Hi there!
New poster here saying that I have got completelly hooked on the aesthetic, atmosphere and story of the game but having some trouble understanding the flow of the mechanics.

I'm currently playing as a priest with the Landshknecht and Diabolous as my companions. My char is level 26 with the following stats (I will just focus on the main ones where I put points):

Int: 95 (+3 dagger, +3 shield, +3 leather, +8 belt, +11 boots, +9 gloves)
Speed: 65 (+5 helmet, +11 boots, +9 gloves)
Con: 50-ish (+9 gloves)

And skills:

20 Magic of The miracles
10 Magic of the True Faith
10 Divine Magic
16 Wisdom

I must also say that I have broken about 12 magic cubes and I'm not ashamed to say that I have save-scummed to death until I got 12 extra skills (that's 3 levels worth of skills right there)

My main strat has been to buff my guys with Blade of Fire, tell them to hold in a killzone, cast bless on myself for better spell chance and use Locus Swarm for dots and chain spam Word of an Angel.
I have tried Return Damage but at level 10 it's still not effective enough. I have tried having dog tank it while I cast support spells on the side but it's a crapshoot and very low cost-effective potion wise.
Currently I'm having trouble with the mobs and kiting enemies is getting tiresome because I know that I can only survive 3-4 hits tops and I want to know if I'm doing the right thing with my build.

Are defenses worth it? I have Spiritual Shield, Return Damage, Phisical Shield, Resist Frost and Resist Lighting, yet ghosts and spirits are making a meal out of me.
My resistances with potion + spell buff + equipment are in the low 40-ish and 15 at a base. How much do I have to raise them until they matter and how many alt-sets do I need to keep around?

Euipment: what do I need to aim for? After reaching speed cap, I decided to raise it as much as I could past it with equipment at the detriment of defenses. What should I be looking for in my weapons and armor from now on?

Spells: I wanted to roleplay as a light-aligned priest so I went with the 3 light-sided magic schools. So the spells I use are Word of an Angel and Locust Swarm. Should I go for broke and get True Faith to 20 and switch to Lighting as my main spell when I get to 35? Should I let my hair down and Learn Pagan Magic because it's pretty metal? (I can justify it as a "he who fights monsters" kind of scenario, or maybe Max is just a historeography oriented priest) Are defensive spells worth it? I can see that, at max level, they can provide with a flat 20% aditional defense. How good is it and should I use them at all?

Alignment points: I'm currently a little bit past the light zone despite spending the whole game being nice to everyone and getting my enemies a chance to surrender. Will I get to be 100% holy by the endgame? Does turning bounties lower your alignment since you're profiteering from war?

Quests:
The guy who is summoning undead in Glatzburg. I have his diary, I have the confession from the actor in the wilderness, I have the pardon from the innkeeper for the actor. Is there any point in torturing the culprit?

Demon caves: I have talked with the Duke and he told me to kill the lizardman chieftain; I have talked with the Blacksmith regarding his apprentice; I have talked with the Innkeeper regarding her sister. The caves still don't appear in my world map? What is the detailed guide to make them spawn?

Thank you very much for your help and thanks again for such a great game!

I think that putting most of your attribute points into Intelligence, Constitution and Speed is a good approach. Also, investing into your Wisdom is... wise, and if you want to brew a few elixirs permanently increasing your stats later on, I can only recommend you investing into Alchemy as well. Looking at my final save, I can see that I managed to max out all schools of magic - no matter that I was also trying to roleplay a light-aligned priest. If you have trouble with the mobs, maybe you could visit a different location first, or just wait for a few more level-ups and things will get easier again. I wasn't investing into defenses much, not even at the beginning and the farther my priest got the less any defenses were important to me because my priest turned into a killing machine in the end, sending all my enemies to hell with one hit of a spell. And yes, ghosts and spirits can be really tough but the Lightning spell or seals can usually do the trick against them. Looking at my equipment, I can see that most of my items grant +X to all attributes or +1 to magical skills bonuses. Seems useful to me. Partly answered above. Lightning was my main offensive spell for the most of the game and I can fully recommend it. From Pagan Magic, I was using Shatter and in the final parts of the game I was using Rain of Fire as my second offensive spell. If I recall correctly it was a bit slower than Lightning but did more damage over time and was especially useful against bosses. I was also trying to do good deeds throughout the game but there are some quests that are evil and you have to do them to move on in the story, and there are also some side quests that can harm your alignment a lot if you decide to do them. I don't think that you can reach 100% holiness in Inquisitor. Maybe it's another message of this game - in this world, you cannot be saint no matter how much you want to... And no, I don't think that turning bounties in can harm your alignment. No, there is no need to torture this character. Only Alphonso DiCerbio from East Glatzburg can tell you the exact location of the Devil's Caverns. You're welcome. We are glad you enjoy Inquisitor.