Cypher System Homebrew

House Rules

Cost of Optional Spellcasting

Note: or psionics, or so on.

The optional spellcasting rule is very cool but the cost of casting these spells, particularly the recovery roll option, seems out of whack to me. Particularly, recovery rolls are a very limited resource and scale up in value as tiers (and thus, normal spend) increase, while the benefit of burning one stays the same. Meanwhile, we have resource pools right here to use.

Replace the "Using a Recovery Roll to Cast a Spell" paragraph with:

Using Strain to Cast a Spell: If the character spends 4/6/8 (low/mid/high) Pool points as part of the same action to cast the spell (including paying any normal Pool costs for the ability), they can use the ability as an action. This represents a significant mental or physical drain on the character, because the character must draw deeper from their capabilities in order to cast the spell.

Determining the Pool to draw from is up to the GM. For abilities with their own Pool cost, using the same Pool is a logical choice. Or, perhaps lean towards Intellect as a default, to represent the willpower necessary to pull from reserves and to match the spellcasting flavor. This strain cannot be reduced by Edge.

Descriptions

Faerûnian Races

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3e) presents a number of racial options for D&D characters. For a Cypher character that hews a bit closer to the Forgotten Realms line, you can apply these conversions:

• Humans: take two non-species descriptors.
• Dwarves:
  • Gold: as the Cypher dwarf, except as follows:
    • Skill: Gold dwarves receive training against the bizarre creatures of the Underdark. Replace the practice in axes and skill in shaping and mining stone with a skill against abberations; tasks involving opposing or attacking abberations are eased one step.
  • Gray: as the Cypher dwarf, except as follows:
    • Inability: You have difficulty relating to other species due to your withdrawn and guarded nature. Any task involving social interaction with them is hindered.
    • Inability: Generations in the Underdark have saddled you with light sensitivity. Tasks involving seeing in bright sunlight are hindered.
    • Darkvision: You can see in the dark up to 120 feet.
    • Skill: The Underdark has led your people to stealth. Tasks involving stealth are eased one step.
  • Shield: as the Cypher dwarf.
• Elves:
  • Drow: as the Cypher elf, except as follows:
    • Weapons: replace the practice in a bow, and starting equipment, with that of a rapier or shortsword.
    • Stealth: the specialization in stealth tasks applies to cave areas rather than natural woodland.
    • Inability: Generations in the Underdark have saddled you with light sensitivity. Tasks involving seeing in bright sunlight are hindered.
    • Darkvision: You can see in the dark up to 120 feet.
  • Moon: as the Cypher elf.
  • Sun: as the Cypher elf, except as follows:
    • Studious: apply the +2 bonus to your Intellect Pool instead of your Speed Pool.
  • Wild: as the Cypher elf.
  • Wood: as the Cypher elf.
• Gnomes:
  • Deep: as the Cypher gnome, except as follows:
    • Inability: svirfneblin are suspicious to a fault. Tasks involving positive or pleasant social interaction are hindered.
    • Darkvision: You can see in the dark up to 120 feet.
  • Rock: as the Cypher gnome.
• Half-elves: take two non-species descriptors as per human, providing yourself with some elven features.
• Half-orcs: as the Cypher half-giant, except as follows:
  • Tough: the bonus to your Might Pool is +2, not +4.
  • Not Too Large: you do not suffer the hindrance to initiative, stealth, or fine manipulation.
• Halflings:
  • Ghostwise: as the Cypher halfling, except as follows:
    • Speak Without Sound: you can communicate telepathically with any one creature within 20 feet, as long as they share a common language.
    • Not As Lucky: you do not receive the +3 advantage when spending 1 XP to reroll.
  • Lightfoot: as the Cypher halfling.
  • Strongheart: as the Cypher halfling, except as follows:
    • Small Yet Strong: you are still small, but do not suffer the hindrance to Might-based tasks.
    • Not As Lucky: you do not receive the +3 advantage when spending 1 XP to reroll.
• Planetouched:
  • Aasimar: as the Cypher helborn, except as follows:
    • Of the Heavens: replace the underworld, evil, etc. themes with that of a celestial.
    • Not Tainted: You are not trained in tasks related to the lore of the underworld.
    • Of A Safer Plane: You do not have +2 to Armor against damage from fire.
    • Not Innerly Evil: You do not suffer from the chance of losing control.
    • Trustworthy: Your celestial nature makes people trust you. Replace the hindrance to tasks to persuade or deceive with training in doing so.
  • Genasi: as the Cypher helborn, except as follows:
    • Of an Element: replace the underworld, evil, etc. themes with that of your element.
    • Forces of Nature: replace the +2 to your Intellect Pool with a +2 to your Might Pool for fire or earth, or Speed Pool for air or water genasi.
    • Not Tainted: You are not trained in tasks related to the lore of the underworld.
    • Elementally Resistant: replace the +2 to Armor against damage from fire with that of your element.
    • Nature's Fury: as Inner Evil, but it is more accidental than inherent evil; you do not suffer the -1 penalty to all rolls following the fury.
  • Tiefling: as the Cypher helborn.

