Browse the Cypher System

Your flesh is made of hard mineral, making you a hulking, difficult-to-harm humanoid.

You can harness kinetic energy and transform it into other kinds of energy.

You can pull images from dreams and bring them to life in the waking world.

You excel in battling robots, automatons, and machine entities.

You can sheath your body in flames, which protects you and harms your foes.

Everywhere you go, your black dog goes too. They are your best friend and your greatest weakness. Their shadowed presence fills you with a darkness, but it is inside that darkness that you find the strength to shine.

You read the land. You know every twisted arroyo, spiny cactus, and change in the weather. And what you don't know, you soon learn by sniffing the wind, tasting the dirt, and squinting across the wilderness landscapes. As you go, you mark the way for others to follow, notching trees or scribing stones with your personal symbol. As you become more and more accomplished, the network of trails you've blazed enhances not only your reputation as a pathfinder, but also your personal spiritual strength, allowing you to see what's happening along them, to flash along the miles you blazed in mere moments, and even return to the first time you ever set foot on a trail.

You can create light, sculpt it, bend it away from you, or gather it to use as a weapon.

You deploy an amazing shield of pure force that provides protection and some offensive options.

Your robotic creations do as they are commanded.

Awesome mathematical ability allows you to model the world in real time, giving you an edge over everyone.

A devout follower of a divine being, you channel some of your deity's power to achieve wonders.

You are a maker, a crafter, but you use a unique combination of code and magic instead of wood, steel, or circuit boards. Like anyone who's spent a lot of time working on a computer, you've learned some strange secrets, not all of them entirely legal, and you know a lot about games, people, and how things work. More than just a computer nerd, you're a developer and (although you might not admit it) a hacker. Most of your specialized gear is hardware or software for your computer or smart device, so you can dress however you want. You're probably used to wearing comfortable clothes, sitting for hours at a time, and enjoying many caffeinated beverages (that have permanently discolored some of your clothing).

You know just where to look to find the latest wanted posters. Each one that goes up on the side of the jail or the wall of the post office is potentially another job and another reward. But money's only half the deal—you also do it for the rush when you finally apprehend someone you've tracked across three territories. Some folks prefer to collect bounties without any undue fuss. But it wouldn't be fun if those you stalk don't put up a fight when you finally find them. And if it's a fight, well, they'd best watch themselves. Most bounties you take on are advertised as dead or alive. You'd prefer them alive so they can face justice, but if it's down to you or them, that's no choice at all.

You have honed the power of your mind to perform amazing psychic deeds.

Your preternatural insight and ability make you a scientist capable of amazing feats.

You blend sorcery and firearms into an amazing mix of magic and technology. Bullets and spells are almost interchangeable to you; your magic has a firearm motif and you cast using your gun. You might be a trick-shot sorcerer, a magical member of the armed forces, or an outlaw with a flair for arcane power. Gun nuts and wizard purists might look down on your blended technique, but you can do things that nobody else can do. You might call yourself a guncaster, spellshooter, or triggermage. You wear clothing that leaves your arms and hands free to use your weapon and cast spells, preferring something more flashy than a gunslinger's long coat and more intimidating than typical magician or witch clothing.

The dead answer your questions, and their reanimated corpses serve you.

Your ability to communicate and lead beasts is uncanny.

You can sway the attraction of gravity itself.

You can copy others' skills, abilities, and superpowers.

You fashion images from light that are so perfect they seem real.

You're an inventor of strange and useful objects.

Fuck the world and its horrors. You have a mean streak living inside you that you can't control—and honestly have no desire to. You'd never hurt your friends and family, of course. But everyone and everything else? Curse them.

You can manipulate shadow and "dark" matter.

Everyone wants you on their side when it comes to a fight because nothing gets by you.

You stand up for the helpless, the weak, and the unprotected.

A descendent of wealth and power, you carry a noble title and the abilities granted by a privileged upbringing.

You're a slacker, but you know a little about a lot of things.

Whether balancing on two wheels, jumping another vehicle, or driving head-on toward an oncoming enemy car, you don't think about the risks when you're behind the wheel.

Some of your organic parts have been replaced with artificial components. Like most people in the city, you are a cyborg, but your augmentations are extensive, and your chrome parts are meant for stealth and infiltration. You almost certainly have synthetic materials and technical components visible on your skin. As you advance, you can add to, modify, or discover new functions for your machine parts.

Your body, hard as crystal, gives you a suite of unique abilities, gained after an interaction with a floating crystalline obelisk.

You command metal and the power of magnetism.

You perform, mostly for the benefit of others.

You exist in two places at once.

