Nimble TTRPG: An Overview, Part Four
Heroes, Part Three: Magic & Mayhem, Part Two: Jedi Academy
Songweaver
Songweavers have been gifted with the ineffable power of music by a muse or a god or something. They’re … they’re bards. They’re pretty much bards. They begin with 13 HP and a d8 Hit Die, proficiency in cloth and leather armor and DEX weapons, have WIL and INT as their Key Stats, advantage on WIL saves and disadvantage on STR saves.
But who cares about that. Let’s sing! At level 1, Songweavers learn cantrips from the Wind school and one other school of their choice. Wind cantrips are Razor Wind (1d4 slashing damage, on a crit rolls two dice instead of one) and Breath of Life (restore 1 HP to a dying creature). They also get the unique fan-favorite cantrip Vicious Mockery, which does 1d4+INT psychic damage, ignores armor, and taunts the target for a turn.
A beginning Songweaver gains Songweaver’s Inspiration, which gives them the ability to allow their allies to reroll a single die for an attack or save, up to [2 x WIL] times per Safe Rest.
At level 2, they get a mana pool of INT x 3 + level to go with the Tier 1 spells of their schools. They can also play a Song of Rest which adds their WIL to their allies’ healing during a Field Rest, and Jack of All Trades allows them to move one skill point around every Safe Rest.
Level 3 garners them one Utility Spell from each class they know, plus a subclass: either Herald of Snark or Herald of Courage. Goons Snarkers get upgrades to Vicious Mockery, like double damage if an enemy missed an attack, or causing a target to be taunted by someone else (“Let’s you and him fight”). Courage … ians get upgrades to Songweaver’s Inspiration instead, like temp HP to all allies or granting an extra action to a target.
Songweavers have two lists of extra abilities. They start picking up Lyrical Weaponry at level 4, like Inspiring Anthem (granting all Dying allies within earshot 1 HP, which makes them not Dying anymore) or Not My Beautiful Faaace! (when Defending, force the attacker to choose a different target on a failed WIL save). They max out at four Lyrical Weaponry abilities by level 17.
At level 5, they gain the one-time boon A “People” Person. Choose two friends out of a list of four and summon each of them once per Safe Rest with a song. The guest list consists of Stompy the Hill Giant, Mal the Malevolent Imp, Gran Gran, and Linos the Everfriendly, each with their own monkey’s-paw abilities (except for Gran Gran, who’s a lovely person and definitely not a hag).
To rearrange their abilities, a Songweaver just needs to Perform! somewhere during a Safe Rest.
Stormshifter
Stormshifters are sorta-druids, but almost more in a Daggerheart way than a standard D&D way (though not as overpowered). They get several front-loaded shapeshifting abilities but their spellcasting takes a while to mature. They start with 13 HP, d8 Hit Dice, proficiency with cloth or leather armor and staves and wands, WIL and DEX as Key Stats, and advantage on WIL saves and disadvantage on STR saves.
Out of the gate they gain Beastshift. This lets them transform into a harmless animal like a pigeon or a mouse [DEX] times until their next Safe Rest. Their new form continues until they drop to 0 HP, cast a spell, or will it to end for free. This ability rapidly evolves into Direbeast Form (a large beast with Gore and Fearsome abilities) at level 2, Beast of the Pack (a fast-running medium beast with an electrical Thunderfang attack) at level 3, and Beast of Nightmares (a tiny beast with an acid sting and inability to be targeted unless they attack) at level 5. What they transform into doesn’t change stats-wise, but they can choose whatever form suits their fancy.
Meanwhile they can cast Wind and Lightning cantrips at level 1, and tiered spells starting at level 2 with their new mana pool of WIL x 3 + level. This builds to Tier 9 spells by level 18. Compared to other classes, the spell progression is pretty vanilla. They gain Lightning resistance at level 8 and can max out Wind damage by spending a Beastshift charge at level 13, but that’s about it.
At level 3 they get their requisite subclass. Circle of Sky & Storm adds either the Ice or Radiant school of spells, allows spellcasting while shifted, can cast a free cantrip when they crit with a tiered spell, can use their master of the Wind to fly, etc. Circle of Fang & Claw lets them Beastshift for free at initiative and change Direbeast forms at will, makes it so beasts won’t attack them first, shapeshift into a beast and then teleport in a Ride the Lightning kind of way, hypnotize people while in their Beast of Nightmares form, etc.
Starting at level 6 they gain Chimeric Boons. These add animacular powers to their various beast forms, like walking on walls or having a prehensile tail or breathing underwater. Normally the Stormshifter can only use one Boon per transformation, but the Fang & Claw subclass allows up to three active at once.
To change their abilities around, the Stormshifter can Be Wild, spending a day with wild animals during a Safe Rest.
Zephyr
That’s enough magic, let’s kick something. Zephyrs deliver unarmed punchy-kicky action that builds strong bodies twelve ways. Starting HP is 13, Hit Die is d8, proficiency with melee weapons but no armor, Key Stats of DEX and STR, advantage on DEX saves and disadvantage on INT saves.
Being unarmored is no big deal for a Zephyr, since they bring it with them. Their Iron Defense starting ability gives them STR+DEX armor while they’re unarmored. Swift Fists, meanwhile, means their unarmed strikes never have disadvantage for multiple strikes in one turn. Punch all you want, they’ll make more.
