I've never done this, but I'm wondering what the ramifications might be of trying to run a game with just two "Buddy Cop" PCs and few if any supporting NPCs.
Mainly because the studio behind one of my favorite short films is getting close to releasing their TV pilot and the whole thing is a buddy-cop style fantasy adventure.
What you are referring to is actually running a game with two PC's.
Unless you scale it for them and their limitations, it will be a constant struggle, even with NPC's supporting.
Since however, this is a themed game with a setting you plan to unfold, you can still make the game work by doing just that, scaling it to accommodate the limitations of just two PC's.
If this were an AP or something it would be unplayable w/o heavy DM fudging.
I can see it potentially being unrunnable because it would prevent the diversity PF generally requires (you could have cleric and fighter or wizard and fighter, not all three), but maybe not.
I've been operating all these years under the impressions that a 2-player game is not doable but I might be wrong. If possible I'd like to hear form some folks who've done it. It'd let me play games online with more friends after college.
Two player, with three PC's is doable in a sandbox game. I've done it with two simultaneous campaigns where I was DM in one, the player with 2 PC's in the other.
Again, though - the DM has to scale it because of challenge/balance issues.
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My Serpent's Skull game is two-player, although they've acquired a couple of NPCs. It's been going well so far, partially due to cunning tactics. They have Hero points and we've been using the Tides of Battle cards, but I doubt that that's really earthshaking. They're 5th level now with a party of:
Human fighter (lore warden, martial master)
Half-elf hunter (verminous hunter)
Human swashbuckler/ranger NPC
Human monk/cleric NPC
As always, happy to answer questions. :)
i ran a very successful 1 (later 2) PC campaign which lasted until 25th level.
I found there are two ways to get past the lack of diverse skill sets;
1) DMPCs - NPC party members controlled in combat by the PCs but role played by the DM
2) Gestalt- give the PCs two classes at once with the better of the two used for saves/HD/BaB
(Etc: Gestalt Fighter/Cleric 1 would have BaB +1, Strong Fort/Will, weak Ref, 1st level cleric spells/channel and 1st level bonus feat)
I have run 2 player pathfinder games before quite successfully, even with published adventures, and didnt need to run dmpcs.
The key is the gestalt rules from 3.5 unearthed arcana. Each player effectively gets 2 character classes each level, choosing the higher of each stat (saves, bab, skill points etc) and gets the class abilities of both.
If you add to that careful choice of character abilities to make up for the action economy loss of only having 2 pcs you dont have to make any adjustments.
Specifically, the classes with capable pets are most valuable here. At the top of the list, the druid and the summoner. For all its problems, the summoner is great in a small party game. The druid too with a potent animal companion means the party doeasnt really lose out on actions. If you add to that classes that complement them well you can have a fully capable party with just 2 players.
Things to avoid are the single stream classes, you want versatile characters. Aside from the druid and summoner, some of the best choices are paladin, inquisitor, rogue, alchemist, hunter, blood rager, ranger, magus, warpriest, etc.
Something like a druid/inquisitor and a summoner/paladin can work exceptionally well as a full party.
I also give them a high point buy with the understanding that they wont be maxing out single scores but instead spreading it to add versatility.
I was able to do a pretty effective game with two PCs using Smugglers' Shiv from the Serpents Skull AP. There are five different NPCs with the party and, after the PCs made NPCs friendly, they would accompany the party. After they became helpful. I let the PCs control them in combat, which took out a lot of the CR issues.
The downside? Five different heavily involved NPCs are a lot of voices and motivations for any GM to cope with...
I've run games for 2-players. Typically, one of them have been some sort of caster and the other some sort of martial. Inevitably, multi-classing occurs. It would be interesting run a game using the classes from the Advanced Player's Guide, having elements of two classes combined into one could make things doable without too much work - a Bloodrager and Inquisitor team has possibilities. But that's me.
You could give each player two PCs. Or a cohort each, maybe just a level lower.
Roleplaying might be a challenge for some players (what with stepping in and out of different characters), but making one PC the hero and the cohort a mere sidekick might ameliorate that. Just focus on the prime PC's personality when in doubt.