanded, for legends and tales of the horror beyond the grasslands to be found in the villages, maybe some books describing the fauna in the world
its probably easier to do then trying to anticipate peoples capability of minmaxing, but its just a suggestion