This section describes and gives stats for many creatures that the player characters might encounter in a Cypher game. The variety of creatures that populate the possible settings and genres is so great that this chapter only scratches the surface. It does, however, provide examples of kinds of inhabitants—bestial and civilized, living and undead, organic and inorganic—so that you can easily extrapolate and create your own. Some creature entries are for archetypes, such as the strong but dumb brute or the aggressive energy hound, and give specific examples of those creatures for various genres.
Every creature is presented by name, followed by a standard template that includes the following categories. For guidance on how to design and run creatures and NPCs, see Running Creatures and NPCs.
Level: Like the difficulty of a task, each creature and NPC has a level attached to it. You use the level to determine the target number a PC must reach to attack or defend against the opponent. In each entry, the difficulty number for the creature or NPC is listed in parentheses after its level. The target number is three times its level.
Description: Following the name of the creature or NPC is a general description of its appearance, nature, intelligence, or background.
Motive: This entry is a way to help you understand what a creature or NPC wants. Every creature or person wants something, even if it’s just food or to be left alone.
Environment: This entry describes whether the creature tends to be solitary or travel in groups and what kind of terrain it inhabits (such as “in packs through dry wastes and temperate lowlands”).
Health: A creature’s target number is usually also its health, which is the amount of damage it can sustain before it is dead or incapacitated. For easy reference, the entries always list a creature’s health, even when it’s the normal amount for a creature of its level.
Damage Inflicted: When a creature hits in combat, it inflicts a wound according to its level: usually a minor wound for levels 1 to 3, a moderate wound for levels 4 to 7, or a major wound for level 8+. The damage entry always specifies what kind of wound it inflicts, even if it’s the normal amount for a creature of its level. Intelligent NPCs often use weapons, but this is more of a flavor issue than a matter of game mechanics—whether a level 4 creature uses a sword, bow, or claws, it probably deals a moderate wound if it hits. If the creature’s main attack damages a character’s Pool instead of inflicting a wound, it lists that damage here.
Sometimes a creature attack states that it ignores armor. For example, a rattlesnake’s successful bite inflicts a minor wound and injects venom that inflicts 3 Speed damage (ignores armor). The defending character can’t attempt to dodge or block the venom (it automatically happens if the bite hits). If there is some way to resist this additional effect (such as a Might defense roll against venom), the attack will say so. Mental attacks such as a psychic blast probably ignore armor and can only be resisted with an Intellect defense roll.
Multiple Wounds From One Attack: A few powerful creatures inflict more than one wound with a single attack, such as “two major wounds.” The defending character still makes only one defense roll against this attack (not one roll per wound), and the results of that roll apply to all the wounds from that attack. For example, if a kaiju’s bite inflicts two major wounds, one successful dodge roll means the character takes no damage, or one successful block roll means they take two moderate wounds.
Armor: This is the creature’s Armor value. Sometimes sthe number represents physical armor, and other times it represents natural protection. This entry doesn’t appear in the game stats if a creature has no Armor.
Movement: This is how much distance the creature can cross if all it does on its turn is move—immediate, short, long, or very long. For comparison, a typical PC’s movement is “short.”
Modifications: Use these default numbers when a creature’s information says to use a different target number. For example, a level 4 creature’s modifications might say “dodge as level 5,” which means PCs attacking it must roll a target number of 15 (for difficulty 5) instead of 12 (for difficulty 4).
Combat: This entry gives advice on using the creature in combat, such as “This creature uses ambushes and hit-and-run tactics.” At the end of the combat listing, you’ll also find any special abilities, such as immunities, poisons, and healing skills. GMs should be logical about a creature’s reaction to a particular action or attack by a PC. For example, a mechanical creation is immune to normal diseases, an entity made of pure energy is immune to conventional poisons, and so on.
Interaction: This entry gives advice on using the creature in interactions, such as “These creatures are willing to talk but respond poorly to threats,” or “This creature is an animal and acts like an animal.”
Use: This entry gives you suggestions for how to use the creature in a game session. It might provide general notes or specific adventure ideas.
Loot: This entry indicates what the PCs might gain if they trade with, trick, or defeat the creature. This entry isn’t included if the creature has no loot.
GM Intrusion: This entry suggests one or two ideas for GM intrusions during an encounter with the creature. It’s just one or two possible ideas of many, and you are encouraged to come up with your own uses of the game mechanic. (An easy GM intrusion is to increase the severity of the creature’s damage by one step for one attack, whether from ferocity or from a strike in a vulnerable area.)