Now having just reached Kyass at level 19 with ~50% or so of the map cleared, it seems like a good a place as any to mark as a midpoint for an open-world game.
That second boss fight turned out to not be indicative of later ones, except in that ‘enemy summons help behind you’ is a re-occurring theme. Money also turned out to be not as much of an issue as I thought it would, as you can get by just fine spamming maxed out Icy Rains and have little need to buy any other early spells besides healing-related ones. Of course, I’ve specifically avoided buying weapons training from the early trainers since later ones are cheaper. If you just buy stuff from whomever I could definitely see it running out fast.
There were conflicting reports regarding the usefulness of Cave Lore, and as of now I’m firmly in the “It’s not worth bothering with.” camp. Starting out with a Tool Use of 8 and getting it up to 11 by 10th level turned out to be a solid plan, as did having 12 Arcane Lore by the same point (Sage Lore and Arcane Lore 1 on each spellcaster). Relatively little backtracking so far has been required and progress has been smooth.
I did end up having to revise my leveling plan though:
Fighter
Attributes: Str; End at level 4/7/10/13/16/19/22/25/28
Skills: Melee+Blademaster/Hardiness/Parry x9; Priest+Tools; Blademaster+Hardiness/Parry x5; Spellcraft+Resistance; Hardiness/Parry/Luck/Whatever
Traits: Improved Str, Mighty Blows, Ambidex, Negotiator, Health, Improved Str x4, Parry x2, Dual Blade, Mighty Blows x2, HealthPriest
Attributes: Int; End at level 5/9/13/17/21/25/29
Skills: Priest+Spellcraft/Resistance x3, Priest+Tools x2; Priest+Spellcraft/Resistance x6; Priest+Melee; Priest+Spellcraft/Resistance x2; Spellcraft/Resistance x4; Luck/Whatever
Traits: Health, Elemental Focus/Improved Int x2, Negotiator, Elemental Focus, Sage Lore, Elemental Focus x3, Improved Int x4, Health x2Mage x2
Attributes: Int; Dex at level 5/9/13/17/21/25/29
Skills: Mage+Spellcraft/Resistance x9; Mage+Tools; Mage+Weapon x4; Mage+Spellcraft/Resistance x2; Priest+Spellcraft/Resistance/Luck x8; Whatever
Traits: Elemental Focus/Improved Int x3, Negotiator, Health, Sage Lore, Elemental Focus x3, Improved Int x4, Health x2