Pathfinder 1E Skull and Shackles
Starfox
Hero
I've run the first and most of the second adventure as DM. I find morality is a problem in this adventure path - in the first adventure my party basically split down the middle along a law-evil / good-chaos axis, and 2 of the 5 players retired and were replaced by new players and characters. Now the group is very strongly chaotic good. Make very sure everyone knows pirates are a chaotic bunch and that the players can work well together.
The first adventure is very important for setting the mood but contains fairly little crunch. Having seen things from behind the screens, the skill (or lack of skill) don't matter as much as you think - they are a matter of comfort more than a matter of survival. All classes can be viable, but as others have said Paladins and Cavaliers are not really in their element, and fighters will probably feel handicapped until armor training starts to cut in. Later on, the party will strongly regret if they did not pull a spellcaster or two trough the first rough parts - more for the utility spells than for combat. Knowledge skills are also fairly important, as the opposition is very varied. I gave my players two extra skill points per level (I usually do that), but that is more to get well-rounded characters than a matter of survival.
Overall, the fights seem pretty easy and the focus in this path is definitely on the story.
I did not like the ship combat system and wrote a more abstract one. My players didn't like THAT, so I wrote an even more abstract one. (http://hastur.net/wiki/Abstract_Ship_Combat_(Apath)) But in the final analysis it might have been better to simply role-play all chase scenes. Tactical mini-games really are not a good thing in role-playing games.
The first adventure is very important for setting the mood but contains fairly little crunch. Having seen things from behind the screens, the skill (or lack of skill) don't matter as much as you think - they are a matter of comfort more than a matter of survival. All classes can be viable, but as others have said Paladins and Cavaliers are not really in their element, and fighters will probably feel handicapped until armor training starts to cut in. Later on, the party will strongly regret if they did not pull a spellcaster or two trough the first rough parts - more for the utility spells than for combat. Knowledge skills are also fairly important, as the opposition is very varied. I gave my players two extra skill points per level (I usually do that), but that is more to get well-rounded characters than a matter of survival.
Overall, the fights seem pretty easy and the focus in this path is definitely on the story.
I did not like the ship combat system and wrote a more abstract one. My players didn't like THAT, so I wrote an even more abstract one. (http://hastur.net/wiki/Abstract_Ship_Combat_(Apath)) But in the final analysis it might have been better to simply role-play all chase scenes. Tactical mini-games really are not a good thing in role-playing games.
Super Pony
Studded Muffin
When I played through Skull and Shackles we tried very hard to use the ship rules, but yeah, I'd agree here. That being said, I just started browsing through Admiral o' the High Seas and I really like what I'm seeing in there (of course vehicular combat rules never seem to please any two people in a row). It's water over the shipwreck for my group, but I'd recommend at least giving it a looksie for any hopeful groups getting ready to set sail on Skull and Shackles.
Now that's a good idea! I hadn't considered using AotHS. Parts might integrate nicely into the S&S AP.
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