r/cyphersystem • u/otakuthelegend • 3d ago

Question Need some rules clarification

First time really digging into the game, but I haven’t been able to find this answer in the most recent books for the game. How many skills can a player put towards a roll? How many steps can it decrease by?

I’m aware that in the old rules, skills could only take the difficulty down two steps at most - does that still hold? The book discusses how much effort and assets can decrease it by, but I don’t think it does for skills.

Thanks in advance

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u/BasilNeverHerb 3d ago

Skills are more specifically defined in their use. While the book doesn't outright say it, it's implied throughout the text that your only.going to invoke one skill per task, this why athletics and gymnastics are mentioned to invoke different stat pools.

The new max is expert BUT to get expert in a skill you need an ability that unlocks that option and to level the skill up to specialized first.

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u/otakuthelegend 3d ago

Ok perfect, that’s what I thought but I wanted to be sure. Thanks a bunch!

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u/sakiasakura 3d ago

Still limited to 2 levels from skills unless you have a specific character ability that allows you to be an Expert and get 3 levels.

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u/LawfulnessOrganic715 3d ago

You can ease a task by 1 per skill. You can ease a task by a maximum of 2 from skills. If you have 9 relevant skills, it can still only ease the task by 2. Training and education only gets you so far.

I have always ruled that any relevant skill works. If you have 2 skills that are both relevant to the task, both count.

However, as others have said, skills are much more defined in C2, IMO to the detriment of the system, but that is another matter. So it probably won't happen as often.

I hope this is helpful.