I just tried picking Shadowheart as an origin character, playing on Tactician.
After landing from the Nautuloid, while I usually hit level 2, Shadowheart did not get any extra XP points from... rescuing Shadowheart. She only got to level 2 after rescuing Gale.
Also, while any other character gets to recruit Shadowheart for the first fight with 2 intellect devourers, making it a 2v2 fight, for Shadowheart it's a 2v1 fight.
Add to that the fact that on Tactician they shoot a ranged attack, and that 2 hits can kill a level 1 char like Shadowheart that only has 10HP, so you can see that winning this first intellect devourer fight is a matter of luck.
There's nothing wrong with the fight being harder if you make some choices (i.e. do not recruit shadowheart), but as I see it, a new player choosing to play as Shadowheart should not get the game to be so much harder (fight at lvl1 instead of 2, with no recruitable helpers at all). You choose to go it alone, it's fine if its harder. But there's no warning before picking Shadowheart....
I suggest Shadowheart should somehow get a few more XP points before (or right after) landing, i.e. get a sidequest to save a disposable character or something.
