Dragonchess Player |
Reading through the rules for starship combat, it seems as if Starfinder parties are assumed to contain 5 PCs instead of 4: so that one PC can fill each of the captain, engineer, gunner, pilot, and science officer roles. I suppose you could dispense with the captain role, but that makes combats a bit tougher without the captain providing bonuses to the crew or Taunting the enemy to impose penalties.
Of course, how important starship combat is for a given campaign may differ between groups. The APs however, based on the first installment, will probably have it occur moderately often (possibly once or twice per installment).
Dracovaard |
Both Pathfinder and Starfinder APs are written optimally for four people. You could play with more, but the more you have the easier it gets.
Starfinder Society scenarios are a different story. They are written for five to six really, with four players getting special adjustments to the scenarios just like in Pathfinder Society scenarios.