one problem you might have is that if you're not killing the tougher baddies you're not getting the better equipment or money to buy it - this makes it harder to kill the tougher baddies and if you're not killing the tougher baddies . . . .
one way to break this vicuous cycle is the 1st level mage spell 'friends' - casting multiple friends can temporarily raise your mages charisma to god-like (25) getting you a huge discount at shops (it doesn't seem to improve the prices they pay you unfortunately) - saving most of your money you can afford your first set of full plate quite quickly and on your best defensive fighter with the other magically protetctive bits and bobs you should
have found you can have an
almost invulnerable melee tank (in the earlier stages in the south) who
can wade into battles with multiple (non-magical) enemies pretty safely while the rest of you use missile weapons and spells