Cypher++: Revamped Rulset (Cypher System)

[Saagael]

IMPORTANT
As of April 27th, 2023 this extension will no longer receive new features and will only be updated to fix bugs. I will be taking over maintenance of the Cypher, Numenera, and The Strange rulesets for the time being and this extensions features will be migrated directly into the rulesets.

Forge Link: https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1110/view
Documentation: https://github.com/Gtaray/cypher-plus-plus/blob/main/README.md

Current Version: v1.2.0

Cypher++ overhauls almost all of the Cypher ruleset and brings it up to what I would consider standard for FG. It adds a number of modern ruleset features (including effects and ability actions), and cleans up/organizes the code. Below is a list of features this extension currently includes.

This extension was created with the Hearth theme by Sir Motte. It may look weird with the default theme.

WARNING
This extension rewrites and overwrites about 95% of the Cypher ruleset. As such, it is almost certainly incompatible with any other extension specifically made for Cypher.

Potentials Future Features
* More effects
* Better character sheet organization

Known Issues
* There are errors when using the Strange ruleset. No plans on fixing this as I don't play the Strange

Change Log
v1.2.0 - Added "Abilities" library type, which can be drag/dropped
v1.1.0 - Added new EFFORT effect. Fixed a number of issues regarding player and NPC effects. Added automatic cypher level generation when adding to parcel or party sheet
v1.0.3 - Fixed various issues with text and effect handling in rollers.
v1.0.2 - Fixed issues with some rolls throwing errors when Effort was applied.
v1.0.1 - Fixed an issue when rolling dice that caused a nil comparison. Added parsing for NPC modifications.
v1.0.0 - Initial release

[Saagael]

System Changes

Added damage type support. You can access the damage type list via the "Damage Types" button in the options menu. These damage types suport damage reduction/modification of specific types of damage.
Added an "EASE" and "HINDER" button on the desktop that will ease or hinder the next roll that's made after clicking the button.
When making a stat, skill, attack, or defense roll, and are targeting an NPC, the difficulty calculation is processed more closely to how it is described in the book. That is, you start with the difficulty based on the target's level, which is then modified up or down by effects, effort, assets, etc. When the roll is displayed in chat, the difficulty icon will display the actual difficulty of the roll (including all modifications). This is then compared to the d20 roll, and success/failure is reported.

When you do not target an NPC with these rolls, it operates the same as before, where the difficulty icon will display what difficulty the roll succeeds after including all of the modifications.
If a PC targets a PC with an attack roll, all difficulty reductions are converted to a +3 to the roll's modifier, and then the target is prompted to roll a defense roll. All difficulty mods of the defense roll are similarly converted to +3 to the roll's modifier. Then the two numbers are compared to see who wins.



PC Sheet

The Action tab of the PC sheet has been modified to display stat pools and defense roll buttons. This was done to lessen the need to jump between tabs during encounters.
PC attacks have been completely overhauled. Clicking the 'settings' button next to each attack will open a window with the properties for that attack.
PC attacks with the "Weapon" type have an 'equipped' icon visible. You can toggle which weapon is currently equipped. Abilities can then specify they want to use the attack or damage from an equipped weapon.
PC abilities have had their roll properties removed. Instead, PC Abilities can now have roll actions added to them through the radial menu. These operate much like other popular rulesets. Supported actions include: stat rolls, attacks, damage, healing, and effects.

You can specify the cost of an ability in the ability itself, or in an individual action. This is useful if an ability has multiple options, but each option costs the same.

Added a 'used' checkbox next to PC abilities that can be enabled by setting an ability's recharge period. These abilities will recharge based on the period set (first recovery, last recovery, any recovery, or manually).
Weapon (and ability) damage has an added "Damage Type" field to support damage modification based on damage type


NPC Sheet

Added a section to the PC sheet where you can enter damage type resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilities.
Added a section to the NPC sheet where you can enter individual attacks and abilities. Just like the PC sheet, these abilities can have actions attached to them through the radial menu.

Because NPCs and PCs share the same action list, NPCs have a "stat" action that doesn't actually do anything. Ignore it.
For NPCs the "attack" action, when targeting a PC, will pop up a prompt for the player to make a defense roll. If the PC being attacked is not currently held by an active player (if the player is absent, but their PC is being GM-controlled, for example) the defense roll will run automatically.

When an NPC is added to the combat tracker, that NPC's modifications are parsed and added as effects to the combat tracker entry for attack and defense modifications.

[Saagael]

Effects

Added a comprehensive list of effects to support all the ways characters can have their rolls modified.