A bit translucent, you're slightly out of phase and can move through solid objects.

You've always been fascinated by cyberspace, its architecture, and the wealth of data it contains. You may have started out as a hacker, programmer, or data administrator, but viewing the internet on a screen was never enough for you. You're driven by the urge to transcend your body, to enter a complete simulation of that nonsensical nonspace. You're a netrunner, hooked on the thrill of jacking into the matrix, where you interact with physical manifestations of AI, software, and viruses.

You're the archetypal treasure hunter, scavenger, and finder of lost things.

Everyone thinks you're brave, intrepid—fearless, even. They tell stories about you, the person who's never felt fear, how you went out to seek what you see as an elusive emotion and never found it. But you know the truth. You may present yourself as someone who is fearless and courageous, but deep down, you are terrified of everything. Fear drives you, and in its face, you stand tall and shout the loudest. Because you are also afraid of being seen for who you truly are.

You'll do anything to win a fight: bite, scratch, kick, trick, and worse.

You're a swashbuckling daredevil who fights with flamboyant style that's entertaining to watch.

You can fly, and you're superstrong, hard to hurt, and fast too. Is there anything you can't do?

You can telekinetically move objects with your mind without physically touching them.

Your body is part machine.

Electronic aids implanted in your brain make you a mental powerhouse.

How long have you been haunting the card tables? Seems like a lifetime. You probably played your first hand of poker before you could even read words. People, though, were much easier to understand. You could always read other folks' tells, whether that's squinting, tapping, stammering, pulling at their earlobe, or any of a thousand other ways you know when to call their bluffs. Which is not to say you haven't walked away from the table in the hole. But you've always been able to make it up later. So far, anyway. Lately, you've been having weird dreams of loss and void. Is Lady Luck fixin' to turn her back on you? You hope not, because there ain't nothing in the world keeping you from gambling it all away.

For brief periods, you can grow larger and, with enough experience, to towering heights.

AI and the countless networks integrated into every part of life are as ubiquitous as air and, to most people, about as noticeable. Not you. From the moment you first realized that networks ran on an underlying "Ur" tongue, a code of mathematics and logical symbols, you were hooked. It wasn't your goal to learn everything you could about hacking computers so much as there was nothing else for you. As a thrown stone follows its trajectory, you learned to hack the network.

You can change your appearance to look like anyone else.

Let's be honest: you live in a surveillance state. Security cameras on every corner, smartphones that track the user's activity, cybernetics that track the wearer's movements…It's nearly impossible to avoid being tracked, but you've made the most of it. You hack into these surveillance networks and use your unauthorized access to monitor your environment.

You're a genius with drones—building them, controlling them, and repairing them. You've created a unique drone with a limited artificial intelligence; it follows your commands like it's an extension of your thoughts. As you advance, you learn and discover new ways to update your drone and give it additional abilities, and how to control multiple drones at once. You may think of your drone as a tool, pet, or sidekick; it sees you as a best friend or beloved parent.

You love your friends and help them out of any difficulty, no matter what.

The saloon is an old friend, whether or not you visit the same one twice. Whatever the name on the sign out front, the pungent smells of whiskey, cigars, and sawdust lift your spirits like nothing else. 'Cept for actual spirits, of course. When that first shot hits your throat and sets a warm blaze in your belly, you can't keep a smile from your lips. This here's your home away from home, and inside are your friends, both old and those soon to be made. Though not everyone's happy to see you—troublemakers soon learn that in a scrap, you only hit harder with each shot of whiskey you pour down your throat.

For brief periods, you become a fearsome and powerful creature with control issues.

You are a stalking hunter who excels at bringing down your selected quarry.

You know enough about magic to mistrust anyone who uses it, especially witches—people who study ancient rituals, make pacts with evil creatures, and use their power for personal gain. Warped by their abilities, they are dangerous threats to regular folks, and it's up to people like you to find and eliminate those threats. Sure, some witches claim to be good and even act friendly, but you've seen it go bad all too often, and you won't be fooled again. You always carry weapons for fighting witches, or at least know what common tools will do as a weapon in a pinch. You wear clothing appropriate to the region and era (especially if regular people don't know about magic or witches and you have to hide what you do). You may have a token, icon, or other reminder of your purpose, such as a lucky coin, a holy book, or a pouch of magic-thwarting herbs given to you by your mentor.

You can teleport from one place to another by briefly passing through a parallel dimension.

Subtlety, guile, and stealth allow you to get in where others can't.

