No more D&D slog. Fix common player and DM frustrations & gives INTERESTING, tactical, options, speeding up 5e combat and play.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Fixing Long Rests.
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 07:22:34 AM
Resting in 5e is broken. Here's how to fix it.
It doesn't take players long to start "gaming" the rest system in 5e. Players go into a dungeon, have a fight or two and "go nova" burning all their abilities, then they immediately want to rest – even in the middle of a spooky dungeon (Tiny Hut! Rope Trick!). This absolutely trivializes most combat encounters and can even break the story.
Why even have spell slots or limited use abilities if they can be recharged at will?
The only tool DMs have to fight back (rules as written) is the 1 rest/24 hour period. So players will do silly things like "Ok, we'll stand here for 12 hours, rest then keep going." Ruining encounter balance and robbing the game of the tension of resource management - where martial classes in particular tend to shine the most.
DMs of course can use random wandering monsters as a club to keep parties moving but that’s a band-aid that often doesn’t work and only further slows the story down (and makes an enemy of the DM rather than a collaborator).
How to fix it
It's very simple, with just 1 line of rules text we fix all of these issues. "Long rests require sleeping in a safe place designated by your DM, typically lodging at an inn."
Resting, fixed.
Long Rests cannot be done in a dungeon, or in camping in the wilderness or anywhere else that would break the game (unless the DM places a holy oasis to so-and-so in the dungeon, then by all means...).
PCs are still free to do a Short Rest and recover some HP if they need to, either in a dungeon or camping in the woods; however, that kind of rest is not nearly as refreshing as sleeping in a safe, warm bed, roof over your head and a good meal in your stomach. This fixes the gameplay problem but even better, this makes sense. In playtesting, players quickly take to this rules change because it makes sense, and it relieves them of having to game the system — players don't bend the 5e rules because it's fun, but because it's optimal.
Now, going on a long adventure away from the safety of town is more dangerous and exciting. Info about the location of a nice place to rest is now a pretty sweet adventuring reward. A few weeks of adventuring in the wilderness may need to be followed by a week or so of resting to clear accumulated levels of exhaustion. Again helping the common narrative problem of PCs leveling up too fast (2 months ago he was just a poor orphaned beggar, now he’s a level 13 noble with his own castle!) or a quick nap, fixing grievous wounds sustained while adventuring.
There is a reason to come back to a town, to have a home base, to interact with NPCs and build connections. There are places to spend the gold you've accumulated (resting for a week at 1gp/day/person can get expensive quickly!) and motivating the PCs to go adventuring for more gold!
Interested to hear your thoughts!
JOIN US ON DISCORD
We've got a Discord server where I'll be revealing some extra content there and answering questions as well. Come chat with your fellow backers, and get your questions answered.
On discord: a sneak preview of how we streamlined skills, making your choices more meaningful there!
We've unlocked Player Reminder Cards as a stretch goal! They make it easier for players to track their Action Points and speeds up play with its handy reminder text. These will be included for FREE for all backers at the Nimble Premium level, or as an addon for all other backers.
If you would like to update your pledge to get these cards or other addons you can click » Manage your pledge and on the next page, select "Change your pledge"
Thank you everyone for your support. Here's to making your game even better!
-Evan
Another cool project, ending soon!
If you like how Nimble is streamlining the 5e rules, you might also like Outclassed. A project that does a lot to expand and streamline CLASSES. I love anything that can make character creation a bit more fun and easy (and importantly, more DEFINED... we all have players who just make a vanilla "bard" with no real defining characteristics), especially if it's something that's as well playtested as Outclassed.
Streamlining Spellcasting in 5e
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 19, 2023 at 04:57:05 AM
Streamlining 5e spell slots. One of the most confusing aspects of D&D for newer players is spell levels/character levels/spell slots, and one of the most frustrating things for DMs and experienced players is the inflexibility of spellcasting.
Optimized players will try to "go nova" in each fight burning their only high spell slots right away, and then pause the story to go rest after each encounter.
More cautious players will try and save their high spell slots — for fear of one more big encounter just around the corner (that may never come) casting only cantrips, or low level spells dragging combat out longer than needed.
Low level players have so few spell slots they're hardly even spellcasters.
How we fixed it.
Spell slots are now MANA. Players now gain a certain amount of mana (based off of their class and character level) that they can use to cast spells. A level 1 spell costs 1 mana, a level 2 spell (or upcasting a level 1 spell at 2nd level) costs 2 mana, and so on. No need to track slots individually!
This gives low level casters a couple more leveled spells they can cast before being empty. And it gives higher level casters more flexibility. If a 9th level wizard wants to cast two 5th level spells they can (but they'll spend a whopping 10 mana to do it)! We get to see their coolest spells at the table more often which is more fun for everyone. This is far easier to track for everyone too.
Next update: how we balanced FIREBALL without nerfing its damage or coolness. IE: why would anyone ever choose Lightning bolt over Fireball?
JOIN US ON DISCORD
I just set up a brand new Discord server where I'll be revealing some extra content there and answering questions as well. Come chat with your fellow backers, and get your questions answered.
On discord: a sneak preview of how we streamlined skills, making your choices more meaningful there!