Effect
Value
Descriptors
Notes


ASSET
Number
[roll type] [stat] [skill]
Adds an asset to the roll. Capped at 2


EDGE
Number
[roll type] [stat]
Adjusts a character's Edge


MAXEFF
Number
[roll type] [stat]
Adjusts the maximum effort that can be applied


EFFORT
Number
[roll type] [stat] [skill]
Applies a free level of effort to a roll. Limited by the character's maximum effort.


SKILL
Number
[stat] [skill]
Adds a flat number to skill rolls*


ATK
Number
[stat]
Adds a flat number to attack rolls*


DEF
Number
[stat]
Adds a flat number to defense rolls*


DMG
Number
[stat] [damage type]
Adds a flat amount to damage rolls*


RESIST
Number
[damage type]
Flat damage reduction for the specified damage type


VULN
Number
[damage type]
Flat damage increase for the specified damage type


IMMUNE
Number
[damage type]
Takes 0 damage of the specified type


ARMOR
Number
-
Increases armor


EASE
-
[roll type] [stat] [skill]
Eases the difficulty of a roll


HINDER
-
[roll type] [stat] [skill]
Hinders the difficulty of a roll


COST
Number
[stat] armor
Modifies the amount of a stat pool paid to activate abilities, apply effort


LEVEL
Number
[roll type] [stat]
Modifies the level of an NPC, which affects their difficulty


PIERCE
Number
[roll type]
Causes damage dealt to bypass an amount of armor (normal armor rules apply)




[roll type] = stat, skill, attack/atk, defense/def
[stat] = might, speed, intellect
[skill] = any skill name
[damage type] = any damage type
* If a roll has a modifier greater than 3, it will be converted to the appropriate difficulty reduction.




Conditions
Effect


Dazed
Hinders attack and defense rolls made by this creature, or eases attacks made against this creature


Staggered
Hinders Might attack and defense rolls made by this creature, or eases Might attacks made against this creature


Frostbitten
Hinders Speed attack and defense rolls made by this creature, or eases Speed attacks made against this creature


Confused
Hinders Intellect attack and defense rolls made by this creature, or eases Intellect attacks made against this creature

[MeAndUnique]

You are a champion!

[bayne7400]

Nice work

[Locotomo]

Fantastic ! :D

[MentalChillness]

Awesome work! Thank you very much!

[MiraOkami]

Having a bug after the last update where adding effort to skills doesn't work anymore. It still works on Attacks, but it breaks on Skills, Stat Rolls, and Defenses. When you drag the stat roll off of the sheet with an Effort toggled, it'll just post whatever number you currently have on your stats. Getting the error:

[ERROR] Script execution error: [string "CypherPlusPlus:scripts/manager_roll_cpp.lua"]:42: attempt to concatenate field 'sCostStat' (a nil value)

[Saagael]

Having a bug after the last update where adding effort to skills doesn't work anymore. It still works on Attacks, but it breaks on Skills, Stat Rolls, and Defenses. When you drag the stat roll off of the sheet with an Effort toggled, it'll just post whatever number you currently have on your stats. Getting the error:

[ERROR] Script execution error: [string "CypherPlusPlus:scripts/manager_roll_cpp.lua"]:42: attempt to concatenate field 'sCostStat' (a nil value)

Just pushed an update that fixes this (along with a handful of other bugs).

[Saagael]

New version - v1.0.2

This update includes a handful of fixes around various roll types when applying effort or some other stat cost.
"Applied # Edge" no longer displays on every roll when you have Edge, it only displays when Edge is used to reduce the cost of something
Cypher items now have a "level roll" field. Currently it doesn't do anything, but it will eventually be used for automated cypher level rolling.

[MiraOkami]

You are a hero. 🙏

[wndrngdru]

Love the extension!

The damage action on Special abilities is throwing an error to console for me when the button is clicked.

[4/15/2023 8:22:13 PM] [ERROR] Script execution error: [string "CypherPlusPlus:..ager_action_damage_cpp.lua"]:40: bad argument #2 to 'format' (string expected, got nil)
I haven't done much testing on it to see when it does and doesn't blow the error, but this is specifically for Mindslice.
I have it set up as:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57067&d=1681608006

The "Stat Pool" field seems redundant with the "Stat" field. Is there a reason to have both?

I also have a request:
Can "Initiative" be added as a roll type? This would be for abilities that affect initiative and have a point cost to activate, e.g., Danger Sense. Is there a different way to make that work?

[Saagael]

Love the extension!

The damage action on Special abilities is throwing an error to console for me when the button is clicked.

[4/15/2023 8:22:13 PM] [ERROR] Script execution error: [string "CypherPlusPlus:..ager_action_damage_cpp.lua"]:40: bad argument #2 to 'format' (string expected, got nil)
I haven't done much testing on it to see when it does and doesn't blow the error, but this is specifically for Mindslice.
I have it set up as:

Thanks for the report. I actually had this fixed locally and forgot to update the Forge with the version I'm using, so that's on me. Version 1.0.3 should be live and fixes this.



