Leveling, NPC Looting and Engagement Ranges

[Draxis]

I saw the advanced option for "bandits loot the player" and had a few questions. The best way to train toughness and defence seems to be to get into battles and lose them. The game also states that fighting tougher foes levels it faster. I'm wondering what the best enemies to fight are and how they loot the player.

For example, I know that Fogmen will take your characters to their camp and eat them (hence you never should level characters on Fogmen because losing implies that you will lose the characters unless you get really lucky). Slavers are a bit better because you could potentially free them from the camp. When I was defeated by starving bandits, they seemed to only take my food and not my gear. Are there any enemies which will take my gear if a character is downed?

Also, is it possible to run away from enemies without dragging them through a river? I would like to try to steal stuff from towns, but right now it seems you can never outrun guards and so you are doomed to fail if you don't save scum.

Thanks in advance.

[Mattk50]

I train my skeletons on fog men because fog men don't eat robots. Hungry bandits only seem to take your food so they're a good choice as any. I've seen dust bandits take the rest of your loot, slavers will take everything including your hair, and normal city guards will take your weapons. Of course you can just go out with cheap gear you can afford to replace if you lose.