AT this point I'll just point out that Shattered Star is a PF1 adventure.
Sorry, I should clarify. I mentioned Shattered Star to contextualize how long it’s been since I ran an AP. I think I ran it around the time it was being released.
PF2 is an entirely different beast, and much more deadly, if I remember my 3E days correctly.
I think part of that perception is hard encounters in PF2 are reliably difficult across groups due to diminished benefit of system mastery, so people are surprised by that. Even though damage in PF2 is more swingy than PF1 due to the crit rules, the new dying rules make it comparedly leas deadly than PF1.
We’ve run into the problem PF2’s rules were designed to address. When the group fought the Stag Lord in Kingmaker, he shot the wizard once and didn’t drop him, then he shot the wizard again and took the wizard past negative Con. If the wizard had been one level lower or higher, he would have survived.
Now in PF2, if a PC gets wrecked by a creature, I know the group will have a chance to save their friend (and the player can spend a hero point if necessary to survive). While PCs go down more, they feel less i danger of actually being killed.
Admittedly, there is some variance with the encounter-building guidelines depending on how tactically savvy a group is, but tactics are easier to learn than char ops. They also pay dividends immediately (in the next fight).
When we started the Extinction Curse AP as written, we were all shell-shocked at the unrelenting difficulty curve. And that's six fellows with probably 120 years of D&D experience between us...
Are official adventures going just a little too heavy on the higher-threat encounters?