Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition vs Pathfinder
Compare Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Tactical, Character Building, Exploration, High-Fantasy, Open Source | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | d20 + modifier vs. DC/AC with advantage/disadvantage. Adds expertise dice, combat maneuvers with exertion pool, and structured exploration/social systems. | 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 | High | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | CC BY 4.0 | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | EN Publishing | Paizo |
| Year | 2021 | 2023 |
| Best For | 5e players who want deeper character builds, meaningful exploration and social pillar mechanics, and combat maneuvers without changing the core d20 framework. | 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 | Backwards-compatible with 5e adventures, much deeper exploration and social pillars, combat maneuvers for martial classes, rich origin system (heritage + culture + background + destiny) | 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 | More complex than base 5e, some players find the extra systems overwhelming, Requires the separate Trials & Treasures book for GM tools and magic items while monsters are in the Monstrous Menagerie book. | 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. |