I guess you visited them before you understood how central they were? So perhaps my idea of having a UI prompt when facing them that says:
Press [Space] to Interact
the first time and
Press [Space] to Heal
once the party knows what it does… might be helpful in trying them out?
With the combat I agree there’s something missing. When you say skills, do you mean something that you as a player can activate during the actual combat except for the Tick?
I had the idea that every something level up the player would get to choose from two negative perks that the character would get. But I’m guessing this is not exactly what you have in mind.
And the player controller… I really need to work on that one.
Thanks for the great feedback!