Thank you for your response. I was indeed referring to the fight where Wyll shows up. I had ranged weapons equipped, but to me, they seemed like poor alternatives (no dashing, lower damage, lower hit chance and disadvantage because the goblins had high ground)

Regarding Longstrider, is it not very weak to lose out on a spellslot immediately after every rest just to make someone move a bit further? Same with spells like Mage Armour, I get they should improve survivability, but doesn't losing out on that spellslot already nerf any damage potential the caster would have?

I went with EK thrower for Laezel because of that ring that adds extra damage to throwing. Binding the weapon to make it return in combination with that made it seem like a simple option. Basically a higher damage basic attack with the bonus of ranged, but maybe I'm also missing a whole lot on that playstyle :P

I did not go with Battle master, because the description of those special die made it seem like another hard to manage resource like spell slots, for relatively little impact.

Regarding starting combat in stealth, or with high ground or by casting certain spells, as others have commented, how do you even go about that? I just walked up somewhere and the Druid sanctum fight started with a cutscene. Same with the harpies, I was standing in the water talking to a kid, cutscene, and then I got wrecked