The "Stat Pool" field seems redundant with the "Stat" field. Is there a reason to have both?


Stat Pool is what stat you'll deal damage to, which only matters for attacking PCs currently. But may in the future also effect certain enemy effects. For example, enemies might have a higher level vs attacks that target a specific stat, regardless of what stat was used to use the ability. A spell caster might use a gust of wind spell with Intellect, but target's Might, and thus enemies with level bonuses vs Might attacks would get that bonus.

The Stat field is what stat you are using to activate the ability. This determines what stat pool is used to pay activation and effort costs. The tooltips for those elements both describe that. Though if the text is insufficiently clear I would be happy to adjust the verbiage.

The core Cypher rules don't really make this distinction as far as I can tell, but it is kind of necessary to enable some of the stuff I want to do in the future. I'm currently holding off for reasons explained below.



I also have a request:
Can "Initiative" be added as a roll type? This would be for abilities that affect initiative and have a point cost to activate, e.g., Danger Sense. Is there a different way to make that work?

That's totally doable, I plan on doing work around Initiative in the future anyways. Currently I'm holding off on adding new features because Moon Wizard mentioned in Discord that I might get a chance to contribute my work in CPP directly to the Cypher ruleset. I'm waiting to see if that's going to be a thing before I keep hacking away at this.

[wndrngdru]

Thanks for the report. I actually had this fixed locally and forgot to update the Forge with the version I'm using, so that's on me. Version 1.0.3 should be live and fixes this.


Excellent! Updating now.


Stat Pool is what stat you'll deal damage to, which only matters for attacking PCs currently. But may in the future also effect certain enemy effects. For example, enemies might have a higher level vs attacks that target a specific stat, regardless of what stat was used to use the ability. A spell caster might use a gust of wind spell with Intellect, but target's Might, and thus enemies with level bonuses vs Might attacks would get that bonus.

The Stat field is what stat you are using to activate the ability. This determines what stat pool is used to pay activation and effort costs. The tooltips for those elements both describe that. Though if the text is insufficiently clear I would be happy to adjust the verbiage.

The core Cypher rules don't really make this distinction as far as I can tell, but it is kind of necessary to enable some of the stuff I want to do in the future. I'm currently holding off for reasons explained below.

Couldn't you just use the cost source for the "which stat are you using" part? (I see now that I wasn't using the Cost section and had an attack set up, which isn't how Mindslice works. :D )



That's totally doable, I plan on doing work around Initiative in the future anyways. Currently I'm holding off on adding new features because Moon Wizard mentioned in Discord that I might get a chance to contribute my work in CPP directly to the Cypher ruleset. I'm waiting to see if that's going to be a thing before I keep hacking away at this.
This is fantastic news! Darrenan has done yeoman's work making Moon's original attempt at least workable, but I really love how your extension works from "the Cypher mindset" of reducing the target number.

[Saagael]

Excellent! Updating now.
Couldn't you just use the cost source for the "which stat are you using" part? (I see now that I wasn't using the Cost section and had an attack set up, which isn't how Mindslice works. :D )


I could, but for maximum flexibility I chose not to. I only just started GMing this system a month ago so I'm not knowledgeable about all of the things the ruleset should be able to do, so I opted for to allow for the most amount of variations possible.

[MiraOkami]

Hey, got another bug for you. Me and my whole group have lost all our ability text. In fact, all our abilities just have empty boxes for "Type" and a blank box. If we disable Cypher ++ the normal options and the text that we had entered before reappeared, but the rest is blank and we can't enter anything new.

[Saagael]

Hey, got another bug for you. Me and my whole group have lost all our ability text. In fact, all our abilities just have empty boxes for "Type" and a blank box. If we disable Cypher ++ the normal options and the text that we had entered before reappeared, but the rest is blank and we can't enter anything new.

This was a weird one. I also saw this, but only with some abilities. I re-uploaded a new build (still v1.0.3) that should fix this. One unfortunate side effect I had was that opening abilities was sometimes throwing errors about a database type mismatch. If that happens unfortunately I think the only solution is to delete and re-create the abilities. I'm still trying to figure out why the DB got munged.

[MiraOkami]

This was a weird one. I also saw this, but only with some abilities. I re-uploaded a new build (still v1.0.3) that should fix this. One unfortunate side effect I had was that opening abilities was sometimes throwing errors about a database type mismatch. If that happens unfortunately I think the only solution is to delete and re-create the abilities. I'm still trying to figure out why the DB got munged.