Last update, we reached our first stretch goal: Player Reminder Cards! They make it easier for players to track their Action Points and speeds up play with its handy reminder text. These will be included for FREE for all backers at the Nimble Premium level, or as an addon for all other backers.
If you would like to update your pledge to get these cards or other addons you can click » Manage your pledge and on the next page, select "Change your pledge"
Thank you everyone for your support. Here's to making your game even better!
-Evan
Stretch goal unlocked! Player Reminder Cards
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 06:23:22 AM
We've reached our first stretch goal: Player Reminder Cards! They make it easier for players to track their AP and speeds up play with its handy reminder text. These will be included for FREE for all backers at the Nimble Premium level, and as an addon for all other backers.
If you would like to update your pledge to get these cards or other addons you can click » Manage your pledge and on the next page, select "Change your pledge"
If you've already backed at the Premium level you don't have to do anything, these cards will automatically be included in your order. Otherwise you can: Update my pledge now »
What's next? Project Sneak Peeks!
What would you like to get a sneak peek about next? Check out the Nimble table of contents below and let me know what is most interesting to you and we'll chat about it in the next update!
Feats & Abilities (clarifying certain feats & abilities to work with the Nimble rules)
Streamlined Main Ability Scores & Skills
Updated Saving Throws & Secondary Stats (Armor class & Initiative)
Streamlining Spell Slots & Mana system.
Character Creation & Leveling Up
Resting (FINALLY FIXES CONSTANTLY RESTING IN DUNGEONS) & Lodging Boons/Complications
Additional (Optional) Tactical Nuggets - increase player creativity and tactics without bogging the game down: The Assess action, Improved Help Action, "I have the high ground", Thrown Potions! Extra Movement
Inventory Slots
Streamlining Money & Magical Item Prices
Alternate Fast Combat Rules. A completely separate combat system for speeding up combat while sticking closer to 5e rules as written.
Updated & streamlined character sheets. Less fiddly and intimidating to newer players.
Thank you again everyone for your support!
Fixing D&D Initiative!
about 1 year ago
– Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 06:30:38 PM
Initiative kind of sucks
Imagine the scenario: a tense negotiation with the bad guys goes south and the barbarian shouts "I break the leg off the nearby table and clobber him in the face with it!" DM: Awesome, roll initiative!
Nothing takes you out of the moment quite like taking a tedious poll of all the players and what they've rolled, rolling for all the bad guys, getting the clothes pins clipped to your DM screen in the right order, and after all that back & forth... of course the barbarian gets a 4. The person who isn't ready yet gets the highest roll and there is the angry Barbarian stuck, frozen in time. While everyone and their grandma gets to go before him and by the time his turn comes around the situation has completely changed and the moment is gone.
Let's fix it!
With Nimble, a high initiative can still be rewarded without robbing the players of cool narrative moments. Now, the players all roll initiative but nobody needs to report in to the DM what they got. No clothes pins are needed. No one is caught off guard with their turn coming up. And even if the barbarian gets a 4, he can still go first if that makes sense for the story!
This is because your initiative determines how many action points you begin your first turn with. If you roll a single digit on initiative, you start with 1AP; roll double digits, you get 2AP; roll a 20+, you get ALL 3 AP on your first turn. Whichever player is ready first, or whichever makes the most sense to the story can go first! Then play proceeds around the table clockwise (or counter-clockwise if you're weird).
This greatly speeds up play and smooths out the transition from RP to combat. Players can see clearly when the person next to them is taking their turn, and that they are next so there is less "oh, I didn't know I was next" waiting too. This way the speedy ranger can go last but still feel rewarded for getting a high initiative roll, AND the barbarian can go first because he started it! No matter the initiative roll, the PCs get all 3 of their AP back at the end of their turn.
The DM can still roll for or decide when monsters act, or simply let them act after all of the PCs. With that, initiative is fixed. Hooray!
Designer's Note: Why not just have all 3 AP on your first turn? In playtesting this was quite overpowered, frequently the PCs could wipe out a challenging group before they even got to act. Limiting AP on the first round elegantly balances action economy and fixes initiative as well.
Another cool project, ending soon!
Another cool 5e project that is in its closing days that you may want to check out is Wanderer's Guide to Enchanted Emporiums. A sourcebook for epic marketplaces (and what I'm most excited about, a cool crafting system). It's made by Eventyr Games, a fantastic group of designers and a source of wonderful inspiration on their youtube channel. Check it out, there's only a few days left!
Thank you! Nimble is fully funded!
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 09:56:23 AM
Thank you all so much, in just 1 day we were able to get 200% of our funding goal. Wow!
Stretch goals & addons
We got here so quickly, what are some stretch goals and addons are in order that would help your table adopt some of these rules updates? Here are some of my thoughts:
Nimble player reminder cards. Quick reminder how attacks work, what you can spend AP on etc.
Expanded rules. Streamline more aspects of 5e (what areas are most in need of tweaking?)
Action Point tokens? Flip them over when you spend/refresh your AP.
Stickers/ other little swag?
Video explanation/FAQ of the Nimble ruleset
Questions?
Have any questions about how Nimble works? Any section of the rules you'd most like to get a sneak peek of? Let me know!
Thank you all again for supporting the project. Here's to better, faster, more interesting 5e games!
