Thanks for playing! Both of those are fragile early on. They have 24 HP to the Death Knight's 30, and both are weak in melee.
Some tips:
Everyone
- Travel and fight at night. By day, out in the wilds, your blows do 25% less damage and the monsters are tougher.
- Rest between fights. Hold SPACE to wait. You get back 1 HP every 8 turns, and the Necromancer gets 1 MP every 4.
- Use your potions (P). One heals half your max HP plus 8. The inn in your starting town gives a full heal for 10 gold, and potions there cost 15.
- Stay close to your starting town for a while. The first level-up comes quickly, and every level-up fully heals you. Danger goes up the closer you get to the Sanctums.
- Dying isn't the end, unless you turned on perma-death. You lose half your gold and wake up in the last monster town you visited.
Necromancer
- Don't melee. You have no strength bonus, so the staff barely scratches anything.
- Bolt from a distance: hold FIRE and push toward the foe. It costs 2 MP, and you can usually get two or three off before it reaches you.
- Cast WARD before it closes in: FIRE alone, then DOWN. It costs 3 MP and gives +4 defence for 30 turns.
- Heal when you drop below half: FIRE alone, then RIGHT, for 4 MP. Then rest to get your MP back before you go looking for the next fight.
Shade
- Shoot first: FIRE plus a direction fires the bow. You start with 40 arrows, and 10 more cost 8 gold.
- Sneak attack: a dagger hit on a foe that hasn't noticed you does double damage. "Out of the dark you strike!" Arrows never get this bonus, so creep up at night and stab first.
- When something big is coming at you, shoot it as it walks in, then finish it with the dagger.
Good luck in the dark!