Your enchanted heritage is etched upon you. Studying strange formulas, mystic runes, and magical glyphs to learn spells is one thing. Making spells truly a part of you is another, but that's exactly what you do when you apply magical inks to create intricate spell tattoos across your body. Each tattoo you inscribe on yourself is not merely a design, but the keystone of a spell, giving you the ability to cast it. Because your tattoos are magical, you can continually add to those you've already accumulated without ruining the designs, allowing your mastery over magic to grow. You often wear clothing that bares your arms and perhaps other parts of your body to expose your tattoos, so that others know you for a spellcaster.

You excel at winning others over to your views.

Your skill behind the wheel is legendary, combining natural talent and specialized magic to perform stunts and tricks that are impossible for regular people. Nothing beats the feel of wind in your hair, except maybe the intense purr of a finely tuned engine augmented by sorcery. You love pushing yourself (and your vehicle) to the limit, even if it's dangerous—better to die a legend than live a long, dull life driving something boring. You enjoy drawing attention to yourself, so you tend to wear sleek clothing, stylish sunglasses, and borderline-gaudy jewelry, but never anything that interferes with your ability to control a car or cast a spell.

Some of your organic parts have been replaced with artificial components. Like most people in the city, you are a cyborg, but your augmentations are extensive, and your chrome parts are meant for defense and protecting others. You almost certainly have metal plating and technical components visible on your skin. As you advance, you can add to, modify, or discover new functions for your machine parts.

You're a celebrity and most people adore you.

You carry a gun and you know how to use it in a fight.

"WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE" posters (or their equivalent) have appeared featuring your face. It's up to you whether it's a mistake that snowballed out of control or you actually would kill someone just for looking at you.

An allied magic creature bound to an object (such as a minor djinn in a lamp, or a ghost in a pipe) is your friend, protector, and weapon.

You're a know-it-all. You've always been curious, likely to be found with your nose in a book and several wiki articles pulled up on your computer. In your school days, you were probably a good student and skilled researcher. In the present, your primary hobby is gathering knowledge. You know what questions to ask, and where to look for the answers.

Your natural leadership capability allows you to command others, including a loyal band of followers.

Magic comes intuitively to some people, but you've always had to work a bit harder. Luckily, you find that research comes naturally. You know what questions to ask; you know which books, websites, or professionals will have the answers. You spent years studying and practicing, and you taught yourself everything you know. Now you're a skilled magician who's always eager to learn more—evidenced by your lengthy reading list.

You deal with bad situations as they arise, learning new lessons each time.

You spent a lot of time in another world, one that others don't believe actually exists. What you learned there gives you insight and vision that most people don't have. You've seen things. Beautiful things. Unspeakable things. Some of them came back with you and stay with you to this day.

You can survive in badlands where others perish.

You're a scrapper and love a good fight.

When it's just you, your spacesuit, and the panorama of stars wheeling out forever and always, you are at peace.

Death eternally walks the labyrinth of the Heartwood, touching those who pass by, but few notice this ever-changing figure. You, however, are intimate with Death in all their many forms. Perhaps you are both drawn to and frightened of them. Perhaps you've spent too much time in their company, and have become infatuated with them. Perhaps you've lost friends and loved ones to their dark embrace. Whatever your feelings about Death, you've made a deal with them, one you hope will bring you the closure that you seek.

You use protective equipment and practiced techniques to avoid becoming hurt in a fight.

By specializing in spellcasting and keeping a spellbook, you can quickly cast spells of arcing lightning, rolling fire, creeping shadow, and summoning.

Insects. Rats. Bats. Even birds. You master one type of small creature that obeys you.

You are a master user of a particular type of weapon, be it a sword, whip, dagger, gun, or something else.

You were raised in an underground bunker by Milly, an AI instance installed in your brain before you developed cognition of your own. Unlike AI zombies, your personality and motivations haven't been replaced; your sense of self grew alongside the AI, as collaborators rather than foes. This granted you superior intellect and an uncanny knack for computers. Now you've emerged into the larger world, where survivors are predisposed to distrust you, and you may need to keep your background a secret to be accepted. Whether you hate AI or remain loyal to Milly, you face the best odds if you can fit in with another group of survivors. After all, there's a lot you don't know about how things work on the surface and the things people have done to stay alive in the past twenty years. Connections: - Pick one other PC. You fear that character is jealous of your abilities, and that it might lead to problems. - Pick one other PC. You're not sure how or from where, but that character has access to rare machine parts and can get them for you at half price. - Pick one other PC. Seeing you use your focus abilities triggers unpleasant memories for that character. That memory is up to the other PC, although they may not be able to consciously recall it. - Pick one other PC. They are sensitive to your focus abilities, and occasionally they become dazed for a few rounds, hindering their actions.