1. The parry and dodge rules are a bit harsh when it comes to monsters. Monsters automatically hit and to defend you need to spend your action to avoid damage. I like better the system in Symbaroum where you always roll to defend against an opponents attack. Otherwise, the players are gonna to get killed fast or a bunch of goblins ganged up on them.
Goblins are NPCs and function different from monsters. They do not automatically hit and instead roll to hit like a PC would.
Having run the quick start a couple of times now, I really like the monsters always hitting. It makes every turn they get impactful and scary. I've run too many games where the big monster just misses for multiple rounds and then dies, to the disappointment of everyone involved really.
If you haven't played it, give it a try and you may see it differently. You have to see the initiative and action systems in play to really understand how they work.