I noticed this as well a couple days ago, and I also initially thought it was terrible. But I kept playing. I've just finished the EA and I've somewhat changed my mind on this.
A few things to point out:
- You get attribute bonuses from equipment. The equipment bonuses are random (except on unique items), but they work similar to Divinity: Original Sin 1, where each slot can only spawn with attributes from a small limited pool of possible attributes (i.e.: +Memory can spawn on helmets, but never on gloves). In practice, this means it's relatively easy to always have the bonuses you want after the initial early parts of the game. For reference, at the end of the EA I was level 7 and had +13 STR from equipment on my warrior, and +6~8 to FIN or INT on my other characters. This frees up attribute points on level-up to be spent elsewhere. I ended up spending about 4~6 points per character on other stats (usually Memory and Constitution), but could probably have spent more.
For the most part, equipment which has bonuses are ONLY available through RNG. I'm level 3 and have explored much of the fort interior areas, and I have found a bunch of chests now that I retrieved the Teleport gloves and such, but the RNG has not smiled on me and basically all the equipment I found is not good for any of my characters.
Relying on the RNG to provide 4 characters with the necessary bonuses to allow them to break even is not a great idea. Larian has said that they will not tune the drops to what your characters actually can use "because that means if you want to change what they do, then they won't have any drops". So the RNG will continue to not care about what your characters need.
Relying on the RNG also locks you into any good drops you find and makes you reluctant to change them if they are inferior in any way.
You could sink combat points into vitality to still get an HP increase but then you miss out on your schools.
Vitality gives you only a worthless amount of HP. It won't help you survive.
