I'm glad you're enjoying Solasta so much!
Originally Posted by Archaven
i have both my DEX and INT score as equal. both starting stats as 16. not sure if i made a subpar character. maybe my wizard should have gone naked without any armor and just utilize the mage armor spell? correct me if i'm wrong, higher DEX score helps stealth? ..
as being in stealth is nice as you gain advantage. i'm playing solasta on authentic mode (first playthrough) and new to dnd5e. really loving it so far as game seems to teach me dnd5e rules and the mechanics are well presented. should i have go with 14 DEX and 18 INT instead? you are right what i found is that most enemy seem to have high DEX saves.
Ah, then yes ranged weapons at levels 1-4 will definitely be better. Apologies, I missed that clarification in your earlier post. Most people give their wizards more Int than Dex, but Dex is generally an incredibly powerful stat in 5e so it's not a terrible a tradeoff. Higher Dex does indeed help stealth, which can be very powerful in 5e and especially Solasta.

Armor: You said you were wearing Scale mail, which should give disadvantage on stealth checks; be wary of that. Scale Mail should give you AC of 16 (14+2), while Mage Amor would also give you an AC of 16 (10+3+Dex bonus). But of course, you'll probably find magical Scale Mail at some point which will be better than mage armor.

Originally Posted by Archaven
as long rest are being used as a difficulty or challenge mechanism, that's why casters now has to use cantrips or martial weapons. due to this IMO, short rest should also replenish spell slots like maybe half of 1d4 per level divided by 2? if not mistaken short rest has no limits in RAW? correct me if i'm wrong. short rest only last 1 hour. so as it is now it seems the short rest is only useful for recovering hitpoints (which also randomize base on hit dice).
This would be a Significant buff to casters without any corresponding buff to martials. I don't think it's needed. Knowing when to use your spell slots vs cantrips/weapons is part of the 5e resource management system, and thus part of the difficulty.

Technically Short Rest has no limits in 5e RAW, but RAI you should be taking 2-3 short rests per day. It is mainly useful for recovering hit points and the various recharge-on-short-rest abilities that some classes have: warlocks and monks are entirely reliant on short rests, while fighters/moon druids/clerics get some nice perks during short rests that aren't necessary to function.