Hi gdenby - appreciate the response, and apologies for this thread ending up in the incorrect spot. Going forward, I will make sure to post these types of questions in the Photo/iPad forum. I tried your suggestion, however the size of the brush selected and the size of the adjustment made by the Apple Pencil still remain largely discrepant, with the brush appearing extremely large, and the Pencil affecting a much smaller and more focused area. When I use my finger, the resulting adjustment matches the brush size fairly precisely. Here are my settings, based on your suggestion:
I tapped the "more" button. On the "general" tab, settings are as follows: Accumulation is at 100%, Spacing is at 15%, Rotation is at 0%, and Shape is at 100%, Blending Mode is "Normal," and Wet Edges are not set.
On the "dynamics" tab, everything is set to "none" and zeroed out.
While I understand that part of the benefit of the pen is its sensitivity and precision, there are certain applications where it is important to be able to have a larger brush with softer edges, especially when blending layers. That is probably the biggest problem that I am seeing - when I blend layers together with the pen, I am often times getting results with edges that are simply too harsh (despite hardness being set to 0%). This is typically a problem that I would see when using a brush that is too small. Perhaps these types of edits are simply better done with a finger, with the pen reserved for much more detailed work.
Again, thank you for your help, and I am happy to repost the topic if it is more appropriate somewhere else.