Cairn vs Dungeons & Dragons
Compare Cairn and Dungeons & Dragons side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Cairn | Dungeons & Dragons | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Classless, Deadly, Dungeon Crawl, Attacks Always Hit, Inventory Management, CC-Licensed Rules | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Vancian Casting, Ascending AC |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under one of three attributes (STR, DEX, WIL) to make a save; 1 always succeeds, 20 always fails. Combat is simultaneous and attacks always hit: the attacker rolls a weapon die, subtracts armor, and applies the rest to HP. When HP reaches 0, damage spills into STR and triggers a Critical Damage save. | Make a D20 Test by rolling d20, adding relevant modifiers, and comparing the total to a target number. Ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls use this procedure. Advantage and disadvantage use two d20s and keep the higher or lower result. |
| Dice | d20, d4–d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very Low | Very High |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | CC BY 4.0 (SRD); core books proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Publisher | Cairn Press | Wizards of the Coast |
| Year | 2024 | 2024 |
| Languages | English | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want a fast, classless fantasy game where equipment defines the character, expeditions into the Wood are tense and lethal, and the GM can roll most of their prep from tables. | Groups who want heroic fantasy with configurable tactical combat, broad character options, and campaigns that span multiple levels. |
| Highlights | Inventory and Fatigue share the same 10 slots, so every spell cast, wound, or burden taken on competes with the equipment that defines a classless character. The Scars table turns surviving a near-death hit into permanent character development: a hit that drops a PC to exactly 0 HP rolls a unique injury or trait that often raises an attribute, making advancement a consequence of surviving danger rather than an XP track. Dungeon turns and three-watch wilderness travel each have their own resolution loop and event table, giving the Warden a structured procedure for both exploration modes instead of freeform improv. The Warden's Guide bundles procedural setting, faction, dungeon, and forest generators alongside the bestiary, so prep can be rolled rather than authored. | Advantage and disadvantage resolve common situational effects by selecting the higher or lower of two d20 rolls. Backgrounds, classes, subclasses, and feats distribute character choices across creation and advancement. Weapon Mastery gives qualifying weapon users distinct tactical effects without replacing the action economy. |
| Considerations | Starting HP is rolled on 1d6, so first-session characters can be killed by a single hit: Cairn assumes attrition and replacement rather than long heroic arcs. Combat is deterministic: attacks always hit and damage is rolled by the attacker, removing the to-hit decision space some tactical players want. There is no Charisma or Intelligence attribute and no fixed spell list: social conflict resolves through WIL saves, and a character's magical capability is shaped by which spellbooks the party finds rather than choices made at creation. Advancement comes through the Scars table rather than XP or milestones, so growth is a byproduct of surviving damage rather than a steady level-up curve. | Spell preparation, spell slots, class features, and conditions create several interacting resources for players to track. High-level characters combine many spells and features, increasing adjudication work for the DM. Bastions add a separate downtime procedure for campaigns that use the stronghold rules. |