I'm planning running a couple friends through the Abomination Vaults soon, it'll be my first time GMing Pathfinder. I know 4 is the recommended party size, but we really want to try keeping this a small party, and I'm wondering how I should modify things to make this doable.
I was thinking I would start them out at third level to make them less squishy and bring their power level comparable to a party of 4 starting at 1st. They are not interested in running 2 characters each. Would the higher level be enough to get them through the Abomination Vaults? Will having less characters leave too many gaps in the party skillset? I could offer them the free Archetype as well but we haven't discussed that yet.