Self-Teaching Pathfinder Rules / GMing in Abomination Vault

[heliodorus04]

I'm very new to Pathfinder 2e, having played four times since its release (PFS organized play only), and now I want to immerse myself into learning the rules of the game. I'm going to make 4 PC characters and self-GM/solo the Abomination Vault series. I think this will be a fun way to thoroughly learn the rules at my own pace without risk.

My question for the Forum is what 4 character classes should I make to navigate the Abomination Vault series? As a bit of a restriction, I only own the Core Rulebook, Bestiary (1), and Game Mastering Guide for rule books to draw on (plus the Abomination Vault AP); that represents my class limitations for these 4 characters. I wanted to take a Cloistered Cleric (Dwarf), a Ranger (elf), a Wizard or Sorcerer (Gnome probably sorcerer), and maybe a fighter or a champion. If you have any recommendations in this regard I would really appreciate it. I am especially interested in whether this party should have a cloistered cleric or a warpriest, and whether the ranger's planned Bow emphasis would make the party vulnerable in melee.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you provide.

If I wanted to take 5 or 6 characters, would I have to adjust encounter difficulty for a bigger party? Four PCs is the norm now for AP design, is that right?

[Ron Lundeen]

I have some feedback here!

All our Adventure Paths assume a four-person party, and the art throughout the AP show who we consider the "default iconics" that experience the AP. (Of course, the actual characters who experience are those at your own table!) For Abomination Vaults, those are the fighter, wizard, cleric, and rogue--they're the four classes who appear in the Pathfinder Beginner Box, after all, and this is in many ways a continuation of that.

Your group of a cleric, ranger, sorcerer, and fighter/champion sounds like it would work great.

You don't need to necessarily add more monsters for more characters--they'll find some of the combats a bit easier and need to rest a little less often, but that's okay!

For reference, my own party consists of six characters: a bard, champion, cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard. I sometimes throw in a fifth enemy when the encounter has 4 of them, or a fourth enemy when an encounter has 3 of them, but I otherwise don't modify the adventure much at all.

[heliodorus04]

Thank you very much for the feedback.