Mage: The Ascension vs Pathfinder for Savage Worlds
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Pathfinder for Savage Worlds side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Pathfinder for Savage Worlds | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Fantasy |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Heroic, High-Fantasy, Character Building, Tactical, Fast-Paced |
| Core Mechanic | Build a d10 pool from an Attribute plus an Ability and count each die that meets or exceeds the difficulty, usually 6. Each rolled 1 cancels a success, and a roll with no successes and at least one 1 botches. Magick uses Arete instead: the highest Sphere plus coincidence or vulgarity and witnesses establishes the base difficulty, with situational modifiers applied afterward. Successes determine the Effect, and vulgar casting risks Paradox. | Roll a trait die (d4–d12) plus a Wild Die (d6); keep the highest. Dice 'explode' (ace) on their max value. Beat a Target Number (usually 4) to succeed; each raise (4 over) improves the result. Playing cards determine initiative. Bennies let you reroll or soak damage. Class Edges capture Pathfinder archetypes as progressive talent trees. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Savage Worlds (Proprietary) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | Pinnacle Entertainment Group / Paizo |
| Year | 2015 | 2023 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. | Groups who love the Pathfinder world of Golarion but want faster, more cinematic combat: Savage Worlds' exploding dice and Bennies replace Pathfinder's tactical crunch with pulp-action heroics. |
| Highlights | Nine Spheres combine to build open-ended Effects, allowing the same capability to emerge through different paradigms, practices, and instruments. Coincidental and vulgar classifications make subtlety a tactical choice because conspicuous magick raises difficulty and accumulates Paradox. Focus ties belief to procedure, so a mage's worldview determines the tools and rituals used to alter reality. | Fast combat compared to standard Pathfinder, Golarion setting fully supported with ancestries and deities, Class Edges capture iconic Pathfinder classes, Bennies keep heroes in the action, compatible with Savage Worlds Adventure Paths |
| Considerations | Improvised Effects place frequent adjudication on the Storyteller, who must apply Sphere permissions, focus, required successes, and consequences consistently. Vulgar magick generates Paradox even on success, so overt power can punish a mage through injury or metaphysical breakdown. Faction choices can make a cabal internally hostile, so character concepts need shared motives before play. | Requires Savage Worlds familiarity: not standalone for new SW players, some Pathfinder depth lost in translation, not compatible with standard Pathfinder adventures without conversion |