SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
From a GM's perspective, it runs much faster and cleaner. I'm not thinking about things. Monsters are very simple: they get one action, which is a combination of move + an attack. Each monster also has one special ability that makes them more than just a bag of hit points.
Monsters don't have reactions, so when I'm done with my turn, that's it.
The way the armor system works, I have to be mindful of the characters a bit. Armor is in the process of being changed, but right now, if I gang up on a character that can bring them down fast. Too fast. But my players (including the brand new one, I'm so proud) figured out that you have to take that into account and so are actively playing smarter defensively. That said, I think I will appreciate the new rules, at least from what I've heard.
Outside of combat, the game runs pretty similar to 5E, with the exception that a lot of the low level spells that make spell casters the bosses aren't there. As a result, there's been more use of skills to solve problems.
I am playing in a new 5E game, and the wizard casting sleep at first level trivializes some encounters. That is not the case here.
From the player side, everyone, including spell casters, is eased into the game, but they gain multiple interesting things to do each level at the start.
There is only one player doing a spell caster, a Shepard, who is a modified cleric that feels different. The player is experienced and has been enjoying how different it feels and how they have less to do, but when they do something it feels like it has a serious impact.
The players really like the 3 actions that reset at the end of their turns. The only thing has been that they don't always have a good option for a third action, which is when they use Assess, and it has had an impact.
For combat, Nimble feels very different from 5E in a good way. For other modes of play, it's similar and easy for me to run as an experienced 5E DM.
