Pathfinder vs Symbaroum

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

	Pathfinder	Symbaroum
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy, Horror
Tags	Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy	Dark Fantasy, Player-Only Rolls, Corruption, Exploration, Roll to Cast, Classless, Character Building, Tactical, Gritty, Lore-Heavy
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 d20 and try to land equal to or under one of eight Attributes: Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong, and Vigilant. Opposed tests adjust that Attribute by 10 minus the opponent's relevant value, so a weak foe grants a bonus and a strong one imposes a penalty. Only players roll dice, so an enemy attack becomes a player Defense test and NPC stats appear as fixed modifiers on the player's roll.
Dice	d20	d20
Complexity	High	Medium
Availability	Free core rules	Free quickstart
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	ORC	Symbaroum Third-Party Tabletop Module License (version 1.0)
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Open and compatibility licenses	Commercial publishing allowed — Free League Free Tabletop License
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Paizo	Free League Publishing
Year	2023	2015
Languages	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese	English, Swedish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
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-form dark fantasy expeditions into ancient ruins, where magic, cursed relics, and the darkest parts of the forest put each character's soul at risk of permanent taint.
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.	Corruption turns casting and cursed relics into a gamble: temporary taint that pushes total Corruption to half a character's Resolute leaves permanent Corruption and a Stigma, a step toward becoming an abomination. Witchsight reads the colored Shadow of a creature, place, or object to expose corruption and deceit, at a temporary Corruption cost per attempt that rises with the ability's tier. Only players roll dice, turning every exchange into player attack, Defense, damage, and Armor rolls against fixed NPC values.
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.	Mystic play carries steady bookkeeping: Corruption costs for learning and casting vary by tradition and tier, and temporary and permanent totals must be tracked against the threshold. Each hit passes through several steps (Armor reduction, damage against Toughness, and a Pain Threshold effect when one hit exceeds it), which adds bookkeeping in busy fights. The core book deliberately limits its setting to the region around Davokar; the lands south of the Titans and the broader world receive only brief mention.