Cypher Core Concepts

Here's the basic info you need to know to play Cypher.

Cypher uses a twenty-sided die (d20) to determine the results of most actions. Whenever a roll of any kind is called for and no die is specified, roll a d20. Higher is always better for a d20 roll.

This is how you play Cypher:

1. As the player, you tell the GM what you want your character to do. This is called the task.

2. The GM decides how easy or hard that task might be—this is called setting the difficulty. The task might be so easy that it's considered routine (and therefore just works, no roll required). But if there's a chance of failure, the GM decides how hard the task will be on a scale from 1 (really easy) to 10 (basically impossible).

3. You and the GM determine if anything about your PC can reduce the difficulty, making it more likely that you succeed. This is called easing the difficulty, and it might be a combination of a character skill, equipment, or putting extra Effort into the task (there's more information on all of those options later in this chapter).

Easing a task happens in one or more steps, reducing the difficulty by 1 for each step that you ease it. For example, if your character has to succeed at a difficulty 3 climbing task, but you're trained in climbing, that reduces the difficulty by one step, down to difficulty 2.

Other circumstances can hinder the task's difficulty, if the situation isn't in your favor, increasing the difficulty by one or more steps.

If you reduce the difficulty of a task to 0 or less, it's routine, and you automatically succeed without a roll.

4. If the task still isn't routine after these adjustments, the GM uses the task difficulty to determine your target number—the number you must roll on the d20 to succeed at the task. Examples of different target numbers are shown on the Task Difficulty table.

The target number is always three times the task's difficulty, so a difficulty 2 task has a target number of 6, while a difficulty 5 task has a target number of 15.

To succeed at the task, you must roll the target number or higher on a d20. (Higher is always better for a d20 roll.) The GM doesn't have to tell you what the difficulty or target number is, but might give a hint, especially if your PC would reasonably know if the action was easy, average, difficult, or impossible.

5. You roll a d20. If the roll is equal to or higher than the target number, you succeed. If not, you probably fail. Either way, the task attempt is considered your action.