2) Rescue Karlach as early as possible, if you know how (navigate through Zelvor's cave to a high ground and then jump down over the river with your main character - Karlach will not want to talk to anyone but your main character).
I use bridge to Blighted Village and then Scratch's Leap to cross the stream to get to her without any fights.
9) You can get to level 6 in Act 1.
Counting the Mountain Pass map - lvl 7, I'd say.
As soon as you go through the Maintain Pass for the first time, you are in Act 2, though you can still come back to Act 1 until you reach the Act 2 point of no return.
I don't think you can realistically get to level 7 without venturing forth into Act 2. I learned of this because after I completed all side quests possible to complete and then killed pretty much everyone /everything killable in Act 1, I still couldn't get to level 6.5, far away from level 7.
