Cyphers give them additional abilities that are ever-changing and inject a great deal of variability in play. Why cyphers? Characters in the Cypher System-as in pretty much every RPG-have abilities that rarely or never change and can always be counted on. PCs can have only a small number of cyphers at a given time, and since they’re always finding more, they’re encouraged to use them at a steady pace. Cyphers are designed for frequent discovery and use. In others, they’re more esoteric, like inspirations or divine blessings. In many games, these come in the form of items, like magic potions or bits of alien technology. Cyphers are one-use abilities that characters gain over the course of play. XP can be spent to increase character abilities, or to affect events in the game (such as rerolling dice), gain short-term benefits, or advance in tier.Ĭyphers (not surprisingly, given the name) lie at the heart of the Cypher System. Lastly, players have the ability to award XP to other players for great ideas, useful actions, or other reasons. They also earn XP when the GM “intrudes” on the action of the game to introduce new complications.
(Killing things is not directly related to XP, although combat is often necessary to make discoveries and accomplish missions). Experience PointsĬharacters earn Experience Points-XP-when they make new, interesting discoveries or otherwise succeed in the objectives of their adventures. Other than the Pools, characters are not defined by numerical stats. Characters spend points from their Pools to apply Effort to a roll, and sometimes to power their special abilities. (There’s more on this under Running the Cypher System.)Įvery character has a set of three Pools, representing Intellect, Speed, and Might. Creatures and NPCs have levels, and an opponent’s level is the difficulty of any task it opposes.
This system resolves every task, including combat. The target number is equal to three times the difficulty. Once a player has reduced the difficulty as much as they are able, they roll a d20. They can also focus a limited resource called Effort to further lower the difficulty of actions really important to them. Players apply their skills and experience, tools or other advantages, aid from one another, and other assets to reduce this difficulty. Once the GM has assigned this difficulty, the rest is up to the players. The GM assigns a difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10-a 1 is extremely simple, while a 10 represents a herculean task beyond the means of most mortals. Cypher System gameplay involves a simple die roll to determines success or failure in any kind of action.