Going solo - suggestions for where to start?

[Rhodan]

I want to create a server where characters are a lot tougher than in Live. I always hated the fact that at level 5 you could kill yellows and at level 55 many blues (and even greens) would kick your arse!

I also don't like the fact that gear makes the character. A level 55 with a rusty longsword should not be so completely useless as it is in live. That level 55 still has its skills and knowledge so a rusty longsword should be a deadly weapon. Not to say that good gear shouldn't make a difference, just that I think it shouldn't be such a huge difference.

I'm brand new to EQemu and, though I have been examing the DB, I'm really not familiar with what happens in what area of the engine. I have this (vague) notion of increasing the effect of player stats on things like melee damage, AC, Damage mitigation, spell damage, etc, but I don't see anything in the database that would appear to have anything to do with this.

So, I'm wondering what you folks would think is a good approach to the concept of tougher characters and where should I look to find the data/scripts/etc that deal with it? Is my appoach practical or should I concentrate on weakening NPCs? I really don't want to boost gear stats (I'll probably end up nerfing a lot of the Uber stuff).

Increasing XP awards isn't really in the cards. I'd rather concentrate on making characters tougher and recover faster (medding/healing) so they can kill more mobs per hour, which results in faster overall XP gain anyway.

Not asking anyone for code, I'll figure that part out eventually, just educated opinions on best approach and some pointers on where to start looking for code etc.