Epyllion vs Pathfinder
Compare Epyllion and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Epyllion | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Beginner-Friendly, Family, Rules-Light, Fiction-First, Character-Driven | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat (Courage, Charm, or Cunning): 10+ is a hit, 7–9 is a partial hit, 6− is a miss. Friendship Gems are passed between players to reward virtuous behavior and spent to power moon magic. A Shadow Track measures the Darkness's hold — fill it and you become your corrupted Shadowself until friends pull you back. | 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 | 2d6 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | High |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Community | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary (PbtA) | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Magpie Games | Paizo |
| Year | 2016 | 2023 |
| Best For | Families and groups who want a heartfelt, friendship-driven adventure where everyone plays young dragons protecting their world from a creeping Darkness. | 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 | Accessible gateway RPG for families and new players, friendship gem economy makes cooperation mechanical, dragon setting with its own lore, six playbooks with distinct Shadowself arcs | Complete rules available free on Archives of Nethys. Three-action economy gives every turn meaningful tactical decisions. Character customization through ancestry feats, class feats, skill feats, and general feats at every level. Four degrees of success on every roll add granularity to outcomes. |
| Considerations | Very niche — you must want to play young dragons, limited mechanical depth, tightly bound to its setting | 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 requires selecting feats from multiple categories at every level, which can overwhelm new players. |