Bit of a read, just short story of my experiences through adventure mode, if you want skip to the last paragraph.
ok so i've mostly been a fortress mode player, i decide, i know i'll go on an adventure for a change. my first guy is a dwarf demi-god(figured it'd help being my first time), he was a swordsman and the very first night boogeymen where upon me and i slaughtered 4-5 of them and they went away, i thought i was doing pretty good, people always said the boogey man where strong and i just killed 5 of them. I go get a quest, spend a good while figuring out how to get to the bandit camp and slaughter all 5 enemies by myself. I got myself some companions and went on another quest, unfortunately i was ambushed by goblins and shot in the head killing me instantly.
oh well it was my first try, i did pretty good for my first time i'll try again.
dwarf again i go and do ok again, but get mauled by some alligators and crawl to town for some help, this is when i find out dwarfs can't buy armor in human towns, shortly after i am killed by a bandit lord and his camp of ~20 men.
ok human this time i will get some armor and be safe from these instant deaths. I go to my first bandit camp to get some money to buy my armor, i walk up to the first enemy, a hammer wielding warrior, i cut one arms motion and the other arm clean off in my first two attacks (take that hammerman), but then i get bullrushed to the ground, and kicked in the spine, my man can never walk again... great, so i cut off his head crawl over to the bandit leader, stab him in the brain and on then realize... shit night will come before i can make it to town because i'm crawling so slow, they kill me.
this is when it starts to get really bad, after that time i go out, even after getting 2-3 guys from a castle to help fight and just die instantly every single time, even with maxed starting toughness and such, they just get a lucky chipped shin/elbow whatever and my guy instantly fall to the ground in pain and then gets stabbed in the brain. my most recent fight was versus 2 enemies, the lord(bowman) and his hammerman, we instantly kill the hammerman, then the bowman shoots me in the foot, then the leg, i can no longer walk, then my 2 allies run away from bleeding and he just takes potshots at me as i can't even land a blow anywhere on him as he dodges every time. i succumb to pain, he shoots me in the head, i wake up, he shoots me a few more times, i succumb to pain and he kills me.
what am i doing wrong, should i not be challenging a bandit right away? even when outnumbering him? am i just unlucky or should i be training on wildlife until i can save up for a full armor set? any help would be appreciated.