Pathfinder vs Worlds Without Number
Compare Pathfinder and Worlds Without Number side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Pathfinder | Worlds Without Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy | Sandbox, Exploration, Faction Play, Worldbuilding, Tactical, Ascending AC, 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. | 2d6 + skill + attribute ≥ target for skills; d20 + modifiers vs. AC for combat. OSR-inspired with modern refinements. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d6 / d20 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | ORC | Proprietary |
| Cost | Free (ORC) | Free / $$ |
| Publisher | Paizo | Sine Nomine Publishing |
| Year | 2023 | 2021 |
| 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. | Sandbox fantasy campaigns with deep worldbuilding tools, faction turns, and an OSR-flavored system from the creator of Stars Without Number. |
| 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. | Free version is very generous, comprehensive sandbox and worldbuilding tools, faction system, compatible with SWN |
| 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. | OSR combat can feel basic compared to modern tactical systems, limited mechanical support for narrative or story-arc campaigns, no built-in social encounter system |