More feedback is always welcome. In my last playthrough I only lost twice and neither were at stage 7 so that explains how I missed it.
There is a way to grind by resigning the stage, that lets you restart the level and roll new encounters but keep the experience sorta like in Shining Force. That's probably why they give the player a dedicated "leave battle" spell now that I think about it.
I know that limiting respecs makes the game harder but they need to have some cost for reasons I've outlined before. I'd rather think of a way to give players extra respecs instead.
Gazia redirecting hits to Finnegan is normal, she can force enemies to defend her when she is below 50% health and has a bias for picking Finnegan for this purpose. A mechanic that all Desert Guardians share is that their skills change depending on their total health. As an example, pariahs gain more damage and their skills carry an additional HP cost, but you already noticed that one.
Also, you can mouse over an enemy with the little shield icon at any time to see who is defending them.
Thanks a lot for playing the game.