We actually couldnt enter anything new. Maybe we need to make new sheets? Though that'd be a huge pain. When i tried to make a new ability it was just the two boxes and no options to input cost or roll type or anything, and any text i entered just vanished into the ether.

[Saagael]

We actually couldnt enter anything new. Maybe we need to make new sheets? Though that'd be a huge pain. When i tried to make a new ability it was just the two boxes and no options to input cost or roll type or anything, and any text i entered just vanished into the ether.

It sounds like maybe you didn't get the updated version. Just to rule this out I made some tweaks and uploaded version 1.0.4. See if you can update and get that version. I've also seen issues lately where items on the Forge don't download updates like they should. If it doesn't update, delete the CypherPlusPlus.ext file in the extensions folder and update again to get the latest.

Once you get v1.0.4, let me know how that works. I got it fixed in my campaign, so I hope it'll be fixed for yours.

[wndrngdru]

I could, but for maximum flexibility I chose not to. I only just started GMing this system a month ago so I'm not knowledgeable about all of the things the ruleset should be able to do, so I opted for to allow for the most amount of variations possible.

Reasonable, and completely valid. It turns out I was just entering the Overwatch ability and it pretty much requires the way you have it set up. The ability is 1 Int to activate, but it's a ranged attack so any effort would pull from the Speed pool.

[MiraOkami]

It appears to be working now. Thanks!!!

[wndrngdru]

Could I get a syntax example to create an Effect for easing a skill roll? I can't seem to get it to work.

[Saagael]

Could I get a syntax example to create an Effect for easing a skill roll? I can't seem to get it to work.

EASE: <filter>

where filter is either
- "stat" for easing all stat rolls
- "skill" for easing all skill rolls
- "defense" for easing all defense rolls
- "attack" for easing all attack rolls
- "might", "speed" or "intellect" for easing rolls of any type using the specified stat.

You can also put in specific skill names as long as those skill names are a single word. For example "deceiving" or "searching" would work, but "discern lies" would not.

[wndrngdru]

Thanks! I always forget that effects descriptors need to be lower-case only, e.g., "EASE: Persuasion" doesn't work, "EASE: persuasion" does.

Some bugs in Effect actions on an Ability:


Duration is only counted in rounds, ignoring the duration type (I suppose that could be a limitation of the base ruleset)
No matter what is placed in Expenditure, the effect remains until the rounds count out.
Cost is placing the "Spent X from Y Pool" verbiage in the effect text when added to a character, which makes it fail.
I had another one where Edge wasn't being used by an effect's Cost, but I am unable to reproduce it now.


Feature request:
EFFORT as an effect for a free level of effort. This would be different from just EASE because it would count against a character's max effort.

[Saagael]

Thanks! I always forget that effects descriptors need to be lower-case only, e.g., "EASE: Persuasion" doesn't work, "EASE: persuasion" does.

I'll fix this for the next release, effect text shouldn't be case-sensitive.


Duration is only counted in rounds, ignoring the duration type (I suppose that could be a limitation of the base ruleset)

You are correct that it's a limitation of the base ruleset and CoreRPG, however I can fix it by forcing durations of minutes, hours, and days to not have a duration on the combat tracker.


No matter what is placed in Expenditure, the effect remains until the rounds count out.

Good catch. I'll get these fixed and push an update today or tomorrow


Cost is placing the "Spent X from Y Pool" verbiage in the effect text when added to a character, which makes it fail.

EDIT: I can reproduce this now, my test abilities weren't set up correctly. Will get a fix for this one too.


I had another one where Edge wasn't being used by an effect's Cost, but I am unable to reproduce it now.

I haven't seen this, but I'll keep an eye out for it in case I do when I run my game.


Feature request:
EFFORT as an effect for a free level of effort. This would be different from just EASE because it would count against a character's max effort.

Great idea! This should be able to go out with the rest of the fixes, but if not I'll release the fixes and then add this after.

[Saagael]

New version - v1.1.0

[FEATURE] When a cypher is added to a parcel or the party sheet it will automatically roll for the level of the cypher based on the "level roll" field. This will not occur if the cypher already has its level set to a non-zero number.
[FEATURE] Added "Effort" effect, which applies levels of effort to rolls a player makes. The effort applied via this effect is limited by the character's max effort (which can be augmented with the MAXEFF effect). Tags include the four roll types (attack, defense, skill, stat), the three stats, or a single-word skill name.
[FEATURE] NPC's can now perform heal actions
[FEATURE] NPC's can now perform effect actions
[FEATURE] Effects with a duration counted in minutes apply ten times the duration in rounds (i.e. 10 round equals 1 minute). Durations counted in hours or days have no duration.

