Why are they stronger than the actual character? I've had instances where I've died, retried the build, find the player ghost from my previous attempt and lose to it terribly despite having similar statistics to it when I encounter it.

Avoiding easy monsters instead of killing them is going to be way more annoying. I had to register just to address this statement. Having no alternatives for experience but mindless slaughter is even more annoying. There would be no reason to avoid easy monsters when they do not yield any more expe...