Goodman Games

One of my players picked Cthulhu as a patron. I mean that is great. What could possibly go wrong with the great Cthulhu as your patron Now, has anyone made a list of spells and taints and anything else I could use for this patron? Also, what is to prevent this player from calling on Cthulhu to kill other players...something I feel he wants to try.


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Now looking at my trusty AD&D 1st edition (1st printing) of Deities and Demigods, there are 2 things to remember:
1) Elder Gods can hear their name and e ery time it is uttered there's a 5% chance they will show up and destroy whoever spoke his name.
2) Deep One, most cultist are either (very very very deranged) Human or Deep Ones, or hybrids.

From the short stories:
1) Cthulhu's dream often affect psychicly sensitive people causing anxiety and nightmare;
2) Cthulhu doesn't care (or sleep too soundly) and ignores his Worshipper.

To be honest, I would not allow such a character unless the player is a solid Roleplayer as the insanity and depravity level required for such a character are obcene. He would be plagues by nightmare and might even be a hybrid...at the very least he could contact/communicate with the Deep Ones. Spell-wise, I would give him none as Cthulhu is Dead and Dreaming.

Now when the Stars are Right and R'lyeh surface, any destructive/Insanity creating/Water spells could work, but it would not last for long.

Bonegard pretty much sums up my view on the subject. Cthulhu, by his very nature, doesn't care about insignificant humans. It's like picking a patron who doesn't give aid.

finarvyn wrote:Cthulhu, by his very nature, doesn't care about insignificant humans.

To be fair, that would be one take on Cthulhu. Even HPL and August Derleth disagreed on the details and attitudes of the Great Old Ones, etc. There's no reason that in a given campaign, Mighty Cthulhu couldn't make a fantastic patron. Just be ready for the campaign to end in a spectacular cataclysm...

GnomeBoy wrote:

finarvyn wrote:Cthulhu, by his very nature, doesn't care about insignificant humans.

To be fair, that would be one take on Cthulhu. Even HPL and August Derleth disagreed on the details and attitudes of the Great Old Ones, etc. There's no reason that in a given campaign, Mighty Cthulhu couldn't make a fantastic patron. Just be ready for the campaign to end in a spectacular cataclysm...

I'm with GnomeBoy on this.

I like to take the opportunity of a player choice to drive the campaign in the direction proposed by the player. For example, the magic of Cthulhu could be tapped into, instead of Cthulhu giving it out. I.e. the wizard somehow gets the magic without actually dealing with Cthulhu directly. Perhaps Great Cthulhu sleeps, but as the wizard seeks to contact him, he contacts him in a dream world, where Cthulhu gradually stirs. Perhaps Cthulhu does not realize that it is a mere mortal that contacts him.

Then, I like the idea of dreams that lead to madness. I think that corruption, misfire and patron taint could be aligned with that idea; and the spells also. Perhaps there could be a small chance, on a patron taint, that Cthulhu actually awakens to destroy the world. (Each time the caster rolls a die on the invoke patron spell, he'd be a bit nervous i'm sure... )

There seems to be much opportunity to create a lot of havoc here

Going further, if I were faced with this option, I'd have the Patron not be Cthulhu himself, but rather some servant or other of Cthulhu.

Cthulhu is, for me, above the level of being a Patron. YMMV.

I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. Thanks for posting such informative content. It is extremely helpful for me.

GnomeBoy wrote:Going further, if I were faced with this option, I'd have the Patron not be Cthulhu himself, but rather some servant or other of Cthulhu.

I think I'd concentrate on the dreaming interaction it seemed to have with humans in the story. I don't think it knew or cared about the nature of the minds it was reaching out to... as long as they were susceptible to its yearnings. The artists and poets who were driven to create its likeness might as well have been brine shrimp for all it knew.
It wasn't Cthulhu in its fully conscious state... a dream avatar perhaps. But along those same lines I wouldn't think it would be the sort of Patron who a PC could ask for stuff and expect an answer... I'd picture it as more whimsical and uncaring. Sometimes getting nothing at all, sometimes getting far different than asked for... in a dream-logic sort of way.
Perhaps the spells such a relationship grants are centered on allowing the user to enter dreams... send thoughts... change shape (Cthulhu strikes me as a bit of a chimera squid/dragon/man... and isn't there something about it being able to increase/reduce the size of its various appendages?). I wouldn't go overtly aquatic though, since, despite being under the sea its city was originally above the waves.
I'd maybe have its Patron taint make the PC more 'dream-like'... less substantial? Prone to long naps? Nightmares made real? I'm not sure.

Cthulhu is, for me, above the level of being a Patron. YMMV.