[FIXED] Effects now apply the correct Expenditure type (action, roll, single)
[FIXED] Edge is now correctly applied when paying the cost of an Effect
[FIXED] Using an ability's effect now displays the ability's text separate from the effect text. Fixes an issue where the "Spent X from Y pool" text was appearing in the effect
[FIXED] Effect tags (the text that occurs to the right of the colon) are now case-insensitive.

[wndrngdru]

Fantastic!

[wndrngdru]

Hmmm. It seems as if the new EFFORT effect isn't actually applying the effort when rolled.

[Saagael]

Hmmm. It seems as if the new EFFORT effect isn't actually applying the effort when rolled.

What is the effect text and what roll are you making? Because it's an effect the message in chat won't say that effort was applied, but it will say that there was a -1 effect modifier to the difficulty.

[wndrngdru]

Effect text is "EFFORT: persuasion". Character is Trained in persuasion. Target is a level 2 "Generic Mook". When the persuasion roll is made. Difficulty level is showing 1, as reduced by being trained.
Making the Skill "Untrained" has the difficulty level remain at 2 for the same roll and effect.

Trained and a free level of effort should make that an automatic success.

[Saagael]

Effect text is "EFFORT: persuasion". Character is Trained in persuasion. Target is a level 2 "Generic Mook". When the persuasion roll is made. Difficulty level is showing 1, as reduced by being trained.
Making the Skill "Untrained" has the difficulty level remain at 2 for the same roll and effect.

You'll need to put a number in there to specify how many levels of effort to apply. So it would be "EFFORT: 1 persuasion"

[wndrngdru]

You'll need to put a number in there to specify how many levels of effort to apply. So it would be "EFFORT: 1 persuasion"

~facepalm~ Oh, for cryin'...
I even knew that.

[Saagael]

New version - v1.2.0

[FEATURE]There is a new "Ability" section of the library (right-side shortcut bar). This is a place where GM's can pre-load archetype, focus, or descriptor abilities, and are defined almost exactly like character abilities on the PC's actions tab. The only difference is that GM's have access to a new "Actions" tab on an ability. GMs can set up any roll actions for the ability that players might use. Abilities can be drag/dropped onto the PC sheet to add them to the PC's ability list.

I haven't tested this feature in a game with my players yet; I figured it was more useful for folks to use than wait 2 weeks for me to test it. As such, there might be some quirks or bugs. As always report them here and I'll get to them. Additionally, if there are additions that would make this feature more useful to you, I'm open to suggestions.

[Saagael]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

After speaking with Moon Wizard, I've agreed to take over maintenance of the rulesets for Cypher, Numenera, and The Strange. In the short-term this means that I will be sunsetting this extension; it will no longer receive any features and will only be updated to fix bugs. Over the coming weeks and months I will work on migrating Cypher++'s features to the Cypher ruleset, which will include compatibility with The Strange and Numenera systems. This process will be slower than the development of the extension itself, mostly to give enough time for bugs to be found and fixed before implementing new features. Stability is the goal here.

If there are any features not included in Cypher++ that you would like to see in the ruleset, now is the time to request it. The earlier I can design for a given feature, the more stable they'll be.

[wndrngdru]

Excellent news!

Some things on my wish list:

Horror Mode - When a 1 is rolled, triggering a GMI, it also increments the number which triggers a GMI. So, as GMIs are triggered, the likelihood that they trigger also increases.
XP Decks - Perhaps leveraging your card deck extension to be able to use cards for handing out XP. I always like using the XP decks when I'm GMing meatspace games.
Power Shifts - Essentially free levels of Effort which don't count against max effort. I've not run a supers game with your extension yet, so this may already be doable in some way.
Optional Second Descriptor - I know a good number of us over on the Cypher Unlimited Discord who GM allow a second Species descriptor. Functionally, I think this is just making that part of the character sheet be able to adjust and wrap. Not sure if that's even possible currently.


I look forward to the future to your upcoming changes. Feel free to reach out if you'd like help testing things. :D

[Saagael]

Excellent news!

Some things on my wish list:

Horror Mode - When a 1 is rolled, triggering a GMI, it also increments the number which triggers a GMI. So, as GMIs are triggered, the likelihood that they trigger also increases.
XP Decks - Perhaps leveraging your card deck extension to be able to use cards for handing out XP. I always like using the XP decks when I'm GMing meatspace games.
Power Shifts - Essentially free levels of Effort which don't count against max effort. I've not run a supers game with your extension yet, so this may already be doable in some way.
Optional Second Descriptor - I know a good number of us over on the Cypher Unlimited Discord who GM allow a second Species descriptor. Functionally, I think this is just making that part of the character sheet be able to adjust and wrap. Not sure if that's even possible currently.


