Knave vs Pathfinder
Compare Knave and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Knave | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Classless, Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Hackable, Ascending AC, Vancian Casting, Random Tables | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + ability score (1–10) vs. 11 + difficulty modifier. No classes — your abilities come from what you carry. Item slot inventory means every piece of gear is a meaningful choice. Spellbooks occupy an item slot and can be cast once per day (INT times per day total). 100 random careers provide starting equipment and flavor. Wounds reduce ability scores directly. | 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 | Very High | Very High |
| Community | Medium | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | ORC |
| Cost | $ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Questing Beast LLC | Paizo |
| Year | 2024 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want a classless, inventory-driven OSR game where characters are defined entirely by their equipment — with brilliant random tables and a full worldbuilding toolkit. | 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 | Classless — gear defines the character, item slot inventory makes every choice meaningful, extensive random tables for worldbuilding, CC BY license allows free modification, fits in a small book | 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 | No character classes may feel directionless for some players, very swingy d20 rolls with low ability scores, minimal rules means heavy GM improvisation, combat is basic by design | 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. |