Here's an idea that I don't think has been explored. What if your party size was determined by your choice of Pantaloons from the game launch window?

Now The Golden Pantaloons they do one thing, they set the party at 4 the designer's default.

The Pantaloons of the Soloist set the party at 1 and The Double Dragon Pantaloons set the party at 2.

The Pantaloons of Many Colours set the party at 6

Now everyone has the right pantaloons for what they're after. They can just key the settings off whatever makes sense for the chosen pantaloons heheh