I look forward to the future to your upcoming changes. Feel free to reach out if you'd like help testing things. :D

All of those seem very doable. The Power Shifts option can already be done with a combination of 'EFFORT: 1' and 'MAXEFF: 1', which increases the maximum effort you can apply and then applies 1 level of effort. But I don't see why there can't be one single effect that applies a free effort. One question on the XP Decks though, as I don't have them. Are they just cards with an XP value on them? Do they serve any function other than tracking XP?

[wndrngdru]

One question on the XP Decks though, as I don't have them. Are they just cards with an XP value on them? Do they serve any function other than tracking XP?

Yep. The physical decks have 30 cards. 24 with a number 1 on them and 6 with a number 4. They're nice in person because then players aren't needing to write-erase-rewrite XP on their sheets all the time. They just give the card back when they spend an XP.
It works well, too, for enticing them to take that GMI when I pick up two XP cards and hold them up.

Honestly, this is probably my lowest priority wish since the functionality of the XP cards is essentially already there. However, thinking ahead, there are also Cypher decks which are nice for the same reasons. It would be neat to create a deck of cyphers to randomly pull from. The deck itself could be created by dragging/dropping from the Items library. That would also allow for Artifact decks. Oooooohhhhh..... NPC decks...

I'm sure I could do just about any of these using tables. I do really like the aesthetics of Decked Out though.

[Saagael]

Yep. The physical decks have 30 cards. 24 with a number 1 on them and 6 with a number 4. They're nice in person because then players aren't needing to write-erase-rewrite XP on their sheets all the time. They just give the card back when they spend an XP.
It works well, too, for enticing them to take that GMI when I pick up two XP cards and hold them up.

Honestly, this is probably my lowest priority wish since the functionality of the XP cards is essentially already there. However, thinking ahead, there are also Cypher decks which are nice for the same reasons. It would be neat to create a deck of cyphers to randomly pull from. The deck itself could be created by dragging/dropping from the Items library. That would also allow for Artifact decks. Oooooohhhhh..... NPC decks...

I'm sure I could do just about any of these using tables. I do really like the aesthetics of Decked Out though.

XP Cards would be almost trivial to add. I've considered how I might add the other decks (GM intrusion, cypher, recursion, and npc), but that will probably be a much later update to Decked Out rather than something built into the Cypher ruleset.

[sirkerry]

I'd like drag and droppable Descriptors, Types, and Foci that are composed of Abilities broken down by Tier. Also something like PF2's Tracker would be nice to have.

[wndrngdru]

I'd like drag and droppable Descriptors, Types, and Foci that are composed of Abilities broken down by Tier.

This is good. I would add being able to do Flavor substitutions for those abilities.


Also something like PF2's Tracker would be nice to have.

I'm not familiar with this, but if it's something that records all the steps that created a character... YES, PLEASE!

[wndrngdru]

Vehicle combat support for things like The Stars are Fire. I think the code is already in CoreRPG but rulesets need to specifically write in support.

[sirkerry]

This is good. I would add being able to do Flavor substitutions for those abilities.



I'm not familiar with this, but if it's something that records all the steps that created a character... YES, PLEASE!

Oh yeah, Flavors also. Would also be really nice to be able to slot the Flavor into various locations in the character sentence.
Yes, that's basically what the Tracker does.

[Saagael]

Hey all! Sorry I've been silent for a while but things got busy. We've got a brand new Cypher system sub-forum (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?142-Cypher-System), and since this extension is currently in the process of becoming obsolete I had the thread moved to the Cypher sub-forum.

I've got a few stickied threads in the forum with the details of this migration. Currently all of the changes are in the TEST channel, and will stay there until I can run some sessions with the changes. I would appreciate any help testing this, as I only run one game a week. Just make sure to back up your campaign just in case something weird happens.

I linked this in the announcements thread, but if you want to keep up with my work backlog, I have it all on a public Trello page (https://trello.com/b/2TtVVqtI/fantasy-grounds-cypher-ruleset)

[wndrngdru]

SQUEEEEE!

So, if I copy my current campaign to the TEST channel folders and disable the extension, stand on one foot while drawing arcane symbols in the air, and performing eldritch chants, it should Just Work(tm)?

[Saagael]

SQUEEEEE!

So, if I copy my current campaign to the TEST channel folders and disable the extension, stand on one foot while drawing arcane symbols in the air, and performing eldritch chants, it should Just Work(tm)?

That's exactly it, you got it. If anything is going to be different, I suspect it will be the actions tab on the PC sheet. That's the piece that has undergone the most change between Cypher++ and this release.

