Yeah, there's a lot of luck involved. Vaarsuvius can wipe out large numbers of enemies at range in one roll with Fireball, it's just a matter of learning how best to use it. If the stairs to the 2nd Floor are near the Dungeon Entrance, you can stand on the 2nd Floor and Fireball any stack that other players draw, then hurry back to the Entrance to rest/unflip in safety. A few turns of that and you should have plenty of Monsters to trade for shticks.

I won with V the last time we played the game at my house, so I don't think s/he's underpowered, though maybe s/he is a little tougher to learn.

With Elan, there's no reason he can't run into a new room and trigger a new battle. Yes, he might not have the Defense to win, but he might roll a 12 and get lucky. I think a lot of people have trouble with Elan because they are overstrategizing--they don't look for a battle unless they think they can win it. If you get over that and accept that as long as you don't lose your last Wound, it's OK to get beaten by a monster, Elan becomes much more playable. Just cruise around the first level triggering new battles until someone plays a weak monster or you roll a 12, and pop back to the Entrance whenever you lose 2 Wounds.