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So I recently ran the first book of Mummy's Mask and what struck me is that a *lot* of the enemies -- probably more than half -- have all kinds of special defenses and qualities like DR, hardness, resists, immunities, spell resistances and so on.
What APs would you say have the least of this sort of stuff, at least in the first 1-2 books?
I'm thinking maybe the first Pathfinder APs like Council of Thieves or Kingmaker, because then just the first Bestiary was out and they'd have to resort more to goblins, orcs, gnolls, the regular sort of stuff rather than the more esoteric monsters. Would that be an accurate guess?
I just want to hit with my normal steel sword and do normal damage. What's the AP for me?
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Well, first off, the first bestiary includes a bunch of stuff that has Immunities, Resistances, and so on. At least as much as later ones. The issue isn't what age the AP is, but the intended contents in terms of creature types. Mummy's Mask, I would imagine, is heavy on Constructs and Undead, and that's why the issues you note.
Additionally, all that stuff is part of game balance, and is gonna crop up in almost any AP, if not in quite the numbers you're likely talking about. And getting a weapon of all three damage types and both silver and cold iron is cheap and easy. A Silvered Light Mace, Cold Iron Dagger, and Longsword, for example, is less than 40 gp.
That said...Curse of the Crimson Throne's first chapter, Serpent's Skull's first several, and Reign of Winter's first couple all seem to have fewer of those things than might be expected.
not Reign of Winter, says i:) Faeries everywhere!
This ultimately comes down to the theme of the AP/campaign. For an AP like Wrath of the Righteous or Mummy's Mask, where it's obvious (you're part of a crusade against an Abyssal incursion or exploring ancient tombs; it's not like a bunch of demons or constructs/undead should be a surprise) that certain categories of foes will be common, then it's the PCs' responsibility to do some level of preparation (IMO). For more "generic" APs/campaigns, where there isn't as much of a focus on specific foes (or the foes lack specific defenses), then the PCs can get by with "ordinary" weapons.
Nothing after about level 5 or so. Things that lack those sort of defenses after that point are the exception, not the rule.
You might find a few examples in the first book or two of an AP, but nearly every single one will probably have more and more things like that the higher level you get. Great if you play E6 or something, but it's an unreasonable request (unless you're okay with completely rewriting monsters from the get-go) at anything higher-level.
The game assumes by that point that players will have invested resources in either bypassing those resistances or simply dealing with them. (The fighter-types by doing so much damage in a single blow that the DR doesn't noticeably cripple their output, the casters by being able to ignore or easily punch through SR and resistance/immunity, and so forth.)