Not sure about any bugs there. Making multiple saves is ALWAYS a grand Idea, say every few levels of character development and before dungeons and such. As for
Halldorn..shouldn't be so bad, I just kept range on him, and kite him around ye olde church. Use terrain to your advantage, corners, trees ect.
You also mentioned charms, or at least finding nice ones. Those will get better as you level, generally loot will be par with your level. For example, any locked chest you find say in Broken Valley, will be better loot if you wait a few levels. I did not open any chests until I had completely cleared the zone, and I just marked them on the map to return to later.
Be at ease,
SEARCH, search, search, and you shall be rewarded. Skill books, gems, recipes, gold ingredients a plenty..except those Malachite gems, hold on to these till end game time.
happy hunting
