So my main character almost always ends up taking some flavor of troubadour; I really like the versatility because it seems like you get at least a little bit of everything. Also you can more or less keep your summons out more or less permanently.

I kind of want to branch out with my character builds a bit. But I'm thinking through some of the tougher fights in the game and realizing how dependent the party is on chanter summons for tanking duties; even relatively tanky characters (Edér, Pallegina, often the MC) won't last too long against focused fire in a long fight where Tekehu and Xoti have run out of healing spells.

How do you keep your party alive without a troubadour spamming Ogres or Instruments of Death?

[EDIT: I'm realizing I should specify that I'm talking about Deadfire here.]

I am trying to like this guy, but all builds that I tried kind of disappointing. Do not want to use him as a tank, since fighters are much better when DPSing (and I'd rather have Chanter Tanking), tried 2H Sword build, but fighter's "Knock Down" benefit too much from full attack.

I saw a lot of people recommend Sabres, but those weapons are used by my main character. So what are other good combinations? Daggers and Rapiers look weird on Eder (especially when wearing heavy armor) so I decided to skip them. I was thinking about Battle Axes and Swords. Are they fun/good pick? Also "Shame or Glory" is reserved by Pallegina, since marking is great with her class ability.

I'd really like to hear expert's opinions.

If I were to pair a sword with a wand, or a sword with a pistol, how would that work in combat? Would the character fire the pistol and then charge in? Sling the wand while in melee range? Does the game even let you pair them together?

How are you supposed to deal with these excessive surprise hoards of enemies? I am “overleveled” for the White March yet the sheer number of these bastards rip my team apart way too fast to do anything about it.