Mistfall: Armageddon vs Pathfinder

Compare Mistfall: Armageddon and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Mistfall: Armageddon	Pathfinder
Genre	Fantasy, Modern	Fantasy
Tags	Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Freeform Magic, Corruption, Character-Driven, Character Building, Crunchy, Lore-Heavy, Social Combat, Narrative	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	A check adds a characteristic and a Skill die, then subtracts a Fate die, and succeeds when the total equals or beats a Challenge Level from 1 to 30. Skill rank sets the Skill die, from d4 untrained up to d20 plus d4 at rank seven. Each hindering element in the scene adds a rank of Fate, stepping the Fate die from d4 up to d20. A total below 1 is a Bane that brings a major complication. A total of double the Challenge Level or more is a heroic triumph that earns a Boon. Players roll for their own actions and for defense against adversaries.	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	d4–d20	d20
Complexity	High	High
Availability	Free quickstart	Free core rules
Runnability	3 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	All Rights Reserved	ORC
Third-Party Publishing	Noncommercial only — Fair Use Conditions printed in the rulebook	Commercial publishing allowed — Open and compatibility licenses
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	7th Reality Games	Paizo
Year	2026	2023
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Best For	Groups who want long urban-fantasy campaigns built around each character's personal nemesis, with deep investment in interlocking talents, traits and freeform magic.	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	Each player designs a personal nemesis, and confronting it at the climax of a Nemesis Cycle (nine sessions is the recommended length) grants Edge win or lose and a characteristic increase on a win. Spells are assembled from manifestations and tags, with larger combinations costing more Soul on the caster's Corruption tracker. Damage to a player character lands on six status trackers tied to the six characteristics, so a social or financial attack wears down Influence or Affluence the way a blade wears down Physicality.	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	The core book contains no ready-to-play adventure, so a first session needs the free Quick Start scenario or material the Narrator builds. Character creation runs ten steps and ends with each player co-designing a nemesis, which makes it a full Session Zero activity. The mechanical content is dark: the Insanity injury table includes self-harm and suicidal ideation, and Warlock patrons can demand the blood sacrifice of an innocent.	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.