Flying Circus vs Pathfinder
Compare Flying Circus and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Flying Circus | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Sandbox | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d10 + stat: 10 or less is a miss, 11–15 is a partial hit, 16+ is a full hit. Moves are triggered by fiction. Air combat uses energy management, altitude, and speed on instrument panels. Stress accumulated in missions is relieved between flights through vices and relationships. | 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 | 2d10 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | Low | Very High |
| Community | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary (PbtA) | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Newstand Press | Paizo |
| Year | 2020 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want a deeply detailed aerial combat game wrapped in a rich, character-driven story about mercenary pilots in a post-war fantasy world. | 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 | Highly detailed air combat, setting blends WWI aviation with Miyazaki-esque fantasy, character-driven downtime system, free aircraft builder tool, 10 diverse playbook backgrounds | 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 | Dense and intimidating to learn, very niche aerial-combat focus, requires printing instrument panels and component cards, limited to its specific 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. |