Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition vs Lancer

Compare Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and Lancer side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition	Lancer
Genre	Fantasy	Sci-Fi
Tags	Tactical, Grid-Based, Miniatures, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Resource Management, Crunchy, Strong GM Support, Heroic, High-Fantasy	Mecha, Tactical, Grid-Based, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Character Building, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Lore-Heavy, Heroic
Core Mechanic	Roll d20 plus the relevant modifiers against a difficulty class or target defense. A total equal to or higher than the target succeeds.	Skill checks, attacks, and saves roll a d20 plus at most one stat bonus, such as a pilot trigger, a mech skill, or GRIT. Skill checks normally succeed on 10 or more, while attacks must meet the target's defense and saves must meet the attacker's save target. Accuracy and Difficulty cancel one for one. Each remaining point rolls a d6, and only the highest die is added or subtracted.
Dice	d20	d20 + d6
Complexity	High	High
Availability	Free quickstart	Free quickstart
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License (February 27, 2009)	Lancer Third Party License
Third-Party Publishing	No verified route found	Commercial publishing allowed — Publisher third-party license
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Wizards of the Coast	Massif Press
Year	2008	2019
Languages	English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese	English, Italian, Portuguese
Best For	Groups who want coordinated battles on a grid and long campaigns with substantial character customization.	Groups who want deep tactical mech combat and build customization, with lighter narrative play and downtime between missions.
Highlights	Defender marks penalize attacks against allies, giving protection a concrete tactical role. At-will, encounter, and daily powers separate repeatable actions from limited reserves. Monster roles and XP budgets help the DM assemble encounters with complementary threats.	Licenses unlock gear from five manufacturers, and unlocked weapons and systems can be mixed onto any licensed frame within its mounts and system points. Combat during narrative play resolves through ordinary skill checks, so a fight without mechs can end in a few rolls without a battle map. Player mechs degrade in stages: each lost point of structure or stress triggers an increasingly dangerous structure or overheating check.
Considerations	Combat assumes a grid and tokens or miniatures, making precise spatial tracking part of every fight. Players must monitor triggered actions that can occur outside their own turns. Rituals take minutes or hours to perform.	Build choices are dense, since licenses, talents, and core bonuses interact across 29 frames. Narrative play outside combat is a lean layer of skill checks and downtime actions next to the mech combat rules. Mech combat is slow enough that the book expects one or two fights per session, usually just one.