In PF1, to join a hellknight order you had to kill a devil with at least as many hit dice as you, right? So in PF2, I assume that translates to a devil of your level or higher.
How do you do that solo? Say you do it at 5th level, versus a Bearded Devil.
If you're a level 5 fighter, hitting AC 22 isn't that hard (5 level, 6 mastery, 4 strength, 1 weapon), but can you reliably deal 60 damage to it before it does 68 or 73 damage to you? Hope you're not one of those rare good hellknights, because the devil's glaive does evil damage, so you're toast.
But if you're a level 5 wizard . . . what the heck do you do to this thing? Cast levitate and float out of range? Do you think it's feasible for a devil to dimension door, then swipe at you in mid-air before it falls?
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Are you asking lore-wise? Lore wise to join the Hellknight:
You have to defeat a devil summoned by a signifier. Usually the devil should offer a decent challenge.
There are many stories of low level characters joining the Hellknights as they fight Lemure or imp.
It even shows up in Age of ashes...but can't talk much about it without spoilers.
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The "requirement" of the specially summoned devil having at least as many HD as you was an artifact of the CR system used in 1E Pathfinder. However, with the XP Budget set-up that 2E has I think it shouldn't be too hard to figure out an appropriate challenge for the prospective Hellknight.
Using your 5th-level aspirant example let's look at the descriptions of the two most likely threat levels for such an ordeal.
Moderate-threat encounters are a serious challenge to the characters, though unlikely to overpower them completely. Characters usually need to use sound tactics and manage their resources wisely to come out of a moderate-threat encounter ready to continue on and face a harder challenge without resting.
Severe-threat encounters are the hardest encounters most groups of characters can consistently defeat. These encounters are most appropriate for important moments in your story, such as confronting a final boss. Bad luck, poor tactics, or a lack of resources due to prior encounters can easily turn a severe-threat encounter against the characters, and a wise group keeps the option to disengage open.
Now based on the lore of the test, it's really hard to figure out which constitutes enough of a challenge (though I expect LOWG to have some hints at this) for the sake of the example let's say the GM adjudicates it should be a severe-threat.
Threat XP Budget Character Adjustment
Severe 120 30
Since the group is the standard 4-man party, and the other party members won't be allowed to render aid during the duel let's subtract 90 XP from the XP Budget due to the aspirant's team-mates being side-lined. That leaves us with a Budget of 30 XP. Since the duel is supposed to be one vs. one, we need a devil that would cost the exact same ammount as the points we have in the Budget. At every level this would be a creature one level lower than the party's overall level. At 5th-level this means we either wait a level so that the Barbazu is level 5 to our level 6, or the GM could use a modified Barbazu.
Within the first few pages of the Bestiary, is a stackable monster template for those monstrous individuals that are a lower-grade challenge for the heroes. We only need to apply it once to get the newly minted Barbazu to be challenging but surmountable opponent for the lone aspirant. The modifications would be as such.
- Decrease the Barbazu's AC, attack modifiers, DCs, saving throws and skill modifiers by 2.
- Decrease the damage of its offensive abilities by 2, or 4 if it was an ability that can't just be spammed.
- Finally reduce HP by a value based on the original level of the monster, in this case the value is 15.
Doing this we get the following freshly minted Barbazu (listing only what's changed).
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +11, Intimidation +8, Religion +9, Stealth +9
AC 20; Fort +13; Ref +9; Will +9; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 45
Melee glaive +13, Damage 1d8+5 slashing plus 2d6 evil and infernal wound
Melee claw +13, Damage 2d6+5 slashing plus 1d6 evil
Melee beard +13, Damage 1d6+5 piercing plus Avernal Fever
Divine Innate Spells DC 17
Rituals DC 17
Avernal Fever (disease); Saving Throw DC 21 Fortitude
Infernal Wound A bearded devil's glaive Strike also deals 1d6 persistent bleed damage that resists attempts to heal it. The flat check to stop the bleeding starts at DC 18. The DC is reduced to 13 only if the bleeding creature or an ally successfully assists with the recovery. The DC to Administer First Aid to a creature with an Infernal Wound is increased by 3. A spellcaster or item attempting to use healing magic on an afflicted creature must succeed at a DC 19 counteract check or the magic fails.
Wriggling Beard . Frequency once per round. Effect The barbazu make a beard Strike. This Strike ignores their multiple attack penalty and doesn't count toward that penalty, and damage is reduced to 1d6+3 piercing plus Avernal Fever.
Now, had the GM decided that an extreme-threat was appropriate, we would have used the default barbazu; doing so would raise this from a taxing, but likely victory to one where the PC is likely to fail barring strings of lucky rolls on their side or the opposite on the GM's side. or just plain downright in-character cheating such as coming pre-buffed with effects that lasts a moderately long time, though if such were discovered by the test's administrators it would certainly lead to a rescinding of the Hellknight title and expulsion from the order at the very minimum.
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I don't personally know what it takes to become a Hellknight, but from what I've heard, they really put their trainees through HELL!!!
Get it?
All seriousness though, I agree with HenshinFanatic