Level 2 is kinda pointless as well. The amount of xp you need to level there is pretty small, and if you kill all the small fry, free Shadowheart (which you'd do for Zhalk anyway), you'll be level 2 the moment you find Shadowheart on the beach. So it mostly boils down to doing it once for the achievement, which can be done without being on tactician.
True, but ... at the beginning every little bit of XP helps. Killing Zhalk and the Illithid puts you 25% towards lvl 3.
Also cool sword. Not to mention armour which is better than Shadowhearts, but also free of the Kill On Sight logo of the Church of Shar in the cleavage ...
