Numenera vs Pathfinder

Compare Numenera and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Numenera	Pathfinder
Genre	Scifi, Fantasy	Fantasy
Tags	Exploration, Weird, Resource Management, Character Building, Narrative, Theater of the Mind, Low-Prep, Strong GM Support, Lore-Heavy, Atmospheric	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	Roll a d20 against a target number equal to three times the GM's task difficulty. Training, helpful assets and Effort reduce that difficulty before the roll. Effort spends points from Might, Speed or Intellect Pools, with Edge reducing the cost. Reducing difficulty to zero makes the task automatic. Players roll attacks and defenses against creature difficulty.	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	Medium	High
Accessibility	High	Very High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	Proprietary	ORC
Third-Party Publishing	Noncommercial only — Fan use policy	Commercial publishing allowed — Open and compatibility licenses
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$	Free
Publisher	Monte Cook Games	Paizo
Year	2018	2023
Languages	English, Italian, Portuguese	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Best For	Groups who want discovery-focused science fantasy and changing tools for solving unusual problems. It suits campaigns about exploring ancient ruins and deciding how to use their technology.	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	Single-use cyphers give every character temporary powers that can change their approach to an obstacle. Discoveries earn experience points, giving characters a reason to explore beyond combat. Combining a character type with a descriptor and focus supports distinct mechanical specialties.	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	Effort draws from the same stat Pools that absorb damage, so increasing the chance of success can reduce a character's resilience. GM intrusions let the GM add complications to successful actions, so players need to be comfortable with negotiated setbacks. The Ninth World's unexplained technology leaves many answers for the GM to invent.	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.