Mörk Borg vs Pathfinder
Compare Mörk Borg and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mörk Borg | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Horror | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Gritty, Fast-Paced, Dungeon Crawl, Atmospheric, Theater of the Mind | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + ability modifier vs. DR. Player-facing rolls. Minimal stats. | 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 | Very Low | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Mörk Borg Third Party License | ORC |
| Cost | $ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Free League Publishing | Paizo |
| Year | 2020 | 2023 |
| Best For | Short, brutal sessions in an apocalyptic setting where characters are disposable, the rules are minimal, and lethality is the point. | 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 | Player-facing d20 rolls keep resolution minimal. The Calendar of Nechrubel ticks the world toward a scripted apocalypse during play. Scroll-based powers can misfire, making magic a gamble. | 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 | Class balance varies significantly, core book layout prioritizes style over reference usability, random character generation limits player investment | 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. |