Just delaying the critical path works fine for me, no mods nedeed. The main quests give too much XP, its just a matter of exploring well before going to Hasongo and etc, you can do the entire bottom half of the map without exceeding lvl 15-16, and many quests will be a hell of challenge assuming you are not abusing some complete over the top build or running a custom party.
Anyway, theres plenty of mods to fix this, no need to screw the more casual and less completionist players.