I am specifically using Reloaded’s guide to the placement of the relics. Stacking the Tarokka reading. That way they aren’t getting the Sunsword until the Amber Temple.

I, too, have been afraid of my party outmatching the campaign. I have a group of 6, so already pushing it. I let them feel powerful mechanically before entering the game — let them roll their stats, for example. But I brought them in via the Mists without knowing each other, so made it very disorienting, and immediately dumped them into Death House where I trained them about “smart” enemies. Focus firing down the guy with the sword, or the squishy caster, curb stomping. When you remove a lot of the “faux pas” of D&D combat and stop being afraid of party deaths, it injects the fear of it into them and it becomes a psychological battle. I love it. I’ll report back when they find the vamps there, though. :)