I mean, we agree on not killing the party, but by Avernus: you really need to open a window and get some fresh air.
And you need to not worry about it a single bit, on the other hand.
Both because my very job is about training and "getting fresh air" on a regular basis and because as a personal habit I go for a 10 Km run basically on a daily basis.
Chances are I get way more fresh air than you, in fact.
I always thought you were somewhat versed in 5e mechanics, so it cannot be a suprise to you that a 5e game takes the recommended party size in account. Which, in pretty much every source material, is 3-5 players if not outright 4 players. Out of the box 5e is adjusted for 4 PCs, so it is only rational to take that number.
Oh Jesus Christ. Here it comes the good old "but the PHB suggests the party of 4" card again.
So fucking what? That has hardly anything to do with the point here.
A CRPG and a tabletop session have very different "ground dynamics". The latter is about human players interacting around a table, the former is about gathering a cast of NPCs with limited interaction capabilities and managing them across dozens of hours in a single player campaign.
And by the way the main reason the official source pats the players on the back telling them "3 or 4 players is fine enough" is because if they told people "You need to gather at least 6 or 7 players around the table to get the top experience" they would sell probably a TENTH.
