Mythras vs Pathfinder
Compare Mythras and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mythras | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Universal | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Tactical, Realistic, Simulation, Character Building, Deadly, Sandbox | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under your skill percentage. In combat, degree of success vs. opponent determines Special Effects — tactical maneuvers like Disarm, Trip, Bypass Armor, and Bleed. Action Points govern actions per round, damage applies to hit locations. | 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 | d100 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Community | Medium | Very High |
| License | ORC | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | The Design Mechanism | Paizo |
| Year | 2016 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want gritty, tactical, and realistic combat in a skill-based percentile system, particularly for historical, mythic, or low-fantasy settings. | 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 | Tactical Special Effects combat system, classless skill-based progression, five distinct magic systems, adaptable to many genres, free intro version (Mythras Imperative) | Complete rules available free on Archives of Nethys. Three-action economy gives every turn meaningful tactical decisions. Character customization through ancestry feats, class feats, skill feats, and general feats at every level. Four degrees of success on every roll add granularity to outcomes. |
| Considerations | Steep learning curve for combat, analysis paralysis when choosing effects, large combats become unwieldy, lengthy character creation | 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 requires selecting feats from multiple categories at every level, which can overwhelm new players. |