Quoting Mtn_Man, reply 17It's so complex that I don't have any idea what the hell I'm doing, and I keep getting my backside handed to me by the all damn monsters all over the place.  That one review was right when it said that the world itself was more dangerous than the AI players you'd face.

On that note, is there any way to remove the injuries from champions who fall in battle, or are those permanent debuffs?

I started a new game this evening and have had much better success.  Apparently I just got an unlucky starting position in my earlier game because I was surrounded by lots of high level monsters which made it very difficult to explore and level up.  This time around, the surrounding enemies are a more reasonable level, so my champions aren't getting one-hit killed every time they enter battle.  The AI is still far outpacing me if the "Faction Power" score is any indication, so I still have a ways to go before I'm over the learning curve.  But at least I'm having fun.