Dungeons & Dragons vs Symbaroum

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

	Dungeons & Dragons	Symbaroum
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy, Horror
Tags	Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Vancian Casting, Ascending AC	Dark Fantasy, Atmospheric, Player-Only Rolls, Corruption, Exploration, Roll to Cast, Classless, Tactical, Gritty, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	Make a D20 Test by rolling d20, adding relevant modifiers, and comparing the total to a target number. Ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls use this procedure. Advantage and disadvantage use two d20s and keep the higher or lower result.	Roll a d20 and try to land equal to or under one of eight Attributes: Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong, and Vigilant. Opposed tests apply the opponent's relevant Attribute as a penalty, written [Attribute←Opponent's Attribute]. Only players roll dice, so an enemy attack becomes a player Defense test and NPC stats appear as fixed modifiers on the player's roll.
Dice	d20	d20
Complexity	Medium	Medium
Accessibility	Very High	High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	CC BY 4.0 (SRD); core books proprietary	All Rights Reserved
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	Free League Publishing
Year	2024	2016
Languages	English, French, Italian, German, Spanish	English, Swedish, French, German
Best For	Groups who want heroic fantasy with configurable tactical combat, broad character options, and campaigns that span multiple levels.	Groups who want long-form dark fantasy exploration with mounting personal cost: expeditions into ancient ruins where each use of magic and each encounter with the corrupted forest leaves a lasting mark on the characters.
Highlights	Advantage and disadvantage resolve common situational effects by selecting the higher or lower of two d20 rolls. Backgrounds, classes, subclasses, and feats distribute character choices across creation and advancement. Weapon Mastery gives qualifying weapon users distinct tactical effects without replacing the action economy.	Corruption tracks the mystical cost of every cast power, tainted artifact, and hour in dark Davokar: passing half a character's Resolute pins a permanent Stigma like blackening eyes or fangs that only rituals can lift. Reaching Resolute in total Corruption turns the character into an abomination and hands them to the GM, putting every mystic and every cursed treasure in tension with continued ownership of the character. Witchsight reveals the colored Shadow around any creature or object (green and red for things of nature, gold and silver for civilized beings, black and purple for the corrupted), but each glance risks taking on temporary Corruption from what was inspected. Only players roll dice, so combat resolves as the players' Attack tests, Defense tests, and damage rolls against fixed NPC values rather than back-and-forth opposed throws.
Considerations	Spell preparation, spell slots, class features, and conditions create several interacting resources for players to track. High-level characters combine many spells and features, increasing adjudication work for the DM. Bastions add a separate downtime procedure for campaigns that use the stronghold rules.	Mystics pay heavy attrition for their craft: every learned power and every casting generates Corruption, and the four traditions only partially insulate the caster, so spell-heavy characters require careful tracking and trend toward eventual transformation if used freely. Combat resolves each attack against multiple thresholds (rolled Armor for protection, weapon damage against Toughness, and a Pain Threshold check for whether the hit knocks the target prone or triggers a free attack), adding bookkeeping in busy encounters. The core book deliberately limits its setting to the region around Davokar; the lands south of the Titans and the broader world receive only brief mention.