Bloodmoon or maybe these are general game ?s(DEFINITE SPOILERS)

[PRGFool]

I am playing a battlemage at level 40 or so with my armor rating from a mish mash of items is between 195 and 215.
I really struggled with the tree stone quest. I ended up doing the same thing that dragon wench did in her most gratifying moments thread. I did not have to kill them the last time(they resisted the magic the last time) just used the boots of Blinding speed to lead them on a walkabout and then came back for the seeds.
On the Ristaag quest, I finally had to levitate and follow the guy around before I was able to defeat the werewolves. It took me almost 5 hours playing time to come to that because I could not even get a whack in before I was dead.(difficulty set at 50)

Anyway, Here are my questions?
1.Why do my summons not seem to be as effective in Bloodmoon. ie a Golden Saint gets walloped by the Bristleback thing running around. I have summoned daedroth, storm atronachs, they don't really help. (My conjuration skill is at 48)Anyone know why?

2.Also, is there anyway for the summon to receive the first whack instead of waiting until I get hit?

3.Is it true that I can only summon one type of creature at a time? ie one golden saint?
I had four summon golden saint scrolls, tried to use two and only one golden saint appeared? I also have summoning spells that have the same result
I saw a thread about summoning an army, how do you do that if the above is true?

4. I obtained the amulet of shadows in Morrowind. I have used it several time and it seems to have zero effect in Bloodmoon. the bad guys just coming running toward me and start whacking. What's up with that? It was very usefull prior to Bloodmoon.

5. Early in the game I created a max open spell, with 100 pts on touch.
There were several chests in blood moon below one hundred where the spell executed (got the graphic display of success) and the chest didn't open. I ended up using a lockpick. It did this over the next couple of times I played but yesterday it started working again? is that just a bug?

6. What happened to Keening and Sunder? They are not as effective in Bloodmoon as they were in Morrowind? I know that Bloodmoon was created for a higher leveled character but I guess I was expecting those two items to retain some of there shine, so to speak.

7. When you raise the difficulty level in the game does your character level up faster? or are they even related?

8. My heavy armor skill is 95. My armor rating is between 195 and 215 and it take three werewolves less that 2 second to kill me(from Ristaag quest). Does that seem right? Can someone describe how the rating effects receiving blows?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[mr_sir]

2.Also, is there anyway for the summon to receive the first whack instead of waiting until I get hit?

Attack the target and they will attack, you don't need to wait to get hit.

3.Is it true that I can only summon one type of creature at a time? ie one golden saint?

You can only summon one of each at a time, but you can have more than one summons as long as they are all different, so you can create an army.

7. When you raise the difficulty level in the game does your character level up faster? or are they even related?

Your character levels up by practicing/using skills so there is no difference in levelling up speeds if you increase the difficulty.

[triline beta]

You can only summon one of each at a time, but you can have more than one summons as long as they are all different, so you can create an army.

Actually, you can create an army of a single type of creature, (my friend does it all the time) possible spoiler, highlight to read:You make a spell with summom golden saint (or some other creature) for one second on self and soultrap on target. the look at the ground and summon away. If you pick up any of their weapons, your game has an increased tendancy to glitch up (I think). hope that helps, if you need a army, but I advise you not to use it , as it takes some of the difficulty out of the game.