I'm stuck after rounding up the first 5 companions. I've read the guide which says to stealth past the phantoms one by one at Caed Nua (haven't tried this), but I'm still having trouble with these few encounters:
i.) the 4 will o wisps at Temple of Eothas (Buried Secrets),
ii.) quest: A Mother's Plea, at Anslog Compass. The 5~6 xaurips, the champion and the priest, or the group of 5~6 guls will eat up my party fast,
iii.) and the 5~6 bandits at Black Meadow while pursuing The Smith's Shipment.
I've tried out cipher (charm doesn't last long and level 1/2 AoE spells are weak), wizard (too fragile as well, spells don't hit hard enough) and druid (bear shapeshift only works on wolves but not humanoids or groups of exotic monsters), but my MC dies at almost every encounter from the tutorial to getting the first 5 companions. Essentially, I have to depend on NPCs to carry me through the fights. After several resets, I could finish off the 4 forest trolls and the 3 bears. I've done all the tasks available up until this point, but the most I could hit was level 3. I've tried rearranging the formation to T formation, but Eder and Kana Rua don't last long as well. Their DRs are only 7~10 tops.
So, any pointers to make PoTD a breeze? For instance, equipment enchant, money, or easy quests to level up more? I'm trying to finish PotD with default party members, and since I only have roughly 500+ gold on every attempt by the time I get to the inn, I can only recruit one more hired adventurer, which is something I plan on avoiding if possible.
I did acquire the minor cloak of protection at Cilant Lis and climbed up the cliff with Eder's Atheletics 5 skill at Valewood, but after failing 3 times I came to conclude the presence or absence of these items aren't the main reason why I'm doing it all wrong.