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D&D 5E vs. Pathfinder Second Edition: Dungeon Master Assistance

olddungeonmaster.com D&D 5E vs. Pathfinder Second Edition

Comparing D&D 5e to Pathfinder 2nd Edition  This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doi…

D&D 5E vs. Pathfinder Second Edition

Comparing D&D 5e to Pathfinder 2nd Edition  This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based on

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9 comments
  • This is a bad piece. They start out with just a list of differences that pushes their opinion way down, and then make a complaint about number crunch, not elaborating on what. Then somehow 3 actions is more restrictive than 1 move and 1 action???

    I think they at least needed to write more of their own opinion to elaborate.

  • It is clear the author of the article hasn’t taken the effort to learn the rules and apply them.

    I originally chose (3 years ago) DnD5e over PF2e for my newest campaign because of simplicity: I played DnD ever since I could walk, and PF2e seemed to have too much and too complex rules.

    Big Mistake

    I needed to come up with my own solutions to shortcomings of the DnD5e system, as it promotes to be rule light.

    My session prep turned into nightmares, as it took more time tinkering with the rules than it did building the campaign.

    Enter OGL relicense fiasco

    Our group decided to leave DnD5e behind and venture into PF2e mid-campaign. I was flabbergasted at the maturity of the rules. There is indeed a lot of rules, but they all fit together. The rulebook has a notoriously bad index, and it is being addressed in the remaster, but the archives of Nethys website is awesome and a good complement. It tried learning the rules in record time, and my players are patient when I need to look something up mid-session, but the games are more awesome.

    I spend my preptime doing what I like best: designing the campaign, not the rules.

    I am still picking up details each session, but up until now, it is my non-professional opinion PF2e rocks and DnD5e sucks mothballs.

9 comments