Pathfinder vs Tales of the Valiant
Compare Pathfinder and Tales of the Valiant side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Pathfinder | Tales of the Valiant | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Crunchy, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Dungeon Crawl, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Heroic, Ascending AC, Exploration, Classic Fantasy, Lore-Heavy | Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, Grid-Based |
| 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 d20 + modifier against a target number or opposed check. Uses the core 5e framework: six ability scores, proficiency bonus, advantage/disadvantage. Adds a Talent system for additional character customization, reorganizes spells into numbered Circles, and introduces new Heritages and Lineages for character creation. |
| Dice | d20 | d20 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | High |
| Community | Very High | Low |
| License | ORC | Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 (Black Flag Reference Document) |
| Cost | Free (ORC) | $$ |
| Publisher | Paizo | Kobold Press |
| Year | 2023 | 2024 |
| 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 to continue playing 5e-style fantasy with backwards-compatible adventures but prefer an independent publisher with new heritages, talents, and spell circle organization. |
| Highlights | 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. | Fully backwards-compatible with 5e adventures and supplements, Talent system adds character customization beyond subclass choice, spell Circles streamline spell level organization, backed by Kobold Press's extensive monster and adventure catalog |
| 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 requires selecting feats from multiple categories at every level, which can overwhelm new players. | Very similar to 5e — groups satisfied with existing 5e rules may not find enough differentiation, still building its own identity separate from D&D, Monster Vault sold separately |