You can switch combat mode off when going through many friendly creatures. There is a conformation when clicking on rats in act 1, but not later acts. It depends on the character level difference if and how much experience you get from ex-friendly creatures. I had to reload a couple times in act 2, but then got in the habit of being more careful (though sometimes friendly creatures can jump in front of a click at the last second, especially tibars).
IIRC, one of the Larians said there were technical issues with displaying the non-leading characters' equipped items.
When switching acts, unique and set items are renamed, and will then show up in the trade window to be sold. If you wish, keep a barrel of stuff in the BF to grab before moving on to the next act.
