OSRIC vs Pathfinder
Compare OSRIC and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| OSRIC | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Dungeon Crawl, Tactical, High-Fantasy, Character Building, Theater of the Mind, Heroic, Descending AC, Vancian Casting | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + modifiers vs. target numbers (THAC0/AC for combat, saving throws for hazards). Ability scores rolled on 3d6, class and level determine hit dice, spells, and abilities. GM acts as referee for rulings. | 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 | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | AELF + CC BY 4.0 (SRD 5.1) | ORC |
| Cost | $ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | Mythmere Games | Paizo |
| Year | 2025 | 2023 |
| Best For | Players who want the classic AD&D 1e experience with cleaner organization, well-defined rules for combat and spells, and a huge library of compatible OSR 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 | Faithful AD&D 1e rules reorganized for clarity, large back-catalog of compatible adventures, middle-ground complexity between B/X and modern D&D, free PDF available | 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 | Deliberately old-school: THAC0 and descending AC may confuse modern players, less balanced than modern systems, relies heavily on GM rulings, limited character customization compared to newer games | 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. |