Pathfinder 2e vs D&D 5e
Attributes, Skills, and Checks
Attributes
Ability scores are instead known as attributes, and only the modifier is used. You won't have a strength ability score of 14 with a modifier of +2, you'll just have the strength modifier of +2.Degrees of Success
Most checks, including attacks and saving throws, have four potential outcomes:Critical Success
Success
Failure
Critical Failure
A Critical Success is a result that exceeds the DC by 10 or more, and a Critical Failure is a result that is lower than the DC by 10 or more. Additionally, a natural 20 on the d20 roll increases your level of success by 1 (From critical failure to failure, failure to success, and success to critical success). A natural 1 on the die roll lowers your level of success by 1. For example, a basic saving throw has these four potential outcomes:
Critical Success You take no damage from the effect.
Success You take half the listed damage from the effect.
Failure You take the full damage listed from the effect.
Critical Failure You take double the listed damage from the effect.
In many cases, rolling a Critical Success or Failure on a check will result in a special outcome. For example, a Critical Success on a grapple against an enemy results in them being restrained by you, instead of only being grabbed.
Differences in Skills
Nature and religion are wisdom skills in PF2e, and the history, insight, investigation, persuasion, and sleight of hand skills are removed or replaced with others. Below is a list of the skills that don't appear in 5e:Crafting (Int) You can use this skill to create and repair items.
Diplomacy (Cha) You influence others through negotiation and flattery.
Lore (Int) You have specialized knowledge on a narrow topic. Lore features many subcategories. You might have proficiency in military lore, sailing lore, vampire lore, or any simlar subcategory of the skill. Each subcategory counts as its own skill.
Occultism (Int) This skill covers knowledge about ancient philosophies, esoteric lore, obscure mysticism, and supernatural creatures.
Society (Int) You understand the people and systems that make civilization run, and you know the historical events that make societies what they are today. Further, you can use that knowledge to navigate the compolex physical, societal, and economic workings of settlements.
Thievery (Dex) You are trained in a particular set of skills favored by thieves and miscreants.
Perception
Perception is not technically a skill in Pathfinder 2e, but is still a stat that functions very similarly to 5e, including using your wisdom attribute and proficiency bonus.Passive Perception doesn't exist in PF2e, instead there are two ways the game handles this idea. If a creature attempts to hide from a player, it must succeed a Stealth check against the player's Perception DC, much like 5e.
In other cases, such as when it comes to noticing many traps and hazards, the GM will roll a secret Perception check for each player to determine if they detect the hazard. Many hazards require a player to actively make a search or seek check in order for them to be noticed.
Proficiencies
PF 2e uses proficiencies in largely the same way as 5e, with some key differences. Your proficiency is measured in levels of training. If you’re untrained, your proficiency bonus is +0. If you’re trained, expert, master, or legendary, your proficiency bonus equals your level plus 2, 4, 6, or 8, respectively.Certain player options, such as skill feats, require a certain level of training in that skill. Additionally, sometimes succeeding in a particular task will require a certain level of training. There are even several skills which require training to take advantag of in any way other than recalling knowledge.
Saving Throws
Instead of having saving throws for each attribute, PF2e instead has three types of saving throws: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.Secret Checks
Certain actions have the secret trait, which means that the GM rolls the check for this ability in secret.Bonuses/Penalties
Instead of advantage/disadvantage, Pathfinder 2e utilizes bonuses/penalties for when a situation, action, or ability might add a modifier to a check. For instance, if a creature is flanked, they become off-guard and have a -2 circumstance penalty to their AC.There are three types of bonuses and penalties: circumstance, status, or item. If you have more than one bonus of the same type, you use only the highest bonus. Likewise, you use only the worst penalty of each type.
Combat
Three Action Economy
On a character's turn, they can use up to three actions. Most tasks that a creature tries to do will constitute an action, such as moving or attacking. Some tasks, called activities, require a creature to spend two or three actions together. Some actions are free and don't use any of your actions at all. Just like in 5e, each creature also has a reaction that they can use once per round.Any action or spell will feature an icon that denotes how many actions it requires to pull off, or if it’s a reaction. Some actions are intended to only be done outside of combat, and are known as exploration or downtime activities.
Single Action
Two-Action Activity
Three-Action Activity
Reaction
Free ActionMultiple Attack Penalty
If a creature uses multiple actions on their turn to attack, they receive an increasing penalty to their attack rolls. The second attack on a character's turn receives a -5 to hit, and the third attack receives a -10.Initiative
Initiative is typically rolled using perception rather than dexterity, although there may be circumstances where a character could roll other skills for initiative, such as stealth or deception.Critical Hits
A critical hit is achieved with a natural 20 on the die, or by beating the target's AC by 10. If you critically succeed on a strike, you roll the damage normally, add any modifiers, and then double the total.Dying
Dying works much the same as 5e, with some key changes. If you are reduced to 0 HP, you gain the dying condition. The level of your dying condition can worsen under different circumstance, most notably by failing recovery checks. You die if you reach dying 4. If you lose the dying condition, you become wounded, which makes it easier for you to die in the future.AC
A creature's AC includes their proficiency bonus.Attacks of Opportunity
Attacks of opportunity are typically only available to the fighter class and have been renamed reactive strikes.Range
Ranged and thrown weapons each have a listed range increment, and attacks with them grow less accurate against targets farther away. As long as your target is at or within the listed range increment, you take no penalty to the attack roll. If you're attacking beyond that range increment, you take a –2 penalty for each additional increment beyond the first. You can attempt to attack with a ranged weapon or thrown weapon up to six range increments away, but the farther away you are, the harder it is to hit your target.Shields
Shields don't passively provide a boost to a creature's AC, instead you must use an action to raise your shield in order to gain the AC bonus.Spellcasting
Spell Ranks
Pathfinder 2e has changed the term spell level to spell rank.Traditions and Spell Schools
Spellcasters cast spells from one of four different spell lists, each representing a different magical tradition: arcane, divine, occult, or primal.Spell schools have been removed from Pathfinder 2e.
