Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition vs Star Wars Saga Edition

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

	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition	Star Wars Saga Edition
Genre	Fantasy	Sci-Fi
Tags	Tactical, Grid-Based, Miniatures, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Resource Management, Crunchy, Strong GM Support, Heroic, High-Fantasy	Licensed IP, Space Opera, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Grid-Based, Miniatures
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.	Roll d20 + modifiers against a target number or a Defense score. Three static defenses (Reflex, Fortitude, and Will) replace saving throws. Trained skills grant a flat +5 bonus. A five-step condition track runs alongside hit points, so a single heavy hit can impose cumulative penalties before a character drops. Force Points and optional Destiny Points provide narrative and mechanical resources for critical moments.
Dice	d20	d20
Complexity	High	High
Availability	Free quickstart	Out of print
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License (February 27, 2009)	Proprietary
Third-Party Publishing	No verified route found	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Wizards of the Coast	Wizards of the Coast
Year	2008	2007
Languages	English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese	English, Italian
Best For	Groups who want coordinated battles on a grid and long campaigns with substantial character customization.	Groups who want a d20-based Star Wars campaign with deep character customization through talent trees and a tactical combat core built for miniatures.
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.	Talent trees let two characters of the same class develop along different branches, so a Jedi built as a Guardian and one built as a Consular play differently from first level. The condition track turns a single heavy hit into a persistent penalty, making damage threshold matter alongside hit points. The Force subsystem runs on one Use the Force skill, so telekinesis, mind tricks, and combat enhancement all resolve through the same 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.	The game is out of print with no legal PDF, so acquiring the core book means the used market. The d20 chassis carries heavy per-character bookkeeping: talent and feat selections, a Force power suite, and a condition track that changes during combat. Vehicle and starship encounters switch to a second combat scale with its own actions and statistics, which is a lot to learn for a campaign that stays on foot.