Castles & Crusades vs Pathfinder
Compare Castles & Crusades and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Castles & Crusades | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Heroic, Dungeon Crawl, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Theater of the Mind, Vancian Casting | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | SIEGE Engine: roll d20 + modifier + level vs. Challenge Class (12 for primary attributes, 18 for secondary). Primary/secondary attribute distinction replaces complex skill lists with a single unified check system. | 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 | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | OGL 1.0a | 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 | Free |
| Publisher | Troll Lord Games | Paizo |
| Year | 2004 | 2023 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups wanting the classic AD&D feel with streamlined, unified mechanics: old-school spirit with modern ease of play. | 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 | SIEGE Engine unifies all attribute checks, easy to convert AD&D/d20 content, 13 classes with classic archetypes, fast character creation, large back-catalog of adventures | 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 | Primary/secondary attribute split can feel arbitrary, limited non-fantasy support | 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. |