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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RenleyRenfield" data-source="post: 9697512" data-attributes="member: 7044197">Oh hey I might be able to help with that... Although... I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "use minimum effort"???  I am of the opinion that yeah, spend as little Pool as possible in all things.   Rolling a d20 to get 12+ to take 4 harm, versus spending 3 pool to roll on a 9+ = not worth it!  most people ask at that point = "then what is the point of pool at all?"   Well... <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When the damage you are about to take is 2 or 3 times or more than the pool you spend to not get hit would be... (typically 10+ damage threat)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When you want to avoid Hazard damage (that's stuff like being on fire, poisoned, acid, etc) = stuff that does 1 to 6 points of harm every round!!!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When the fiction would be disaster (i.e. roll to protect the prince, fail and he gets shot in the face and killed and you lose you gained in the kingdom... oh dear!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">when the pool damage in to a weak pool of yours.  There are things that do speed or intellect damage.  Not good taking Impaired or Debilitated when you have just begun your adventure...</li> </ul>Now check this, characters are allowed only +1 Effort and Edge per Tier.  So at Tier 6 your Effort and Edge are likely 6.  But..... Enemies go to TN 30 (if the GM really loves you).  So a Tier 6 character, going against a true tier 6 threat one on one of say.... TN24...  even with 2 free ease that needs a 18 or higher to succeed, and you can be your butt that thing is gonna to 15+ pool damage! = you gonna die.  So Cypher kinda feels logarithmic in its power growth...  where at some point, in order to not die = you must spend pool all the time, and likely have very needed cyphers, and very good gear.   It get's more epic and BIG, but not...easy...  (and yeah, a tier 6 going against some TN 6 baddies = gonna bet hot knife through a goose, or however that phrase goes <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  And all of that is just combat, there is sooooo much more to spend pool on than Combat... .....Also note = Cypher is a pulp adventure game!   So pool isn't just "how much can you handle in one combat." = recovery time does get debilitating, and healing cyphers run out.  A good dungeon crawl (the core of what Numena made cypher for), can be a "slow drain" on your Pools....  so that's great.  You can adventure for a while on your own merit, but a GM will whittle you down (with a few smash hits from Intrusions to keep you on your toes. I agree with folks who say "the pools and effort and all that works when at the table and playing over a few months" ... like.... we have been playing it for years now, and with a few tweaks (see my FF8 cypher hack) = it more or less has the same amount of live, hurt, explore, act = that D&D does.   It just also offers more player agency to act clever on top of that. Also note = Cypher demands more dynamic GM encounters.  Bandits on the side of the road should be prepared, set traps, and after your characters are exhausted on the road, and after the exhausting river fording, and after the snap frost storm, and after the thunder night of no sleep.... like... Dear Cypher GM = make the world constantly alive, a threat, and interesting (plus shower the players is Cyphers! all the Cyphers! All the time! make that extra mile of wilderness exploration worth it for more goodies!  oops all loot crates at the end of the tunnel! lol)</blockquote>

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