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My question is, and sorry if this has been asked before, does The Test work the same in 2E?
[Mechanical aspect]
If your player knows (in character), what kind of a fiend he's fighting against and has time for preparation - it becomes lotta easier.
So, my player was Level 7 Cleric (Warpriest) with Glaive, with Godclaw Deity.
Also with some Hellkhight Armiger archetype feats.
Against him i used Barbazu (CR5 with elite adjustment, so smwt CR6)
And gave them an arena (also for dramatic effect) - round shape with radius of 30 feet (you can experiment with a lower scale, i guess, but be carefull not to make it too tight)
Also, if we go by the "Building Encounters" section (which is not always applicable and depends on ton of factors, but, anyways...), , we're able to do following math:
If devil's CR is similar to player's level and it's one-on-one it balances on "extreme" difficulty. Might be overkill if monster has some abilities, that punish player's class.
If it's one lower - it classifies as "severe". which is likely to go as you planned with a chance for some spectacle.
If it's two lower - it becomes "moderate". And before lvl 10 that might mean "like a knife at 100° through butter".
The best tactic is following: check
1. How devils FAB compares to player's AC (and vice versa). If devil hits player 90% of the time, and v.v. is 10% - something's not good.
2. If devil has a ton of dreadfull spells - that's also likely not the best idea.
3. If the player knows about enemy's specifics - if you think the player will likely loose - give him some time for preparation - knowledge checks, bying silversheen, etc.
4. I wouldn't recommend starting this stuff before level 4 (except, maybe, for full-martial classes) as there could be too much R&G involved.
My player just ripped throug barbazu because they were both a bit of spellcasting/a bit of martial and had chances around 60/40 to the player's benefit and Barbazu critically failed a saving throw on the first round. Also player was specialized in Lore (Hell), so he knew a lot of usefull info upfront.
[Roleplaying aspect]
I'm currently running a campaign (agents of edgewatch, if that matters)
And one of my players wanted to partake the hellknight path, he allready used one feat to become hellknight armiger, but wanted to complete the true test to qualify for hellknight. That was one of the main themes of the character.
If you would like some text example of roleplay script for this stuff - DM me.