Land of Eem vs Pathfinder
Compare Land of Eem and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Land of Eem | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Exploration, Rules-Light, Beginner-Friendly, Hexcrawl, Theater of the Mind, Fiction-First | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d12 + skill modifier. Results on a 5-tier scale: Complete Failure (1–2), Failure with a Plus (3–5), Success with a Twist (6–8), Success (9–11), Complete Success (12+). Advantage/disadvantage rolls 2d12 take best/worst. | 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 | d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Community | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Exalted Funeral Press | Paizo |
| Year | 2023 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want lighthearted, story-driven fantasy adventure with whimsical tone, hex crawl exploration, and meaningful roleplay — where talking to monsters is often better than fighting them. | 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 | Whimsical tone encourages creativity, graduated success/failure keeps things interesting, detailed hex crawl and exploration rules, combat designed to be avoidable through parley, character story mechanics with relationships and personal quests | 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 | Whimsical tone won't suit every group, combat is intentionally simple and abstract, tightly tied to its own 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. |