[wndrngdru]

I'll see if maybe I can get a one-shot or two in over the next couple of weeks.

[Saagael]

Oh yeah, Flavors also. Would also be really nice to be able to slot the Flavor into various locations in the character sentence.
Yes, that's basically what the Tracker does.


This is good. I would add being able to do Flavor substitutions for those abilities.

Regarding adding flavors, I have two ideas and I'm not sure which is better.

Option 1: Flavors a are library type that you can create and drop onto a character sheet just like type, descriptor, and focus. They live in a text-field on the PC sheet and are part of the character description. I.e. "Roland is a Rugged Technology-Flavored Warrior who Controls Gravity"

Option 2: Add some special type-customizer window that lets the GM select a Type and a Flavor, and then there's a guided process that takes the GM through the process of selecting and replacing abilities from the base Type with abilities from the Flavor. The resulting customized Type is then added as a new Type in the library. This new customized Type can be dropped onto a player sheet as normal.

Keep in mind that neither of these include any features around automatically adding abilities or tracking level ups or anything. Those are future features I'll deal with then. For now, the question is how do I present Flavors. Are they a GM tool to customize Types? Or are they a player option that can be added to the character sheet?

[wndrngdru]

Are they a GM tool to customize Types? Or are they a player option that can be added to the character sheet?

For me, it's both. I use Flavors to customize the Types for whatever genre/setting I'm running. That said, for my games, flavors are always options. Whenever a player increases Tier, they can use the flavor option or not.
I don't usually allow "flavor hopping", though, unless there's something that happens in the story that calls for it. If a player has a specific character idea in mind, we can talk about maybe creating a new flavor for that archetype, or swap out specific abilities in the chosen flavor to obtain the build they're looking for.

[Joram Mistwalker]

I know this may be late in adding, but is there anyway to add Numenera Plans from the Destiny corebook as an item type and format? They can be added as just a standard item, but they do not fit neatly there. Thanks for all your work on this.

[Milke]

I tried going to the forge link and it says page not found.
Is it now just the drop-down menu "cypher system" when you choose your campaign type?

Is there any fan-created stuff I can go buy and download? Creatures, for instance. Or do I need to just open up a blank sheet and type in the level, etc, manually?

[Saagael]

I tried going to the forge link and it says page not found.
Is it now just the drop-down menu "cypher system" when you choose your campaign type?

Is there any fan-created stuff I can go buy and download? Creatures, for instance. Or do I need to just open up a blank sheet and type in the level, etc, manually?

You should get all of the system updates when you select the Cypher System when creating a new game.

There is no content to go with the ruleset, however, Monte Cook Game has not licensed any content to Smiteworks.

[Milke]

Oh, okay. So by choosing cypher system, I'm getting what there is. Well, it works well enough. It's not full on automated like PF2, but I can work with it.

[Saagael]

Oh, okay. So by choosing cypher system, I'm getting what there is. Well, it works well enough. It's not full on automated like PF2, but I can work with it.

It's pretty well automated. What were you looking for?

[Milke]

It's pretty well automated. What were you looking for?

Oh, I just meant like populating the character sheets. If I were to play Numenera, I can't just click or drag Glaive or "Abides In Stone" over. I have to type everything in. And no creature index. Which is fine. It's easy enough to populate some NPC sheets. I'm just excited there's a Cypher System community at all. I've been wanting to play this system for a long time. I'm definitely gonna play around with it!

[Saagael]

Oh, I just meant like populating the character sheets. If I were to play Numenera, I can't just click or drag Glaive or "Abides In Stone" over. I have to type everything in. And no creature index. Which is fine. It's easy enough to populate some NPC sheets. I'm just excited there's a Cypher System community at all. I've been wanting to play this system for a long time. I'm definitely gonna play around with it!

Ah, I see what you mean. There's some folks that are working on a set of community modules based on what's in the SRD, but it's a huge amount of work to convert everything so it's understandably taking a while. The thread is over here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?78702-Cypher-SRD-Development)

Once you do get the content put in there (abilities, types, etc) then it IS very drag-and-drop friendly. You can read about all of the features on the wiki (https://publish.obsidian.md/fantasygrounds-cypher-wiki/Home)

[Milke]

Once you do get the content put in there (abilities, types, etc) then it IS very drag-and-drop friendly. You can read about all of the features on the wiki (https://publish.obsidian.md/fantasygrounds-cypher-wiki/Home)

Oh, awesome. I'm really wanting to do some.Numenera and also some Claim the Sky. I'll check out that wiki, and hopefully it has commands I can use to input some types and foci.
Thanks for getting back to me and answering!

