Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition vs Pathfinder

Compare Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition	Pathfinder
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy
Tags	Character Building, Classic Fantasy, Crunchy, Descending AC, Dungeon Crawl, Random Tables, Tactical, Vancian Casting	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	Roll 1d20 to attack and meet or exceed THAC0 minus the target’s descending Armor Class. Ability and proficiency checks roll a d20 against an appropriate score. Spellcasters choose spells to memorize before casting.	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	High	High
Accessibility	Medium	Very High
Runnability	High	Very High
License	All Rights Reserved	ORC
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	Commercial publishing allowed — Open and compatibility licenses
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$$	Free
Publisher	TSR, Inc.	Paizo
Year	1995	2023
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Best For	Groups who want referee-led fantasy campaigns with class-and-level characters, prepared spells, optional proficiencies, and detailed combat procedures.	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	THAC0 expresses attack chances as a single target-number calculation against descending Armor Class. Parallel PHB and DMG organization and a DMG index covering both books make rules topics easier to locate. Optional proficiencies add chosen weapon and nonweapon capabilities to class-based characters.	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	Core rules remain split between the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master Guide, including DM-only procedures. Descending Armor Class, initiative modifiers, and special combat procedures require reference beyond a basic d20 roll. Optional proficiency rules increase character choices and exception handling.	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.