This post is in response to a question in a Cypher systems group on FB. A player there was looking to start a Cypher Supers game, but his players were unsure about how to use the system to build supers-style characters. I told him that I was planning to write a blog post on the subject, so I figured I'd post it here. I'm certainly no expert... I just like the game and it's mechanics a lot. If anyone has anything to add, please chime in!
I see a lot of questions about how to build Super Hero characters using the Cypher system. And I think a lot of the confusion stems from trying to approach it the way you would in other supers games, like Champions, or V&V, or Marvel, etc. Cypher is its own animal, and works somewhat differently than most games.
If you really want to convert, say, Batman or Superman, into Cypher — well, sure, you can. But I don’t think conversions like that are the system’s strength. Rather, I think it makes fun, intriguing characters with some good hooks for role playing, that have room to grow. Like a lot of supers games, it’s sweet spot is probably 80’s X-Men power levels, although it can do both street level and higher powered characters as well.
Cypher characters are built using a three elements that the player first arranges into a sentence… your character is an ADJECTIVE TYPE who VERBS. Each section of that trio (adjective, type, verb) affects your stats, gives you some skills, and offers up a short list of abilities to choose from. There’s very little math involved, but there are tons of options. It can take a while to wrap your head around how everything fits together, and where to find certain abilities.
The TYPES are the easiest to explain… they are essentially classes, although very generic versions that can apply in multiple settings. Warriors are all about combat and doing damage. Speakers are the “face” characters, focusing on social interaction. Adepts wield a multitude of unusual powers, whether they are magical, technical, or biological in nature. And Explorers are kind of catch-all adventurers…. Physical, without being purely focused on combat. Your Type gives you your beginning stat values (Might, Speed, and Intellect) and a selection of special abilities, from which you usually choose 4.
Your ADJECTIVE describes your particular character. Maybe you’re Jovial, or Weird, or Honorable… each Adjective gives you a bonus to some stats, some skills, and maybe a unique ability or two.
Your VERB is also known as your FOCUS, and defines what is special or unique about your character. Here is where things start to get Super… Maybe you are a Brash Explorer who Wears a Sheen of Ice (Iceman). Your focus “Wears a Sheen of Ice” gives you set abilities as you level up (more on that later.) The intention is, there should only be one of any particular focus in a party, to keep each character special.
Supers, by the rules as written, break this structure in certain respects. The rules flat out tell you to allow super characters to replace some of their standard abilities with new ones, to give them the power set they are looking for.
So as an example, I’m going to use the Cypher Core Rulebook and the Claim the Sky sourcebook to create a random-ish hero. (Random char-gen is not remotely required or even encouraged… It’s just a way to generate some ideas.)
Let’s say I’m playing in a supers game tomorrow, and I have no idea what I want to play. Claim the Sky gives a ton of guidance on how to build different types of characters, and includes some fun random tables to get inspired. So first I roll on the power source table (where my super abilities come from.) And I get 58 (Magically altered, unwillingly). Hmmm, OK.
Next I roll on the archetype table (a combination of random powers and general character types.) I roll 94 (Telepathy, See Mentalist, page 25). OK, so I turn to that page and read about Mentalists in comics, and what Adjectives / Foci from Cypher might work for that kind of character.
Something clicks when I read this passage - “If speaking with the dead is more your thing, try Shepherds Spirits as your focus.”
For some reason, I think of the movie The Dead Zone… How about a riff on that? A woman survives a terrible car accident, only she is changed by her journey between life and death… she now has strange powers, and can commune with the dead… I’m picturing a late 70’s DC horror hero, like a cross between Raven and Deadman.
OK, So for my adjective I select WEIRD… that gives me a bonus to my Intellect stat, and some skills involving the supernatural. It also gives me a physical quirk, and a hindrance… People find me unnerving, so I don’t do well in pleasant social interactions. For the quirk, I decide my eyes glow purple when I use my powers, and my skin is always deathly pale.
For my Type, I go with ADEPT… I want her to have an assortment of supernatural powers, and Adept gives the widest range of abilities. I’ll choose those later.
And finally, for my Focus, I choose SHEPHERDS SPIRITS. So, to recap, I am a WEIRD ADEPT who SHEPHERDS SPIRITS… OK, so how does that make a superhero?
All Cypher characters have 3 stats… Might, Speed, Intellect. Your Type sets your base stats. As an Adept, I begin with MIGHT: 7, SPEED: 9, and INTELLECT: 12. I have six more points to distribute as I wish, and +2 to Intellect from my Weird descriptor. So my final scores are: MIGHT: 9, SPEED: 10, INTELLECT: 17.
I also get to pick 4 abilities from the Adept list. Looking it over, I keep my concept in mind and choose “Erase Memories”, since that seems to go with her mental powers. I’m not crazy about the other options on the list, so I put a a pin in that, and note I have three more abilities to choose.
Next, my Focus, Shepherds Spirits gives me “Question the Spirits” at Tier 1 (my starting level). I can call upon the spirits, and ask them questions. As I increase in level, I’ll gain more spirit related powers (Or, if I don’t like the options offered, I can always choose something else).
Now, going back to those three empty ability slots… Since Supers can choose whatever they like, I flip through the book looking for low tier "spooky" abilities… I select “Terrifying Presence” from the speaker type,“Hover”, a low level flight power from the general list of abilities, and “Telepathic”, a low tier form of telepathy.
Next, I assume my GM will follow an optional rule in the Claim the Sky book, which lets new super characters begin with 1 extra Type ability. I pick “Onslaught”, a generic ranged attack. I define it as “Ghost Bolts” - blasts of phantasmal energy, drawn from the spirit realm.
Finally, we have Power Shifts. Power Shifts are a Supers setting rule from the Cypher Core book. Essentially, they are extra levels of free effort in certain things, that set supers above and beyond the limits of mortal men. It’s really power shifts, more than stats, that make someone super strong or super fast. The books recommends 5 shifts for starting heroes, with no more than 3 shifts in any one area. For my Ghost Whisperer character, I choose the Following:
2 Power Shifts in Single Attack: Ghost Bolts… this makes them more accurate, and do more damage.
2 Shift in Healing: This allows her to replenish her stats more often, and thus use her abilities more frequently.
1 Shift in Dexterity: This aids her in evading attacks, and other agility related tasks.
And there you have it…. When Catrina Carrera suffered a deadly car accident, she found herself trapped between life and the spirit realm. Santa Muerte, the saint of death, told her she was not yet done in the land of the living… The supernatural being bestowed her with incredible powers, and returned her to the mortal world, ordering her to seek out evil, and protect human life. Now, she calls herself… Seance. She uses her connection to the spirit world to defend the innocent… even though most fear her strange powers and unusual appearance.
Seance is telepathic, can fire ghost bolts and hover in the air. She is drawn to the paranormal, and trained in identifying supernatural threats. And she can summon spirits to aid her in her investigations, calling upon their knowledge and expertise. And when the mission is over, she can erase the memories of those present, to protect them from madness and pain. I imagine her wearing a crimson robe over black tights, and she magically adopts “Day of the Dead” style face paint to mask her appearance.
Sounds pretty Super to me!
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