Playthrough update. Game continues to be balls hard, so I am satisfied with the difficulty though it is still a bit too hard for my tastes. Currently level 7. I do think, however, that the worst of the-top difficulty would disappear if I had access to Greater Invisibility, and speaking of:
Ember (Leyline Witch): Basically Witch is living up to my fears; Hexes are powerful but kind of annoying and the spell-list is severely lacking - even with Agility Patron to patch the biggest hole of Haste. So in contrast to all the other characters which I am happy (or, in the case of Camellia, content) with, I'm strongly considering respeccing here. I'd probably keep the Witch if I had another Arcane caster, but without one, I feel like I'm lacking a few very basic tools for this midgame. I just did Nenio's quest and honestly, having Greater Invis was such great QoL... not only does it prevent MC-one shots, it also fixes his TH problems before getting Demon.
Wenduag (Slayer Shieldbash): Wenduag is still tanking most things decently, but runs into huge problems against massive strength creatures like Plagued Smilodons. Their insane to hit bonus make them tankable solely by Last Stand, which works, but is kind of... unfulfilling? Overall though, very satisfied with the build. It's basic but fun.
MC (Bloodrager/Oracle/Dragon Disciple/Vivi): What an amazing build this is. Thanks to
Stoned Ape for the OG idea (though it since diverted massively) and to
Daidre for continous build discussion. Even severely nerfed because of no access to DR-pen (since I gave away the token to Galfrey), attacking 10 times at level 7 (2 claws + 1 haste claw + 7 gores/bites) is just wacky as all hell and surprisingly powerful (considering the lacking AB/damage). Easily my most powerful character. No Demon mythic for making nat attacks primary yet, but when you attack 10 times - you're gonna hit with some of them
Regill (Divine Hunter/Sohei/Cavalier/Fighter): Easily my second favorite build even though he's only been with me for a few encounters. He's easily worse than the basic bitch Freebooter I had before (missing that flanking AB), but there's a lot of fun things going on - and a pet on top! Build should come online next level when it gets flurry for bows. Right now it's kind of underwhelming in terms of power.
Camellia (Crusader): Not much to say here, it's a worse Cleric which doesn't really get the Fighter-power it says it should on the tin. If I respec anyone besides Ember it'll be Camellia, but eh, it's fun enough and working so far, so unlike Ember I'm not really feeling a massive inclination to respec here.
Seelah (Paladin): I'm using a Divine Bond-Horse Seelah until I get Arushaelae. Not much to say here, I went pretty basic bitch with it, so yeah, it's a Paladin, so it works.
The main reason I'm putting off an Ember-respec is that I don't really know what to respec into if I did. Never played Arcanist before so could be that, but I'm not going to do Brown-Fur because it honestly looks like it breaks the game, lol.