What I Like About Nimble 2e (So Far) — A Partial Review

Matrix Sorcica · 2026-01-14T08:02:21+0000

HatWearingFool said:
Why not take a non-caster that gets to defend more than once then?

I'm the GM

Mannahnin · 2026-01-14T14:23:09+0000

HatWearingFool said:
Oh… interesting. Do have a link to sage advice or anything? Both google and bing AI seem to get this wrong. I can find sage advice saying you can’t counter spell on your turn after casting a fireball, but nothing about reaction casting later in the same round.

I'm sure there are SA answers, but the basic use of the different rules terms "round" and "turn" is the key here. If you don't mistakenly conflate them, the issue vanishes.

Here is the text of the rule, from page 236 of the 2024 PH:

One Spell With a Spell Slot Per Turn

On a turn, you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell. This rule means you can't, for example, cast a spell with a spell slot using the Magic action and another one using a Bonus Action on the same turn.

See also page 23:

The Order of Combat

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides: a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork, and spellcasting. The game organizes combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a turn. The order of turns is determined at the beginning of combat when everyone rolls Initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side is defeated.

And page 372:

Reaction

A Reaction is a special action taken in response to a trigger defined in the Reaction's description. You can take a Reaction on another creature's turn, and if you take it on your turn, you can do so even if you also take an action, a Bonus Action, or both. Once you take a Reaction, you can't take another one until the start of your next turn. The Opportunity Attack is a Reaction available to all creatures. See also "Opportunity Attacks" and chapter 1 ("Actions").

Duncan_Rhodes · 2026-01-14T16:36:51+0000

HatWearingFool said:
I used the action cards which seemed to keep things flowing really well. The players really liked the action cards and found "you have 3 actions to use per round" much more intuitive than D&D 2024's Bonus action, Move action, Action action, Reaction action deal.

Even my son, who doesn't want to play anything but D&D, admitted he loved the action cards and they made things much easier for him.

As a side note to show how confusing "actions" are in D&D, this weekend I participated as a player in (all adult) D&D game in which another player got really upset because she couldn't use their Shield Spell as a reaction since they had already cast a level spell on their turn earlier in the round. At first I thought the DM was wrong, but with a little thought I realized he was probably right since WOTC went out their way to ensure that you can only cast one levelled spell per round. And a quick internet search seemed to confirm.

In contrast in Nimble you get 3 actions you can use at any time for anything, and they get refreshed at the end of your turn. That's pretty simple. And if you use the cards you don't even have an issue tracking how many actions a person has used in a round already.

For me it fixes (so far) many of the issues I have with D&D 2024 and is simpler. I think it will be my default system for "D&D style" games in the future. Although I'm hoping to run Draw Steel when I get a change to run another campaign.

I'm currently running Welcome to the Hellfire Club! starter pack for my son and his friends. They love it because of the stranger things tie in, but you can see how difficult the system is for them (10-11 age range). But when I ran nimble over the holiday's my son participated and it was obviously easier for him. And he currently plays in 3 D&D 2024 campaigns a week, but to be fair he just started this past Fall so he doesn't have a ton of experience with the system.

EDIT: SORRY, I see this was already discussed. Seems like replies are not nested under original comment, which confused me!

Quick point. As I understand, the DM was wrong... you can cast one level spell on your turn, but more than one in the course of a round. A reaction takes place on another creature's turn. This of course absolutely highlights your point that the D&D system is confusing!

Mannahnin · 2026-01-14T17:49:31+0000

Duncan_Rhodes said:
EDIT: SORRY, I see this was already discussed. Seems like replies are not nested under original comment, which confused me!

Quick point. As I understand, the DM was wrong... you can cast one level spell on your turn, but more than one in the course of a round. A reaction takes place on another creature's turn. This of course absolutely highlights your point that the D&D system is confusing!

Another tweak to this new in the 2024 rules- in the 2024 rules the "one spell per turn" limit only applies to spells that use a spell slot.

So, for example, you can use a Wand of Magic Missile to cast MM on your turn with your Action and still use your Bonus Action to cast Misty Step using a spell slot. Or use your 6th level Illusionist class feature Phantasmal Creatures to cast a half-HP Summon Fae or Summon Beast spell without using a spell slot by using your Action and once again still cast a Bonus Action spell using a spell slot.

Edit: forgot another common use-case. You can cast a cantrip with your Action (uses no slot) and cast a Bonus Action spell that actually takes a slot, on the same turn. Firebolt and Misty Step, say.