[Milke]

FYI, I went to the wiki to see how the conditions and effects are done. I programmed in the conditions (dazed, stunned, etc) and they don't work. It's not a huge deal. I can just do the math mentally. I just wondered why have the conditions there.
I have the effect builder and the effect builder plugin activated.

[wndrngdru]

It's working as designed on my end.

A couple of things to note:
* Make sure the effect is added to the character in the Combat Tracker.
* All rolls need to be made by clicking the appropriate action or stat on the character sheet. Manually rolling the dice doesn't currently do the math against the global difficulty level.
* Also, any conditions you're going to use need to be configured in the main effects window as shown on the wiki.

In the screenshot below, the global Difficulty Level was set to 3. You can see that it was compared to a DL of 4 in the roll due to it being hindered. A 9 would normally be a success on a DL of 3.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60523&stc=1&d=1712801284

[Milke]

I had done all that already. It started working all of a sudden. Not sure why.
I'm digging into that wiki you told me. Trying to figure out how to add effects to creatures (like a level 3 creature who defends as a level 4), and such.
The main thing I don't get is this effect the game adds to creatures in my combat tracker 60551.
I added three identical creatures, to see what it would do. Where it says LEVEL: -1 defense, speed. Then LEVEL: -3, defense, speed, and LEVEL: -5 defense, speed.
And it's the same creature, a level 3 creature. I'm here from Pathfinder 2nd edition. So, I might be making assumptions based off of how that game works in FGU.

[wndrngdru]

EDIT: **** PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST. It is inaccurate. See my next post below for correct (and easy!) usage. This post left here for completeness.



In Cypher, NPC modifications are written as "[action] as [difficulty level]". This is essentially what you do using LEVEL. The Number part (I just confirmed this with Saagael on Discord) is the difficulty level it is when it does whatever it's doing.

So, for your example of a level 3 creature with defense as level 4, you would use:
LEVEL: 4 def


If the modification is for Might Defense only (Spd and Int defense remain as lvl 3), you would use:
LEVEL: 4 def, might


Then, when a PC has the creature targeted and uses a physical attack (creature's speed defense), it would be at level 3. If, however, they used a poison attack (creature's might defense) it would automatically adjust to level 4.

[Saagael]

In Cypher, NPC modifications are written as "[action] as [difficulty level]". This is essentially what you do using LEVEL. The Number part (I just confirmed this with Saagael on Discord) is the difficulty level it is when it does whatever it's doing.

So, for your example of a level 3 creature with defense as level 4, you would use:
LEVEL: 4 def


If the modification is for Might Defense only (Spd and Int defense remain as lvl 3), you would use:
LEVEL: 4 def, might


Then, when a PC has the creature targeted and uses a physical attack (creature's speed defense), it would be at level 3. If, however, they used a poison attack (creature's might defense) it would automatically adjust to level 4.

Slight correction, a level 3 creature with defenses as level four would be
LEVEL: 1 def

[wndrngdru]

Whelp, after talking more with Saagael on Discord, I got my misunderstanding sorted out and it's even better and easier than I thought.

The ruleset actually parses the textboxes on the NPC record and automatically creates effects for the modifications it can.
For instance, here I created a Dragon by just copy/pasting the text from the CSRD record:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60561&stc=1&d=1713298771

Here it is after dragging the record to the Combat Tracker:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60562&stc=1&d=1713298779

As you can see, it creates the appropriate effect.

Profit!

[Milke]

Okay. I've got FGU open right now, trying it again. I did like the WIKI said (and your recent example) where I typed in the modification (copied and pasted straight from the monster PDF) "Speed defense as level 4" on a level 3 creature. And it absolutely did not work, no matter how I tried rewording it or anything. But I will try it again, here in a minute.

And I appreciate y'all replying. I really am not an idiot, despite what it may seem like ;)


I figured it out. It was because I was trying to roll Might from the front page. Apparently I had to use an axe or something from the actions tab.

[wndrngdru]

I figured it out. It was because I was trying to roll Might from the front page. Apparently I had to use an axe or something from the actions tab.

Ah, yeah. I didn't even think about that. Attack rolls are required to for the defense stat to be used. Otherwise the ruleset has no way of knowing what you're actually rolling against. Glad you figured it out.

[Milke]

Again, thanks for your patience. Like I said, I'm coming from PF2. Trenloe has his own whole thing going on over there (and it's amazing!). So I probably make assumptions about how things work.
There's no creature importer, is there? I'm liking, though, how simple it is to copy and paste from the PDFs into a creature's stat block. Takes about a minute to input an NPC. I love it.

[wndrngdru]

No, nothing like that at this point. The NPC's abilities actions would likely still need to be handled manually since there's really no standardized language for abilities in Cypher. The rest of the blocks could pretty easily be parsed out though.