I agree with a lot of your feedback on what's good, and some of what's bad. I personally love shoving people far distances and using thunder to toss multiple people off of things, so I wouldn't want it to change personally, but I see what you're saying about it being a little cheesy. I also don't mind the modifier system with things like high ground, as I think high ground should offer some kind of advantage, but I've noticed that enemies being in shadows is pretty wonky at the moment. Even if you wear a ring that's supposed to allow you to hit creatures in darkness, it doesn't seem to work. And I agree that the situation of magical items with Gale is not very intuitive, it was one of the few things that I had to google to understand what was going on, which is always immersion-breaking. That, and the moon-puzzle that leads to the Underdark.