Duncan_Rhodes · 2026-01-14T18:03:39+0000

Mannahnin said:
Another tweak to this new in the 2024 rules- in the 2024 rules the "one spell per turn" limit only applies to spells that use a spell slot.

So, for example, you can use a Wand of Magic Missile to cast MM on your turn with your Action and still use your Bonus Action to cast Misty Step using a spell slot. Or use your 6th level Illusionist class feature Phantasmal Creatures to cast a half-HP Summon Fae or Summon Beast spell without using a spell slot by using your Action and once again still cast a Bonus Action spell using a spell slot.

ok, interesting, and I think that's a good change actually. In the first case, you're not using your mental power so much as channeling an item... in the second, well, it's nice to have some niche cases where you CAN cast two levelled spells.

Velocitree · 2026-01-15T03:53:02+0000

HatWearingFool said:
Regarding point 1 you can defend more than once you just have to be good at fighting. Like a champion of bulwark with shield expert (and a shield). It’s one of the things I like about nimble. You can actually build a “tank” someone who draws attacks and is noticeably better at absorbing hits than other non-specialized classes.

But limited defences also forces tactical choices. In nimble it’s almost never a good idea to just wade into the enemies and get out numbered/surrounded unless you are just way better than your opponents.

And 2… well that’s part of the tactics mentioned in part one, if you can only defend a limited number of times it’s a good idea to move out of range and not get surrounded. But I like movement and tactics.

And yes more content is coming, including way more subclasses (22):

“There will be more previews in the coming weeks, but expect at LEAST 200+ new monsters, dozens of new Legendary monsters, an entire new spell school, well over 100 thematic loot items, ADVENTURING COMPANIONS (for solo/duet play, or just when the party wants to adopt a kobold/other NPC as part of the group), as well as over 22 new subclasses and at least 3 new classes!”

I just hope we get cards for everything. I really like handing out cards

Edit: The fact that the hex binder class comes with cards gives me hope that the new material will come with cards as well.

Super cool so much new content is coming! I hope it’s reasonably priced. I very much like the tactics that you described that are enforced by Defend; I just feel odd about the idea that armor only matters sometimes—it is hard for me. I do think my hack of adding in weak always on armor makes it palatable to me—in this case Defend is just representing your ability to bring your best defense to bear in a short time period. Armor helps all the time but it’s weak tea against monsters.

HatWearingFool · 2026-01-15T05:24:45+0000

Velocitree said:
Super cool so much new content is coming! I hope it’s reasonably priced. I very much like the tactics that you described that are enforced by Defend; I just feel odd about the idea that armor only matters sometimes—it is hard for me. I do think my hack of adding in weak always on armor makes it palatable to me—in this case Defend is just representing your ability to bring your best defense to bear in a short time period. Armor helps all the time but it’s weak tea against monsters.

I believe the book describes it as, if you can’t/don’t actively defend then armour won’t help you. They’ll just hit you were there isn’t armour. Which mostly makes sense to me, but I agree it’s a big change from passive always on defence.

Just like D&D just because I lose hit points doesn’t mean I got stabbed through my armour. It just means I couldn’t completely absorb/deflect the attack and was bruised/winded/whatever. The hit point loss can even be explained as energy spent evading.

R_J_K75 · 2026-01-15T05:36:16+0000

Velocitree said:
Super cool so much new content is coming! I hope it’s reasonably priced.

Without shipping for the 3 core softcover pledge I paid $39 USD. Somehow, I ended up getting the hardcover books, I am going to assume that more people pledged the hardcovers making it economically unfeasible to produce the softcovers. With that said I'm going to guess that softcovers won't be an option this time around which will probably drive the cost up a bit, (which may or may not include tariffs) and depending on the format and number of books this time around. I have a feeling they will be priced on par with original 3 core books.

Peter BOSCO'S · 2026-01-15T09:22:07+0000

HatWearingFool said:
Oh… interesting. Do have a link to sage advice or anything? Both google and bing AI seem to get this wrong. I can find sage advice saying you can’t counter spell on your turn after casting a fireball, but nothing about reaction casting later in the same round.

No link. This is just the general RAW. You can cast the second spell from an item, so no 'Shield' for you with your own spell slot after casting a non cantrip (with an Action, Bonus Action, or any other way using your own slot), but you could use a 'Staff of Defense' to cast Shield, since that uses charges from the staff, not your slot.

What I Like About Nimble 2e (So Far) — A Partial Review

Matrix Sorcica

Hero

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)

Duncan_Rhodes

Villager

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)

Duncan_Rhodes

Villager

Velocitree

Villager

HatWearingFool

Adventurer

R_J_K75

Legend

Peter BOSCO'S

Adventurer

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