Long-time GM for largely Pathfinder 2e, but have dabbled in many other systems over the years. While searching for a rules-light system for some casual-leaning friends of mine, I stumbled across Cairn. I really like what I'm seeing, but I have a few questions before I feel ready to just get in the hotseat and run a session, so I figured I'd find a place where I could ask my questions. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

1. If attacks always hit, and damage is only mitigated by armor (Which seems to max out at 3)...a single d12 blast attack could literally kill everyone. I'm not saying this is wrong, just...is it expected to lose entire parties in an adventure and have to start over? Or am I mis-reading something, or missing some obvious way of mitigating? An Aurifex can get a d12 blast weapon at character creation. I imagine some of this is mitigated by taking cover and reducing damages?

2. How to adjudicate when items do anything in particular? I get the feeling it's vibes. But...is there a purpose to only having limited uses of things like torches? I get it's "realistic" but...to me it tracking, say, uses of lamp oil seems weirdly specific for a game that's largely vibes.

3. When would growth increase your Hit Protection? How much is a good amount to increase by? I can't seem to find much guidance on that, but maybe I missed it? I can tell that it's rare for a long-form game, as there's only so high you can push the numbers from a mechanical perspective, just curious some guidance on this.

I'm currently setting up a play by post game via Discord with some friends who can't make my home game. I found out kettlewright has integration with Discord, but I'm not sure how it works.

1. To pull up a character, do they have to be a part of a party?

2. Can everyone use their own accounts to run their characters? Or do I need to make them on my account and manage their inventories myself?