Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition vs Nimble

Compare Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and Nimble side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition	Nimble
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy
Tags	Tactical, Grid-Based, Miniatures, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Resource Management, Crunchy, Strong GM Support, Heroic, High-Fantasy	Tactical, Fast-Paced, Heroic, Combat-Heavy, Grid-Based, Character Building, Classic Fantasy, Beginner-Friendly, Strong GM Support, Low-Prep
Core Mechanic	Roll d20 plus the relevant modifiers against a difficulty class or target defense. A total equal to or higher than the target succeeds.	Skill checks and saves roll a d20 plus the relevant skill or stat against a DC. A natural 1 always fails and a natural 20 always succeeds. Attacks skip the to-hit roll: roll the attack's listed damage and deal the total. On most attacks, a 1 on the leftmost Primary Die misses and a maximum on that die explodes into a critical hit. Advantage and disadvantage add dice of the same type and drop the lowest or highest.
Dice	d20	d20
Complexity	High	Medium
Availability	Free quickstart	Free quickstart
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	4 of 5 book tools
License	Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License (February 27, 2009)	Nimble 3rd Party Creator License v2.0
Third-Party Publishing	No verified route found	Commercial publishing allowed — Creator license
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Wizards of the Coast	Nimble Co.
Year	2008	2025
Languages	English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese	English
Best For	Groups who want coordinated battles on a grid and long campaigns with substantial character customization.	Groups who want class-based heroic fantasy with tactical grid fights and no separate to-hit roll. Also a good fit for a group whose GM is running a game for the first time.
Highlights	Defender marks penalize attacks against allies, giving protection a concrete tactical role. At-will, encounter, and daily powers separate repeatable actions from limited reserves. Monster roles and XP budgets help the DM assemble encounters with complementary threats.	Heroic Reactions such as Defend and Interpose normally cost one of a hero's three actions, so reacting on an enemy's turn leaves fewer actions for the hero's own turn. Assess spends an action on a skill check to ask the GM a question that must be answered honestly or to create an opening, bringing roleplay into combat turns. Legendary monsters act after each hero's turn and list HP per hero, so one boss scales to the size of the party.
Considerations	Combat assumes a grid and tokens or miniatures, making precise spatial tracking part of every fight. Players must monitor triggered actions that can occur outside their own turns. Rituals take minutes or hours to perform.	Movement, reach, and area effects are counted in grid spaces, so gridless play relies on one of the optional movement variants. Damage can swing widely because a single roll decides both whether an attack hits and how much it deals. Outside combat, social and exploration scenes run on skill checks and GM-built skill challenges rather than dedicated subsystems.