[thejeff]

Most of that is in the manual, but it's still sometimes obscure so...

1) There is a defense penalty after each attack in a round, so your PoD's +4 advantage quickly becomes a penalty once he's surrounded. Damage (and pretty much all random numbers) are generated with an open ended roll. If a 6 is rolled (on a d6), add another die roll. Repeat until a non-6 is rolled. I believe its (damage + roll) - (protection + roll). If your PoD had fatigue, which he did since he was casting, there's a good chance of a critical hit, which does extra damage.

2) There was a bug where when you started a game with the same name as the previous one, the map could get screwed up. I think this was fixed in a patch. If not it's easy to avoid by using different names for new games.
As for what to do with gems, the short answer is magic. Forge things, cast ritual spells or powerful battlefield spells. What's best to do has filled many threads...

3) Undead pretenders such as the PoD only heal with Chalice or Gift of Health. The PoD is not immortal, but immortals can be healed by other healers and may also heal when they are reborn. I believe all pretenders have a chance of healing when they are called back after dying, but that's a drastic way of healing.