So, I get that Starting king needs to be stronger than regular king so as to make him not the objectively best choice to execute N2 or whatever.
However, Just because he needs to be stronger does not mean he needs to be tougher. In my experience the most fun games were games where the starting king died before midgame. This is in my mind a good thing as it reduces the swing inherent to the starting king to negligible levels if he dies before he can make or break the game.
First of all make starting king have 4 guards again, He may have needed it with Order but not with Order Exe.
Second of all make ALL poisons and bleed effects kill him in 1 night (also make then indistinguishable but that’s another issue).
Lastly there simply needs to be more ways to get around the king’s guards. For example Happy Hour should be able to target the king.