Dungeons & Dragons vs Invisible Sun

Compare Dungeons & Dragons and Invisible Sun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Dungeons & Dragons	Invisible Sun
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy
Tags	Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Combat-Heavy, Exploration, Resource Management, Strong GM Support, CC-Licensed Rules	Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Crunchy, Worldbuilding, Lore-Heavy, Mana Points, Narrative, Roleplay-Heavy, Weird
Core Mechanic	Roll a d20 and add applicable modifiers to meet or beat a target number. Checks and saving throws use a Difficulty Class; attacks use Armor Class. Advantage or disadvantage means rolling two d20s and keeping the higher or lower result.	Subtract your venture (skills, spent bene from stat pools, situational modifiers) from the GM's challenge to find the number you must meet or beat on a d10. If venture meets the challenge, no roll is needed. Spending bene from the Sorcery pool casts spells and adds extra dice to magical actions (succeed if any die meets the target), but a flux result on a magic die triggers magical flux, an unintended side effect. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along the Path of Suns board, and each new card shifts which colors of magic strengthen or weaken at the table.
Dice	d20	d10
Complexity	High	Very High
Accessibility	Very High	Low
Runnability	Very High	High
License	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (SRD 5.2.1); proprietary core books	Proprietary
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Open license	Not yet researched
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	Free	$$$
Publisher	Wizards of the Coast	Monte Cook Games
Year	2024	2018
Languages	English, French, Italian, German, Spanish	English
Best For	Groups who want heroic fantasy campaigns with tactical combat and extensive character customization.	Groups who want long-form magical roleplaying in a surreal setting where character arcs and spellcasting matter as much as combat. Particularly suited to tables willing to invest in deep character creation and the elaborate physical components (card decks and the Path of Suns play board) that the system uses.
Highlights	Weapon Mastery adds effects such as pushing or slowing enemies to qualifying weapon attacks. Class and feat choices let characters develop different roles over twenty levels. Optional Bastions give characters home bases with facilities that produce benefits between adventures.	Four distinct magic orders each use different rules: Vance sorcerers prepare and cast spells learned from books, Makers craft lasting magical items through the Maker's Matrix, Weavers improvise spells by combining aggregates, and Goetics summon and bind demons. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along a Path of Suns board to shift which colors of magic strengthen or weaken in real time. Character arcs are the primary advancement engine: players pursue personal goals to earn Acumen and Crux points, with arcs ranging from short stories to entire campaigns. Between-session 'side-scenes' let characters take significant actions in writing without taking up table time.
Considerations	Spells and class abilities have separate resource limits and timing rules. Higher-level magic can change travel and encounter assumptions that the DM must prepare for. Social encounters rely on ability checks and DM judgments about NPC attitudes.	The full game uses an extensive physical-component library (Sooth Deck, multiple spell and ephemera decks, the Path of Suns board, character tomes, and stat pool sheets), all integral to play. Character creation runs eight steps across multiple chapters and typically occupies a full session before play begins. The Satyrine setting and its dream-logic surrealism are built into the rules; adapting Invisible Sun to a more conventional fantasy world requires reworking the magic registers, currency, and order structure. The Black Cube boxed set's premium pricing creates a higher barrier to entry than typical RPGs.