Squat Nimbleness Feat 5e: Should You Take It?

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

You’ve clearly come here trying to find a way to buff up your character, or you’re looking for a feat or way to strengthen those little legs your character likely has. Here’s everything you need to know about the Squat Nimbleness feat in 5e.

What Is the Squat Nimbleness Feat in DnD 5e?

The Squat Nimbleness feat can only be taken if your character is a dwarf or another small race (Gnome, Halfing, etc.).

This feat increases your Strength or Dexterity stat by 1 (Up to a max of 20), increases your walking speed by 5 feet, grants you proficiency in either the Acrobatics or Athletics skills, and grants you advantage on any strength or dexterity checks you make to escape from being grappled. 

Now that you’ve read up on this fairly wordy feat, let’s dive into the details. 

Should I Get This Feat on My Dwarf or Gnome? 

This feat is fairly decent. As most small races typically have 25 movement speed, this feat grants you an extra 5, which catches you up to the average, which is fairly nice.

The extra +1 to Dex or Strength is also pretty good as well as the acrobatics or athletics proficiency addition. Now my stipulation with this feat is the advantage on strength checks or dex checks against being grappled.

Yes the addition of this is good, but if you’re in a campaign or playing with a DM who doesn’t have the tendency to grapple you then this is useless.

If you’re playing a rogue, fighter, or melee class, the bonus to dex or str is good, as is the + 5 walking speed (for any class).

Proficiency in acrobatics or athletics is good for a melee class, but then again, most of them grant one or the other – some even both. For a caster this isn’t optimal.

If you’re playing a dwarf, gnome, or halfling melee class, I’d say consider taking this feat as you can make use of a lot of its benefits, but if you’re playing a full-on caster, I’d say feel free to skip over this feat.

Hexblade warlock could be the exception to this as they have a tendency to be more melee oriented, but again, this feat isn’t optimal for casters by any means. Melee classes yes, casters no. 

Is Mobile Better Than Squat Nimbleness? 

Mobile is indeed a great feat. You get an extra 10 movement speed, dashing over difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement, and your melee attacks don’t provoke attacks of opportunity from creatures no matter if you hit or miss, which in close-quarters combat means you can basically get away with being hit or hurt. 

In my opinion, the extra 10 movement and the fact that attacks of opportunity mean nothing to you as long as you attempt to hit a creature are far better than Squat Nimbleness.

Even casters may be more keen on taking this feat for that extra 10 movement speed, such as a hexblade warlock. They could make good use of this feat.

A fighter that takes this and gets surrounded in combat can attempt to hit all of the creatures surrounding him, stop their attacks of opportunity, and back away without being harmed whatsoever.

Squat nimbleness does provide you with the means to escape grapples and provides a stat bonus and proficiency, but for combat purposes, mobile is more widely taken for the simple reason that it allows melee classes a means of escape and an extra 10 feet of movement, plus ANY race can take mobile.  

In Conclusion

Squat Nimbleness is by no means a bad feat; it provides a lot of benefits to small-race characters and excellent ways to escape being grappled as well as a stat increase, which some players would snatch up right away.

In comparison to Mobile, it does lack a bit in the combat aspect in my opinion, but then again, if you’re playing in a campaign that involves a lot of grappling, then you should highly consider taking Squat Nimbleness.

I mean, technically you can take both SN and Mobile if you really wanted to; then nothing could touch you or catch you, but ultimately it’s your choice.

Just be sure to do your research. See our page on the Mobile feat for more in-depth details.