Legend of the Elements vs Pathfinder
Compare Legend of the Elements and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Legend of the Elements | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Playbook-Driven, Beginner-Friendly, Cinematic | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat. On 10+ you succeed fully, on 7–9 you succeed with a cost or complication, on 6- the MC makes a move. Five stats (Natural, Hot, Solid, Keen, Fluid) map to elemental temperaments. Chi and Chakras fuel supernatural abilities; Oaths and Respect drive character 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 | 2d6 | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | ORC |
| Cost | $ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | The Logbook Project | Paizo |
| Year | 2016 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want to play Avatar: The Last Airbender-style supernatural martial arts stories with elemental bending, oaths, and chi. | 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 | Designed for Avatar-style elemental fantasy, wide playbook selection (15+ including sub-playbooks), Chi/Chakra economy adds depth beyond standard PbtA, accessible to new players | 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 | Very niche: requires buy-in to the wuxia/elemental genre, tightly coupled to its specific tone, MC section is dense for first-time PbtA GMs | 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. |