Fungoid

• Hardy: +2 to your Might Pool.
• Skill: You are trained in dungeon and cavern ecology.
• Skill: Your mind is unlike most other living creatures'; you are trained in Intellect defense.
• Fungal Companion (2 Might points): During a rest, before making your recovery roll, you sprout a tiny fungal familiar which can aid you. It is intelligent, and you share a mental connection with the fungal companion, but it cannot itself speak. It can act as a scout and inform you of an area it is running reconnaissance on, and can be given simple commands to follow as part of a normal action. The familiar is a loyal companion and lives until it takes damage, or would be otherwise destroyed (see below).
  • Burst: You may command the fungal companion to explode in a burst of poisonous spores. Make a Might roll, on a success, the poison inflicts 3 points of damage or hinders the poisoned creature's actions for one minute (your choice). The fungal companion is destroyed in the process. Action.

Foci

Does Not Tread Lightly

You are an unstoppable force, once you get moving. You may be extraordinarily big for your kind, enhanced via magic or technology, or some kind of unnatural being, but you use your size and strength to solve problems.

• Tier 1: Crushing Blow
• Tier 2: Ignore the Pain
• Tier 3: Blood Fever
• Tier 4: Fury
• Tier 5: Specialized Basher
• Tier 6: Regenerate

Abilities

Blessing of the Gods (more abilities)

• Sky/Air (2 Intellect points). You or a creature you touch can fly short distances for ten minutes. You must land at the end of your movement, or otherwise fall. Action.

Rituals

Read Object

Bestows information about an object's history. The object must be handled by the caster inside a circle traced in silver powder, who reads any impressions left upon it, obtaining a piece of information occasionally over the duration of the ritual's effects. The nature of the object, including its magical auras, the strength of the creatures who handled it, its historical significance, and so on, may all affect the level of the ritual and the duration necessary to concentrate on the object after the ritual is cast. The caster knows when there is no further information to gleam from the object, and the spell ends at this point if not interrupted prematurely. The ritual may succeed only for the caster to learn that the object has no information to yield, for whatever reason.

Examples of information that can be obtained via this ritual include the object's name (if it has one), an image of the last creature to handle the object, an image of the last moments an object was last used, knowledge of the item's historical significance, if any, and so on.

• Level: The level of the effect or significance of the object
• Time: One minute per level of preparation, one minute per level of performance
• Roles: Creating magic circles, tracing runes in silver powder, lighting candles
• Side Effects: False information, mental strain, the object's owner or creator, or an adversary, scrys upon the caster
• Reagents: The object, silver powder, candles
• Pool: Intellect
• Other Assets: Identifying magical auras, historical/religious/etc. knowledge

Equipment

Fantasy Weapons

This combines the SRD weapons table with the weapon properties rule, and adds a couple less typical fantasy weapons (guns).

Conversions

D&D 5e CR to Cypher System Level

Comparing 5e Creatures to Cypher System from Busy Wyvern looks at Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire (which has both 5e and Cypher System editions, and both written in recent times) to come up with a general strategy to translate a D&D creature to the Cypher System. The detail in the blog post is good — basically, a detailed conversion doesn't matter because Cypher System isn't as tactical as 5e, so just find the right level and apply the special abilities verbatim using the level as the target number — but it doesn't go one step further to create a rule of thumb on the actual CR-to-level conversion.

I eyeballed Busy Wyvern's results from Ptolus and came up with this equation: CYPHER_L = ceiling(2+(sqrt(5E_CR)*1.4)). The results don't entirely match, but they're pretty close, and you could debate e.g. the difference between a high level 9 and low level 10 until you're blue in the face.

The equation isn't quite easy enough to do mentally at the on the fly, so here's the results in table form (with special consideration made for 1/2 and 1/4 CRs):