It depends: on what difficulty level you are playing at and on your build. It's easier to survive on Casual/Easy than it is on Nightmare; you have more slack for doing things that look cool that maybe aren't the min/max optimal.
Builds: I ran a Dalish rogue archer through the game, and Awakening, in various suits of plain, nonmagical Dalish leather armor. She was a Str/Dex build (because I suck at min/max optimization unless I'm being paid to do the analysis) and IIRC, didn't die once in DAO on PC-Normal difficulty. (But it was my 5th PT, though, so I knew most of the fights by then.) Of course, she *was* an archer, but ended up in melee with daggers on a rather frequent basis, and took out the Archdemon with an axe. (A *Dalish* axe, thankyouverymuch. She was a bit fussy.)
A Str/Con build for your more typical warrior sort... I don't know how well it would work. The high Dex just plain keeps you from getting hit.
You can also play a Surana (mage elf) and wear light armor, if you just like the look of it. You won't get the pluses that magical robes will give you, but as a mage you're hoping to not get hit much anyway.