Pathfinder vs Pathfinder for Savage Worlds
Compare Pathfinder and Pathfinder for Savage Worlds side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Pathfinder | Pathfinder for Savage Worlds | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy | Heroic, High-Fantasy, Character Building, Tactical, Fast-Paced |
| 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. | Roll a trait die (d4–d12) plus a Wild Die (d6); keep the highest. Dice 'explode' (ace) on their max value. Beat a Target Number (usually 4) to succeed; each raise (4 over) improves the result. Playing cards determine initiative. Bennies let you reroll or soak damage. Class Edges capture Pathfinder archetypes as progressive talent trees. |
| Dice | d20 | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | ORC | Savage Worlds (Proprietary) |
| Cost | Free (ORC) | $$ |
| Publisher | Paizo | Pinnacle Entertainment Group / Paizo |
| Year | 2023 | 2023 |
| 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 love the Pathfinder world of Golarion but want faster, more cinematic combat: Savage Worlds' exploding dice and Bennies replace Pathfinder's tactical crunch with pulp-action heroics. |
| 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. | Fast combat compared to standard Pathfinder, Golarion setting fully supported with ancestries and deities, Class Edges capture iconic Pathfinder classes, Bennies keep heroes in the action, compatible with Savage Worlds Adventure Paths |
| 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. | Requires Savage Worlds familiarity: not standalone for new SW players, some Pathfinder depth lost in translation, not compatible with standard Pathfinder adventures without conversion |