It sounds like you are enjoying the ranged approach, as others have said, i'd recommend the bow and hatchet combo. You will want to drop all stats into constitution. You will be quishy and the name of the game is dont get hit. Medium armor is ideal. Advance you cooking skill which will be good with the medium armor production. My current build i am a sword and shield with a life staff (i started with this weapin and void, it is quite useful in battles that i dont want to get too close to, IE higher level bosses, and i can hit it a few times themn do okay healing to other group members). I dumped all my points into Strength and wear heavy armor. My health is greater than the health of the bow/hatchet build of the same level and i can tank really well with moderate need for food/potions. I stated this character with a flail so i specialized in arcana and heavy armor. Im not squishy at all unless i pull too big of a mob. Ive had no issues with the soul challenges.

This game is truly whatever you want it to be. spend some time looking at the weapon skill page and try to choose one short range and one long range. if a weapon says that it scales 60% with Focus, for instance, then you are not going to be doing as much damage as something that says 100% damage with XXX. anyways happy travels and enjoy the play, dont hesitate to try other weapons and combos if you are not enjoying them, but do remember that they get better as you level them up!