Old-School Essentials vs Pathfinder
Compare Old-School Essentials and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Old-School Essentials | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Dungeon Crawl, Deadly, Sandbox, Low-Prep, Beginner-Friendly, Gritty, Ascending AC, Descending AC, Vancian Casting | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 vs. descending AC via attack matrix (THAC0). Five-category saving throws. Side-based d6 initiative each round. | 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 | Low | High |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | OGL 1.0a | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Necrotic Gnome | Paizo |
| Year | 2019 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups wanting a clean, beautifully organized take on classic B/X D&D with decades of compatible old-school content. | 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 | Clear layout and organization, wide B/X and OSR compatibility, modular supplements, highly hackable | 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 | No domain play or mass combat in core rules, treasure-as-XP requires careful GM economy management, limited character options in Classic edition without Advanced supplements | 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. |