i also found out about the same exploit when i got bored and wanted to explore every nook and crannies of the game, though i didn't use it much since it was pretty repetitive
i also checked your page and i'll lend some extra knowledge that i know of: hooded cloak doesn't increase your WIS.. anymore at least before we got the whole plague doctor set, it instead increases your ATK and SCU by (i believe) 3, which is pretty good imo
you should mention that if you're playing on hell mode you'd likely want to have 20 SUR or 10 SUR as a mage to be able to make cheese or smoked meat
and you forgot the most important and absolute life changing tip of all: holding shift + ctrl + alt makes the game 2x faster
"Martyr's Set" can be obtained during the second to last cocona questline so you dont have to get whatever the "grace of the saints" are
pretty sure you cant sell your paper and profit from it anymore at least when i tried last time, i also dont recommend taking loans unless you're about to start a newgame+ then you could just do it for the free extra money (which is about 2.5 gold coins)
honestly from all the testing i've done i cant really tell what the definitive "best" setup is, they all seem to have their issues.... well besides one maybe
i haven't tried it but i thought perhaps mage abom lona without pessimist trait could actually be the best in terms of quality of life, having insane damage and being able to easily heal themselves up with every kill, i think you still miss out on a big 5 WIS if you dont use pessimist though- but i guess thats not too bad when your level is already high