A Cypher character is defined by a descriptive sentence like a Charming Wizard who Rides the Lightning or a Stealthy Tech who Talks to Machines. But before you get to looking at the parts of that sentence, you start with the core of a character, which gives you your basic stats, a couple of skills, and a few other game bits that every character needs (like how many wounds you can take). A core character is an entirely playable (if slightly uninteresting) character. As a core character, you know how to perform common actions and interact with the world the GM presents.

Tier is a measure of your accumulated experience. A core character starts at tier 1. A tier 1 character is more than just a novice; you're reasonably accomplished and capable, on par with a college student or person in a typical job that requires some experience or training.

Over the course of the game, as you travel, experience things, and accomplish goals, you will advance to higher tiers and unlock new capabilities. Very experienced characters will reach tier 6, and perhaps even higher. A tier 6 character can accomplish a lot more than a tier 1 character.

Your character has three defining characteristics, which are typically called statistics or "stats." These stats are Might, Speed, and Intellect. Each of the three stats has two components: Pool and Edge, so you have a Might Pool and Might Edge, a Speed Pool and Speed Edge, and an Intellect Pool and Intellect Edge.

Your Pools represent your raw, innate ability. You spend points from your Pools to activate your abilities and improve your actions.

A core character's Pools all start at 8. In addition, you get 6 additional points to add to the three Pools as you wish.

Edge reduces the point cost when you spend Pool points (it's like a discount). A core character has an Edge of 0 for all three stats.

Your character starts the game hale and healthy. But you're likely to encounter threats at some point and risk becoming wounded. Wounds can come from such varied sources as the attack of a predatory beast, a fall from a great height, or a supernatural effect like an explosion of magical fire. Anything that hurts you gives you a wound.

Wounds come in three severities: minor, moderate, and major.

A core character can take up to three minor wounds, three moderate wounds, and three major wounds. When you're wounded, record the wound on your character sheet---there's a box for each of them. Each kind of wound has a different effect on your character.

Minor Wounds: These are nicks, scratches, bruises, and other inconsequential injuries that no longer hurt after a few hours. Individual minor wounds don't negatively affect your character in any way. When you're out of minor wounds, any new minor wounds you take become moderate wounds.

Moderate Wounds: These are open cuts, weapon grazes, sprains, minor fractures, and other injuries that no longer hurt after a few days.

When you take your last moderate wound, all of your actions are hindered, and any new moderate wounds you take become major wounds.

Major Wounds: These are fractures, large open cuts, gunshot wounds, and other significant injuries that generally take anywhere from days to weeks to recover from.

Each major wound you take hinders all of your actions.

When you take your last major wound, you die.

A skill is any kind of knowledge or ability that you can get better at through practice and training. Athletics, perception, computers, and history are examples of skills. Having a skill makes tasks relating to that skill easier.

Your core character starts with two skills. The skills you can choose from depend on the genre of the game the GM is running (such as sci-fi, fantasy, or postapocalypse).

You have the option of starting with a third skill, but in exchange you have to pick a meaningful skill that you're bad at (called an inability). Having an inability in a skill makes tasks relating to that skill harder. For example, you could choose athletics as your third skill, but you'd have to pick another skill (like perception or stealth) to be bad at.

When you pick a skill for your inability, it has to be something meaningful that could significantly impact your character from time to time, such as athletics, perception, or charm, not a skill like farming or philosophy.

When you really need to accomplish a task, you can try harder. In game terms, this is called applying Effort. Applying Effort costs 3 points from the appropriate stat Pool. Effort makes a task easier, just as a skill does.

A core character has an Effort of 1, meaning you can only use Effort to ease a task by one step. A character with a higher Effort score can apply more Effort to a task, easing it by additional steps.

An asset is any object, situation, or assistance that helps you with a task. If you're trying to force open a door, a crowbar is an asset. If you're trying to put out a fire, a rainstorm is an asset. If you're trying to climb over a fence, your friend giving you a boost (in other words, helping) is an asset. If you're fighting a monster, the monster being distracted by strong winds is an asset.

An asset usually eases a task by one step. A really good asset (or two regular assets) can ease a task by two steps. Assets can never ease a task by more than two steps---any more than two steps doesn't count.

Cyphers are one-use abilities that your character has. They change from session to session, and you'll always be getting more of them, so use them when you need them (don't hoard them). A cypher might be a bit of luck that helps you out, a moment of inspiration about the answer to a problem, or a surge of adrenaline that pushes you beyond your normal limits. The GM will tell you what cyphers you have and will decide when you get replacements for the ones you've used.

You can have up to two cyphers at one time; this is your cypher limit.

To recover points used from your Pools, you rest and take a recovery. A core character's recovery is equal to a 1d6 roll plus their tier, so 1d6 + 1. The result of the roll is how many points you get back; you can add them into your Pools in any combination you like, up to your normal maximum for each Pool.

You can heal wounds by rallying (spending an action and a few Might points), treatment (requiring some time and simple first aid), or resting (either on its own or as part of a recovery).

Weapons are divided into categories of light, medium, and heavy (light weapons are things like punches and small knives, medium weapons are baseball bats and broadswords, heavy weapons are rifles and big axes, and so on). A core character can freely use light weapons ("freely use" means your attacks with light weapons don't have a penalty). You can't freely use medium or heavy weapons, so if you attack with one, your attack is hindered.

Armor is divided into categories of light, medium, and heavy (light armor is stuff like thick leather, medium is chainmail, and heavy is plate mail). A core character can't freely use any kind of armor, so if you wear armor, it hinders some of your physical tasks. Any character can use a shield.

Your core character begins with one set of appropriate clothing and enough extra cash to pay for something that's moderately priced like a nice backpack or a hunting knife. (Cypher uses abstract price categories instead of specific amounts of dollars, gold pieces, and so on.) Most characters have better equipment options depending on what genre the GM is running.

A core character is just the skeleton of a character; there's more you can do to make your character fun and interesting. You have two possibilities: make a real-world character, or make a character for a specific genre such as fantasy or science fiction (sci‑fi). Ask your GM what sort of game they're running and what sort of character you need to make.

Real-World Character: If you are playing in a campaign set in the "real world" and are playing a normal person, you also get a descriptor (which gives you another skill and more points to add to your Pools) and get to pick another skill based on your profession. More information about turning your core character into a real-world character is explained later on..

Genre Character: For most other games (such as fantasy or science fiction), you'll need to pick a type, focus, and descriptor; together with what you chose as a core character, this means you're an extraordinary person (and probably live in an extraordinary setting). You can choose your type, focus, and descriptor in any order, but many people like to start with a type because it includes a lot of important stuff related to the game genre. The types you can choose from depend on what genre the GM is running---fantasy, science fiction, superhero, and so on. As you continue building your character, it's okay to go back and make changes to things you decided earlier. For example, if you put most of your core character's Pool points into Might but the abilities from your type or focus mostly use Intellect, it's okay to move some points around so your final character's Intellect Pool is bigger than how you set up your core character.

Whether you're making a real-world character or a genre character, the information in the other sections will remind you what a core character gets and how the new parts of your character add to that.