Pathfinder vs Pathfinder First Edition

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

	Pathfinder	Pathfinder First Edition
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy
Play Style	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Vancian Casting
Core Mechanic	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.	Most uncertain actions roll a d20, add relevant modifiers, and compare the total with a target or opposing result. Difficulty Class, Armor Class, and Combat Maneuver Defense are common targets; natural 1s and 20s can override some comparisons.
Dice	d20	d20
Complexity	High	Very High
Accessibility	Very High	Very High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	ORC	Open Game License 1.0a
Cost	Free	Free
Publisher	Paizo	Paizo Publishing, LLC
Year	2023	2009
Best For	Groups who want deep character customization, tactical grid combat with meaningful turn-by-turn decisions, and a richly detailed fantasy setting with free rules.	Groups who want long fantasy campaigns centered on detailed character development and tactical grid combat.
Highlights	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.	Eleven core classes progress through twenty levels with interlocking feat and class choices that support specialized builds. Combat makes positioning and turn timing consequential through attacks of opportunity and combat maneuvers. Prepared and spontaneous spellcasting draw from hundreds of level-gated spells, giving magical classes distinct planning and resource cycles.
Considerations	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.	Character creation and advancement require cross-checking large option catalogs and prerequisites, which can front-load decision making. Combat combines situational modifiers with nested action and exception rules, which can slow adjudication. High-level play layers additional character abilities and magical options, increasing preparation for players and GMs.