I get where you're coming from. I also identify with one character in most games, like my Inquisitor in D:OS. I prefer games where I can play only one avatar – per se or optionally. Before D:OS, my friend and I played through Icewind Dale with only one character per player (Fighter/Druid and Fighter/Thief). Our quicker levelling and multiclassing compensated very well for the missing four other characters in most situations.
But there's a threshold how far I will go to have only one avatar. In D:OS, the named NPCs you can take with you are just too fleshed out to miss, so I digressed from my usual path. But even so, we have a fixed assignment of the two NPCs, so Jahan is "my" follower while Bairdotr belongs to my friend. Thus, my main character (aka me) has some of the skills I like to have, while Jahan has others I also prefer, but slightly less. The same goes with my friend's rogue and Bairdotr.
I fully understand your desire to make one "you" that has as much options as possible, I just want to show you another way you could come close to that with a much better points pool and effectiveness. And since D:OS doesn't let you play just one character, you may just make the best of it. The game even offers you the option to have only two bolstered characters with the Lone Wulf talent.
I'm curious, which arguments for the Xbow are given in the Steam forum?
