Thanks for putting all the effort into hosting!
I’m a developer and I use a (slightly modified) miryoku layout for my daily driver. I know not everyone loves the home-row mods, but I really like how I can use the layer keys on one hand to get all the symbols on the other. I have to move my hands waaay less than I did with a full size.
I’m not a gm, but when my group played through the beginner box this fight hit us hard too. I think besides what everyone else has said, this encounter is also great at teaching players that they can retreat if things start to go south fast
I’ll start. I have this idea kicking around of a halfling summoner who was a gardener before becoming an adventurer. One day his beloved rose bush pulled itself out of the ground and become his plant eidolon. He dumps charisma to focus on wisdom things like battle medicine and casts mostly buff spells. Since the eidolon has it’s own stat spread, I believe he’d still be very functional in combat.