Daggerheart vs Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Compare Daggerheart and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Daggerheart | Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven | Crunchy, Tactical, Character Building, Exploration, High-Fantasy, Open Source |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d12 Duality Dice (Hope + Fear) and add modifiers vs. difficulty. Which die rolls higher determines whether the moment swings toward the players (Hope) or the GM gains Fear tokens to spend on complications. In combat, adversary attacks roll d20 + modifier against target's Evasion. | d20 + modifier vs. DC/AC with advantage/disadvantage. Adds expertise dice, combat maneuvers with exertion pool, and structured exploration/social systems. |
| Dice | 2d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) | CC BY 4.0 |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Darrington Press | EN Publishing |
| Year | 2025 | 2021 |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy with emotionally driven storytelling, where every roll shifts momentum between hope and fear. Great for Critical Role fans and narrative-focused tables. | 5e players who want deeper character builds, meaningful exploration and social pillar mechanics, and combat maneuvers without changing the core d20 framework. |
| Highlights | Every action roll uses 2d12 Duality Dice, and whether Hope or Fear lands higher hands momentum to the player or the GM. Combat runs fiction-first with no fixed initiative, so the spotlight passes by the action rather than a turn order. Characters equip abilities as domain cards drawn from two domains, building a loadout the player can swap between. | Backwards-compatible with 5e adventures, much deeper exploration and social pillars, combat maneuvers for martial classes, rich origin system (heritage + culture + background + destiny) |
| Considerations | The domain-card system runs best with printed cards, though it can be played from the character sheet alone. Players and the GM use asymmetric rules, so each side has its own procedures to learn. Mechanics are tied to the game's own setting and ancestries, which takes work to reskin for another world. | More complex than base 5e, some players find the extra systems overwhelming, Requires the separate Trials & Treasures book for GM tools and magic items while monsters are in the Monstrous Menagerie book. |