Pathwarden vs Rifts
Compare Pathwarden and Rifts side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Pathwarden | Rifts | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero |
| Tags | Tactical, Classless, Character Building, Exploration, Sandbox, Character-Driven, Mana Points, Strong GM Support | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + the relevant Proficiency and modifiers and meet or beat a difficulty. Beating or missing it by 10 produces a critical result, while a natural 20 or 1 shifts the degree one step. Benefit and Detriment change the difficulty by 5. | Combat and saving throws use a d20 plus bonuses, with high results overcoming a target number or opposing roll. Skills use d100 and succeed when the result is at or below the character's percentage. |
| Dice | d20 | d20, d100 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | ORC License | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Ghost Spark | Palladium Books Inc. |
| Year | 2024 | 2005 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want classless tactical fantasy with grid combat, build experimentation, and campaigns that alternate between exploration, conflicts, and long-term projects. It suits a Lorewarden comfortable preparing a regional sandbox. | Groups who want long-form science-fantasy campaigns that move from a ruined Earth to other dimensions. The game suits tables whose GM will decide which parts of the broad setting a campaign uses. |
| Highlights | Fast and Slow Turns let players trade one action for acting before enemies, turning initiative into a round-by-round tactical choice. Three classless Paths open Boons and Feats that let characters combine martial, magical, and skill-focused abilities. Exploration and Horizon procedures connect regional travel, threat clocks, and long-term Projects to the consequences of each adventure. | Occupational and racial class packages assign distinct abilities and advancement tracks, giving each archetype a different role in the party. Mega-Damage places many supernatural creatures and war machines on a separate durability scale beyond the reach of ordinary Structural Damage Capacity attacks. Rifts and ley lines make dimensional travel a standing feature of the setting, letting campaigns move between devastated Earth and other worlds. |
| Considerations | Grid combat asks players to track action costs, positioning, conditions, and multiple-attack penalties each round. Character advancement spreads options across Boons, Feats, Skills, and magical Disciplines, so players compare abilities drawn from several chapters. The campaign structure expects the Lorewarden to prepare an Adventure Map of regions and threats before play. | Character creation combines rolled attributes with extensive skill selection, making first-time preparation lengthy. Combat asks each player to track an action economy, active defenses, and which damage scale applies. Magic and psionics use separate point pools and power procedures, adding class-specific rules to the shared system. |