Barbarians of Lemuria vs Pathfinder
Compare Barbarians of Lemuria and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Barbarians of Lemuria | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Pulp Action, Sword & Sorcery, Beginner-Friendly, Fast-Paced | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + attribute + career (or combat ability), 9+ to succeed. Four attributes (Strength, Agility, Mind, Appeal) and four combat abilities (Initiative, Melee, Ranged, Defence) rated 0–5. Careers replace individual skills — if your career is relevant, add its rating. Boons roll 3d6 keep best two; flaws roll 3d6 keep worst two. Hero Points fuel dramatic escapes and heroic feats. | 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 | 2d6 | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Community | Low | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | ORC |
| Cost | $ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Beyond Belief Games | Paizo |
| Year | 2015 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want fast, pulpy sword and sorcery in the vein of Conan — career-based characters, boons and flaws, and combat that resolves in minutes. | 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 | Career system is intuitive and fast, combat resolves in minutes, Hero Points enable pulp heroics, simple to learn and teach, spawned the Everywhen universal toolkit | Complete rules available free on Archives of Nethys. Three-action economy gives every turn meaningful tactical decisions. Character customization through ancestry feats, class feats, skill feats, and general feats at every level. Four degrees of success on every roll add granularity to outcomes. |
| Considerations | Tightly coupled to its Lemuria setting, limited character advancement, combat lacks tactical depth | 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 requires selecting feats from multiple categories at every level, which can overwhelm new players. |