> NCB//RULES.CORE v2.0.77 // LOADED //
Night City runs on a d20. Everything else — chrome, corps, and cruelty — is just the dice's excuse to hurt you.
The core mechanic
Every time you attempt something with a real chance of failure, make a d20 test: roll 1d20, add your modifiers, and beat the Difficulty Value (DV). Your character sheet computes every modifier for you — you just roll and narrate.
- Natural 20 — critical success. It always succeeds, and in combat it hurts twice as hard.
- Natural 1 — critical failure. It always fails, and on the street it usually makes things worse.
- Advantage / disadvantage — roll two d20s, keep the higher or lower. Chrome, cover, and conditions grant or strip these. They never stack: two sources of advantage is still just advantage.
Ability scores
Six stats define your meat. Each produces a modifier — (score − 10) ÷ 2, rounded down. A 10–11 is +0, 12–13 is +1, 14–15 is +2, 16–17 is +3. Chrome can push a score past 20, and every two points beyond still buys +1.
| Stat | What it does |
|---|
| Strength (STR) | Muscle. Melee damage, heavy weapons, carrying capacity. |
| Dexterity (DEX) | Reflexes. Ranged attacks, AC, initiative, stealth. |
| Constitution (CON) | Guts. Hit points, endurance, resisting toxin and shock. |
| Intelligence (INT) | Brains. Tech, netrunning, investigation, systems. |
| Wisdom (WIS) | Instinct. Perception, insight, medicine, street sense. |
| Charisma (CHA) | Presence. Deception, persuasion, intimidation. |
Skill checks
Add your ability modifier, plus your proficiency bonus if you're proficient in the skill — and double it if you have expertise. Proficiency starts at +2 at 1st level and climbs to +6 by 17th. The 18 skills cover the job: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Religion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival, and Tech — the engineer's skill for net architecture and hardware, knowing which wire screams when you cut it.
| DV | Task |
|---|
| 5 | Routine. Buying a beer without being upsold. |
| 10 | Easy. Hotwiring a parked hovertaxi. |
| 15 | Medium. Sweet-talking a Trauma Team responder. |
| 20 | Hard. Zeroing a target through a rain-slicked scope. |
| 25 | Very hard. Lying to a NetWatch exorcist. |
| 30 | Nearly impossible. Ghosting through the Blackwall. |
Combat
Combat runs in rounds. At the top of each round, everyone rolls initiative (d20 + your initiative bonus) and acts highest first. On your turn you get one action (attack, quickhack, dash, use an item), one bonus action (off-hand strike, certain chrome), your movement (usually 30 ft), and one reaction.
To attack: roll d20 + proficiency + weapon tech bonus + ability modifier against the target's Armor Class. Melee adds Strength, ranged adds Dexterity; finesse weapons use the better of the two. On a hit, roll the weapon's damage dice plus your ability modifier plus tech bonus — double the dice on a natural 20.
Armor class comes from what you wear: armor base + Dex (capped by category — Light adds full, Medium caps at +2, Heavy adds none but may demand Strength) + the armor's tech bonus + shield. Unarmored, you're 10 + Dex, plus any class training. A +1 jacket is still a +1 jacket in 2097.
Damage types are the city's physics: kinetic, thermal, electro, toxin, corrosive — plus the exotic energies of prototype tech.
Hit points and dying. Your class sets your hit die and starting HP; you gain max + CON each level. When you drop to 0 HP, you're dying: roll a death save each turn — three successes stabilizes you, three failures flatlines you. Damage taken at 0 HP counts as a failure; a natural 1 counts as two. Med-patches, a friend with Medicine, or a ripperdoc can pull you back. Temporary HP buffers the blow and never stacks.
Exhaustion grinds you down in six levels, each applying −2 to every d20 test. At level 6, you die. A long rest clears one level.
Rests and recovery
- Short rest (an hour of breathing room): spend hit dice to heal — you have one per level — and recover RAM used by class programs.
- Long rest (a night of real sleep): regain all HP, half your hit dice, all program slots, and one level of exhaustion.
Night City doesn't stop. You have to.
Chrome and eddies
- Chrome. You have three integration slots; integrated gear's passive bonuses (stats, AC, saves, speed, HP) apply automatically. Gear marked Requires Integration must be installed to work — and that costs more than money.
- Eddies (€$). The street's only real currency. Legacy scrip still floats around: 100 cp = 1 €$, 10 sp = 1 €$, 1 ep = 0.5 €$, 1 pp = 100 €$. Your sheet totals it.
- Rarity. Standard gear is mundane. Uncommon through Artifact marks the exotic, the prototype, and the stolen.
Programs and quickhacks
Netrunners don't cast spells — they run programs.
- Quickhacks are at-will tier-0 programs: breach, ping, cripple, overheat. Know them, run them all day.
- Prepared programs come in tiers 1–9, slotted like ammunition loaded before the job. Spent slots return on a long rest.
- RAM is the runner's quick reserve for class programs — back on a short or long rest.
- Your program save DC is
8 + proficiency + netrunning modifier + chrome bonuses; your program attack bonus works the same way. The netrunning modifier comes from your class's chosen stat.
A program's tier is its power; your program level gates what you can slot. When the Blackwall whispers back, that's a program too — nobody's written rules for it yet.
Leveling up
You run 1st to 20th level. When you level, your proficiency bonus climbs, your hit points grow, your subclass unlocks at 3rd, and class features reveal at their listed levels — your sheet shows them as you rise.
The golden rules
- Style over substance. Attitude is a stat. A perfect plan that looks like garbage loses to a messy plan that looks cool.
- The city is the protagonist. Corps, gangs, and the news move whether or not you act. Pay attention.
- A corpse is a product. In 2097 everything has a price — including you. Negotiate accordingly.
- The dice are the street. They don't care about your backstory. Roll, take the hit, keep moving.
// END OF TRANSMISSION - NCB RULES.CORE v2.0.77
