Electric Bastionland vs Pathfinder
Compare Electric Bastionland and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Electric Bastionland | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Weird, Classless, Dungeon Crawl, Attacks Always Hit, One-Shot Friendly, Low-Prep | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under attribute (STR, DEX, CHA) to avoid danger. Attacks always hit: roll weapon damage directly, reduced by armor. 100+ unique Failed Careers define your character through equipment and debt rather than stats. | Roll d20 + modifier against a DC. Four degrees of success: critical success (beat DC by 10+), success, failure, and critical failure (miss by 10+). Each turn grants three actions to spend freely on strikes, movement, spellcasting, or other activities. Multi-attack penalty (-5/-10) discourages repeated strikes and encourages tactical variety. |
| Dice | d20 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | High |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Mark of the Odd SRD | ORC |
| Cost | Free / $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Bastionland Press | Paizo |
| Year | 2020 | 2023 |
| Best For | Short treasure-hunting campaigns in a surreal, modern-tinged city. Ideal for groups who love strange worldbuilding, fast character creation via 100+ Failed Careers, and fiction-driven play. | Groups who want deep character customization, tactical grid combat with meaningful turn-by-turn decisions, and a richly detailed fantasy setting with free rules. |
| Highlights | Two pages of actual rules, 100+ varied Failed Careers, detailed GM guidance, free 42-page edition available, spawned an entire design movement | The three-action economy gives every turn the same three actions to spend on strikes, movement, or spells, so each turn is a fresh tactical decision. Characters customize through ancestry, class, skill, and general feats gained at nearly every level, letting builds diverge sharply within a single class. Four degrees of success, set by beating or missing the DC by 10, turn each roll into a range of outcomes rather than a binary result. |
| Considerations | Tightly coupled to its surreal Bastion setting, minimal character progression, requires a confident GM, narrow genre focus | New players must learn the trait system, conditions, and four degrees of success before combat runs smoothly. Multi-attack penalty and numerous combat actions can slow turns for indecisive players. Character creation draws feats from ancestry, class, skill, and general pools at every level, making each build a slow step. |