13th Age vs Pathfinder
Compare 13th Age and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| 13th Age | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, GM-Friendly, Heroic, Ascending AC | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + modifier vs. defense. The escalation die (a d6 that increases each combat round, adding to player attacks) builds momentum. One Unique Things and Icon Relationships tie characters to the setting and drive story. | Roll d20 + modifier against a DC. Four degrees of success: critical success (beat DC by 10+), success, failure, and critical failure (miss by 10+). Each turn grants three actions to spend freely on strikes, movement, spellcasting, or other activities. Multi-attack penalty (-5/-10) discourages repeated strikes and encourages tactical variety. |
| Dice | d20 | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | ORC License | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Pelgrane Press | Paizo |
| Year | 2025 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who love d20 fantasy combat but want more narrative freedom, improvisational play, and story-driven character connections baked into the mechanics. | Groups who want deep character customization, tactical grid combat with meaningful turn-by-turn decisions, and a richly detailed fantasy setting with free rules. |
| Highlights | Escalation die keeps combat moving, One Unique Things and Icon Relationships create narrative hooks, streamlined monster design makes GM prep fast | The three-action economy gives every turn the same three actions to spend on strikes, movement, or spells, so each turn is a fresh tactical decision. Characters customize through ancestry, class, skill, and general feats gained at nearly every level, letting builds diverge sharply within a single class. Four degrees of success, set by beating or missing the DC by 10, turn each roll into a range of outcomes rather than a binary result. |
| Considerations | Tightly coupled to its default setting through the Icon system, some classes have complex trigger systems | New players must learn the trait system, conditions, and four degrees of success before combat runs smoothly. Multi-attack penalty and numerous combat actions can slow turns for indecisive players. Character creation draws feats from ancestry, class, skill, and general pools at every level, making each build a slow step. |