Nimble expansion

[Ruin Explorer]

Goddamnit will people stop making really cool-seeming games already! I just got them playing Daggerheart and now this comes along and looks great!

Ugh probably have to back it don't I?

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

PCs wear armor that reduces damage, but you have to spend an action (3 each round that double as reactions) to utilize your armor rating, which can come at the expense of moving, attacking, or other actions.

This is the one thing about Nimble I can't wrap my head around. It just seems such an immense shafting of martials and the concept of heavily armored fighter. The fact that the second goblin to attack you this turn completely ignores your full plate really makes this hard for me to make peace with.
And it bugs me, because there is so much to like about Nimble.

 

[timbannock]

This is the one thing about Nimble I can't wrap my head around. It just seems such an immense shafting of martials and the concept of heavily armored fighter. The fact that the second goblin to attack you this turn completely ignores your full plate really makes this hard for me to make peace with.
And it bugs me, because there is so much to like about Nimble.

This comes up all the time on Reddit and in their Discord, and there have been a number of workarounds presented. I don't know how well any of them play, mind you, but they are out there, at least.

Completely off the top of my head, it seems like having a variable Damage Reduction die based on your armor wouldn't be that hard to balance in this system. The defend actions would just "step up" or increase the number of such dice that you roll.

My personal take on it is simply that this is one of the few "narrative" elements of the game design: the armor is always there, but it only matters when you take an action to highlight it. Just like in any movie/show where you spotlight the cool armor in one scene or beat, but then when the next important bad guy comes along who is spotlighted as The ThreatTM can pretty safely ignore that armor. Same kind of logic needed for just about every supers game worth its salt.

 

[Zaukrie]

This is the one thing about Nimble I can't wrap my head around. It just seems such an immense shafting of martials and the concept of heavily armored fighter. The fact that the second goblin to attack you this turn completely ignores your full plate really makes this hard for me to make peace with.
And it bugs me, because there is so much to like about Nimble.

Just homebrew it to be like monsters. Easy.

 

[timbannock]

Just homebrew it to be like monsters. Easy.

...that seems like the easiest answer, yeah!

Would the defend action then do something entirely else, or would it act as damage reduction in addition to the monster rules? I imagine that'd be the only thing you have to solve for, but that does impact a fair few class features and the like.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I can see

Just like in any movie/show where you spotlight the cool armor in one scene or beat, but then when the next important bad guy comes along who is spotlighted as The ThreatTM can pretty safely ignore that armor. Same kind of logic needed for just about every supers game worth its salt.

I can see that, but not when it's Goblin A and B...