I love PF2e for it's three action economy and numerical/mathematical tightness... but I don't particularly care for how crazy/super human PCs eventually get. What does the Paizo braintrust think more OSR-like generic classes would look like in the PF2e sysem?
My first thought is that spells greater than 5th level are flat out unavailable, and that classes would probably receive no feats whatsoever?
Basically, I'm curious about what PF2e would look like if you stripped it way, way down. Anybody have any thoughts?
Just stick to level 6 character cap. You'll be fine.
Level 6 sounds about right. Level 7 is where casters start flying and martials start jumping 30 feet in the air.
Level 6 cuts off those crazy Master level skill feats. Of course level 6 is also where some martials (Dragon Barbarian, Ki Monk) start getting explosive AoE powers which might feel unrealistic too.
One could argue there are superhuman aspects from the get-go (even beyond the spells), so I have to wonder what you even want from a "heroic fantasy RPG" when the fantasy portion feels too crazy. Yes, the later levels get into superhero/anime-power-fantasy levels, but it's a consistent power curve so it's kinda hard to draw a line when there's escalation immediately.
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The old E6 rules system would not be all that hard to adapt to 2e and sounds like it would address your needs nicely.
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You will also want to play with proficiency without level included. A big reason why Pathfinder characters feel super at higher levels is also because their level gives them such an advantage in terms of rolling against lower leveled opponents, or rather, against common NPCs, which OSR doesn't tend to do.
Yes, this evens out the whole system, meaning armies matter more (and can save well vs. the AoEs meant to destroy them). One might even keep DCs the same to avoid extraordinary feats or unrealistic Medicine. That's a major paradigm shift, yet that's also what the OP's requesting.