At level 2, they gain Swift Feet (+2 movement speed and +level initiative while unarmored) and Burst of Speed. This latter ability gives them [DEX] Bursts of Speed when they roll initiative, which can be spent on one of four abilities: Slipstream (one enemy auto-misses when the Zephyr Defends), Whirling Defense (apply armor to every attack this turn when they Defend), Swiftstrike (ignore disadvantage for a second attack of any kind, not just unarmed), or Windstep (ignore difficult terrain for a turn).
Level 3 gets them Ethereal Projection. Once per day, meditating for 10 minutes allows them to send a translucent projection of themselves up to 30 feet. They can see through the projection’s eyes but can’t interact with the environment. This power never gets an upgrade, so it seems pretty limited unless you really need to see what’s on the other side of a door.
Of course they also get a subclass, so it’s not a wash. They choose between the Way of Pain and the Way of Flame. (Fountains of Wayne will be in a future supplement.) With the Pain Way they Bring the Pain, turning any melee attacks against them into a crit, but only taking half damage while sending the other half back to the attacker sans armor. They can also Swiftstrike-attack multiple creatures at once, and gain advantage on their first attack and all saves when they’re at half HP. The Flame Way gives them Exploding Soul, letting them take a self-inflicted Wound to deal STR+Wounds damage and inflict Smoldering on a nearby enemy. They can also pass through enemies to inflict STR+DEX fire damage on them, do the Exploding Soul thing for free on a crit, and ultimately double all fire damage they deal.
Starting at level 4 they begin to accumulate Martial Arts. These include Bodily Discipline (take an action to end any condition on themselves), Quickstrike (when they Interpose, punch the attacker for free), and I Jump On His Back! (jump on a creature’s back to gain advantage on attacks against it, and any damage avoided or Defended goes to the carrying creature instead). Ultimately the Zephyr will have eight Martial Arts abilities by level 18.
To choose new abilities, they can Focus in a secluded, wind-swept place during a Safe Rest.
Story-Based Subclasses
Sometimes, while the game is underway, the story your character lives takes them down a weird tangent. The Oathsworn breaks their oath. The Commander abandons martial might and takes up magic as a shortcut to power. The Shadowmancer’s patron betrays them. A monster adopts the Hunter and refuses to leave. In these cases, the book presents four alternate classes: Oathbreaker, Spellblade, Reaver, and Beastmaster.
These classes are funhouse reflections of the main class, replacing their powers with new conceits. For instance, the Shadowmancer-turned-Reaver loses their Shadow Blast power, but gains a stolen summonable weapon called a Bonescythe which does 2d12+DEX necrotic damage instead. The Hunter-turned-Beastmaster loses their first two Thrill of the Hunt abilities, but gains an animal companion which they can order to attack enemies or defend allies once per encounter. They all trade off one or two things like this.
These aren’t really classes you can play from level 1. They’re more appropriately grandfathered in during mid-levels, usually with great fanfare. Ideally the player would work with the GM so the circumstances can be arranged to make the change happen diegetically.
Analysis and Synthesis
Thoughtfulness? In Trump’s America?
The way classes level up in Nimble reminds me very strongly of D&D 4e’s paradigm of giving everyone something new and/or strong and/or interesting at every level, yet without that D&D feeling that you have twelve gazillion things to keep track of. Part of that is due to Nimble’s terseness. That neat new ability doesn’t take up half a page to explain. You get maybe two sentences, easy to digest and easy to retain.
Martial classes tend to get a bad rap in D&D-adjacent properties, since mages often ramp way up in power at high levels while martial classes (Fighters etc.) scale more linearly. It’s true that magic types in Nimble have some specific advantages. There’s nothing that e.g. a Commander could ever do that would inflict d88 damage on four foes at once like a Mage’s Seething Storm spell can. Meanwhile, the Commander can tank a hit that would reduce that Mage to gumbo. Magical defense is highly effective but costs mana and only lasts a turn, while armor and shields can block one attack per turn forever.
The main factor that levels the playing field between martials and mages, though, is Wounds. Hit Points exist in Nimble almost exclusively to prevent the loss of Wounds. Most everyone only has six, and healing them is a big deal. HP? Pssh, 80% of classes have ways to replenish those. Heck, sit quietly in a corner for 10 minutes and you can get some back without trying. But healing a Wound takes special time and effort. Even healing HP to max won’t make you any less nervous about an approaching enemy when you’re sitting at five Wounds.
Martials get a lot of HP, and consequently don’t have to worry about taking Wounds nearly as much as magic types. Martials also tend to get abilities that temporarily prevent dropping to 0 HP, heal Wounds one or twice during combat, or increase Wounds permanently. This gives them amazing survivability. Magic types are very squishy in comparison.
What I’m getting at is that power in Nimble is well scaled. Played competently, every class is equally viable through their entire 20-level breadth.
Now I will take back one kadam, to honor the Hebrew God whose Ark this is, by saying that you mostly have to play a class straight to maintain that competency, especially early on. I highly recommend being boring with your stat choices, putting all your high numbers in your class’s Key Stats and increasing them with a strict eye to the future and an agenda to min-max. Failure to do so will hamstring your character for many levels down the road. A sub-par build could even make it so you can’t use important abilities. That might be fun if everybody does it, but you have to have a real tolerance for that.
Next time: Behind the GM’s screen, for real, really honest