Prepared vs Spontaneous Spellcasting
While PF2e has very familiar spellcasting mechanics to 5e, such as utilizing spell slots and similar methods for learning spells, there is a clear distinction between two styles of spellcasters, prepared casters and spontaneous casters.Prepared spellcasters - such as clerics, druids, or wizards - must spend time each day preparing spells for that day. Unlike in 5e, these casters cannot choose what spell to use a spell slot for at the time of casting; they instead determine which spells are prepared for each slot when they do their preparations. Each prepared spell is expended after a single casting, so if you want to cast a particular spell more than once in a day, you need to prepare that spell multiple times.
Spontaneous spellcasters - such as bards or sorcerers - choose which spell they're using a spell slot for at the moment they decide to cast it, but they have fewer spells in their repertoire. This style of using spell slots is most like 5e.
Heightened Spells
Both prepared and spontaneous spellcasters can cast a spell at a higher spell rank, which is called heightening the spell. A prepared spellcaster can heighten a spell by preparing it in a higher-rank slot than its normal spell rank, while a spontaneous spellcaster can heighten a spell by casting it using a higher-rank spell slot, so long as they also know the spell at that rank (i.e. if you added fireball to your repertoire as a 3rd-rank spell and again as a 5th-rank spell, you could cast it as a 3rd-rank or a 5th-rank spell; however, you couldn't cast it as a 4th-rank spell).Focus Spells
Focus spells are a special type of spell attained from specific sources. For instance, some classes that don't normally grant spellcasting, such as the champion and monk, can grant focus spells.Focus spells are cast using a special pool of focus points, and can't be cast with spell slots. Focus points can be restored by spending 10 minutes doing the refocus activity. In comparison to 5e, focus spells most closely resemble the concept of half-casters or 5e monks with their pool of ki.
Sustaining Spells
5e style spell concentration doesn't exist in PF2e, instead sustainable effects must be kept going by using the sustain action each turn you want to continue the effect.Familar Spells
PF2e's list of spells still overlaps with 5e's a great deal, so it should feel very familiar. If there was a spell in 5e you're looking for, it likely has a counterpart in PF2e. There are some important differences however. First, some familiar spells work differently in PF2e. A good example is shield, which is a cantrip in PF2e and uses an action instead of a reaction.With PF2e's remaster, many of the spell names were changed to seperate the game from D&D. So if you can't find a spell by its name, there's a good chance it exists under a different name. For example, magic missile was changed to force barrage.
Character Creation
Character creation shares a similar general structure to 5e with choosing an ancestry, background, and class, but there are many major differences. The key aspects of the character creation process look like this:Determining Attribute Modifiers
Attributes are not determined by rolling or other methods used in 5e, instead each attribute modifier starts at +0, and as you make character choices you'll adjust these modifiers by applying attribute boosts and flaws. Each attribute boost increases your modifier by 1, and each flaw decreases your modifier by 1.Ancestry: Each ancestry provides attribute boosts, and sometimes an attribute flaw. You can also choose to take voluntary flaws.
Background: Your character's background provides two attribute boosts.
Class: Your character's class applies an attribute boost to their key attribute: the attribute modifier most important for that class.
Four Free Boosts: After the other steps, you apply four more attribute boosts to attributes of your choice to finalize your starting attribute modifiers.
Selecting an Ancestry
Your ancestry determines your character's size, speed, languages, and a portion of your starting hit points. You'll also select a heritage from that ancestry, further defining the traits your character was born with. You'll also choose an ancestry feat, representing an ability your hero learned at an early age.Picking a Background
Your background will typically provide you with training in a specific skill, training in a lore skill, and a specific skill feat.Choosing a Class
Your class will determine your initial proficiencies, class features, as well as a portion of your starting hit points. You'll also need to make choices on your starting feats, and often make other decisions such as starting spells or features that provide a specialization, such as the alchemist's research field or the champion's cause.Buying Equipment
At 1st level, your character has 15 gold pieces to spend on armor, weapons, and other basic equipment.Advancement
Each time you level up, you will gain your class' amount of hitpoints, your proficiency bonus will increase by 1, and you will choose new feats. Each level will bring different choices, and the pool of feats you'll be able to choose from will continuously expand with each level. These feats fall in a few categories: ancestry feats, class feats, general feats, and skill feats. You will also at times earn attribute boosts, skill increases, and class features.Subclasses are less explicit in PF2e, and not every class has them. Fighters and monks for example are customized solely through the feats you choose as you level up, while other classes will have you choose a "subclass" at level 1, such as the cleric's doctrine. These often only have a minor effect on how your characters work, but others can be more substantial. The witch's patron for example determines which tradition of spells you're able to learn.
