I'm running Tyrant's Grasp for a group of four PCs (a Paladin, a Fighter, an Inquisitor/Mortal Usher, and a Fighter/Wizard/Arcane Archer), and no more than a couple sessions pass without the party suffering one or two PC deaths from some source or another. For further context, we are about halfway through the fourth adventure, and the party is nearing Gallowspire for the first time.
Now, I've given this some thought, and I believe that this party is capable of dealing damage efficiently, but they tend to not be able to deal with the unique challenges native to facing the undead (energy drain, diseases, and the like) or plants (mostly being grappled, in this case). Furthermore, the conjunction of surprise rounds from the enemies and the party's inability to purchase gear (due to being several miles into Virlych) means that we are suffering debilitating losses very frequently.
So, the question in the post subject stands: is this campaign just designed to be rough, giving the whole affair a "survival against brutal odds" theme, or are my players failing to adapt their methods to the challenges that they are facing? Naturally, I understand that you lovely folks aren't in the perfect position to make that judgement, but any thoughts would be appreciated!