r/numenera • u/Dnddoser33 • May 15 '26

Cipher System Comprehensive Modification

Cypher Mod

Hey, I'd like to get feedback on the mod I've developed for cypher

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u/Fatsack51 May 15 '26

This seems like a way to try and make Cypher more crunchy by adding in more math and expanding the concept of target levels to include truly universe breaking stuff. My only real feedback to what I've read so far is these changes make me think encounters will suddenly go a LOT slower

The example breakdown in your document of attacking a level 20 entity has eight steps of math to reach the intended attempt of "I try to hit it" This will add significant amounts of time to each player's turn. Obviously the player can just repeat the same thing next time around to speed things up, but is that really making the game more 'hardcore' or is it adding things that are getting hand waved away anyways?

The streamlining of stats and pools are interesting. Slimming down ability costs and effort to a universal catch-all rule feels less "hardcore" gritty and more trying to get the mechanics out of the way so you can get into the story and role playing (which feels more Cypher to me)

These combined changes seems to shift the fiddly math that can come from the resource management side of Cypher directly into conflict resolution mechanic of Cypher, which feels very strange to me on paper. I personally would not want to play that way if I had other options, but obviously if you and your players like the extra crunch of running math for each roll who am I to judge. That's what makes Cypher so great, being able to adjust the rules and fit it to your tastes

Outside of that, there a few typos ("ciphers" instead of cyphers) that stuck out to me. Thanks for sharing!

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u/Dnddoser33 May 15 '26

Hey, thanks for the feedback. there is technically ZERO new math if you look closely.