My reading on it was that it's just a high priest of an alien race. A tentacled Space Pope, a wizard from the stars. A big name in the Mythos on Earth but ultimately a small player compared to Nyarlathotep or Yog Sothoth.
Though if Cthulhu DID ever awaken in the game I'd expect anyone with a mental link to it to suddenly have their heads go POP! as the full force of its conscious thoughts surged into their puny minds.

MrHemlocks wrote:One of my players picked Cthulhu as a patron. I mean that is great. What could possibly go wrong with the great Cthulhu as your patron Now, has anyone made a list of spells and taints and anything else I could use for this patron?

My fellow judges, elders of the d30, and dungeon councilors, has there been any further tinkering with C'thulhu as a patron? One of my players adamantly wants to play a Cleric who venerates the old one, and I'm just wondering how to manage such madness before the pc explodes into a wriggling mass of writhing tentacles all over my campaign.

MrHemlocks wrote:One of my players picked Cthulhu as a patron. I mean that is great. What could possibly go wrong with the great Cthulhu as your patron Now, has anyone made a list of spells and taints and anything else I could use for this patron?

My fellow judges, elders of the d30, and dungeon councilors, has there been any further tinkering with C'thulhu as a patron? One of my players adamantly wants to play a Cleric who venerates the old one. I'm just wondering how to manage such madness before the pc explodes into a wriggling mass of writhing tentacles all over my campaign.

My 2cp...

I've always been willing to let gods step in as patrons, but I strictly limit it to deities that have magic, or knowledge, or something similar listed as part of their folio. I checked my copy of the 1st edition Deities and Demigods, and it seems to me that ol'squiddy face could work for either wizard or cleric character. He's listed as both a 16HD warrior and 20HD illusionist, other powers include summoning minions, regeneration, teleportation, and causing insanity the anyone within 100miles who fails their willpower save; at least when he's awake. It also mentions that he has really powerful spell resistance and is immune to cold, water, vacuum effects and that he will flee if confronted with certain powerful elder sigils. It is worth noting that normal animals and other creatures of the Prime Material Plane instinctively know that the cleric or wizard is tainted and will always react negatively to that character; attacking or fleeing... so at the very least, the character must walk or ride in someone's wagon whenever they travel and would impose a skill penalty for the rest of the party when dealing with their horses, familiars, etc.

Using this as a template, I'd populate the magic user's list of potential spells with anything that relates to these powers and it would look something like this:

1st-
Charm person,
Chill Touch,
Detect Magic,
Invoke Patron (Cthulhu) - which would be a very dangerous spell and probably send aid in the form of shared immunities, summoned Deep Ones, regeneration for the caster, magic resistance, possibly even grant a gaze attack that causes insanity for the victim, that sort of thing.
Runic Alphabet (mortal),
Sleep,
Ward Portal

2nd-
Arcane Affinity (Chaos),
Levitate,
Locate Object,
Mirror Image,
Monster Summoning - limited to minions of the elder lord and other mutants and abberations,
Phantasm,
Ray of Enfeeblement,
Scare

3rd-
Consult spirit... if the wizard is truly brave or foolish enough to try...
Eldritch Hound,
Emirikol's Entropic Maelstrom,
Fly,
Make Potion,
Paralysis,
Planar Step,
Water Breathing

4th-
Control Ice,
Polymorph

5th-
Lokerimon's Unerring Hunter,
Magic Bulwork,
Mind Purge

As a chaotic patron and character combo, the wizard would be able to cast any spells they gain access to, but the list above covers what could be learned from studying the lore of the elder gods or powerful invoke patron result. The wizard would gain these spells through elder minions and from dreams... both of which would definitely lead to insanity for the character.

As a cleric the character would have much less casting ability, but closer contact with the mind of their god and would end up with powers based upon their deity's powers and abilities as they advanced in level; aura of fear, regeneration, etc., and would have to be played as stark raving lunatics. I would let them have healing touch, but it would force the recipient to roll for corruption/ mutation, and they would be able to turn/ destroy normal creatures and humanoids. However, I would probably double their chances for deity disapproval and give them all sorts of little stigmas and taboos, like turning them into soul-sucking cannibals and other such things to make life horrible...

1st-
Darkness,
Detect Magic,
Paralysis,
Protection from (Law),
Resist Cold,
Second Sight

2nd-
Banish,
Curse,
Divine Symbol,
Lotus Stare,
Snake Charm,
Stinging Stone

3rd-
Bolt from the Blue,
True Name,

all fourth level spells...

5th-
Weather Control

Tortog, this is amazing! Thank you for the ideas, if you should receive any more insights please add them to the thread.

I like to think that characters who are healed by my cleric of Cthulhu are visited by strange dreams for some time, maybe a few days to a week, leaving them vaguely distracted and uneasy during their waking hours. There are no in-game effects... I just like to imagine that's how it works! My character was a gravedigger, so I imagine he relieved a corpse of a strange idol somewhere along the way, reminiscent of HPL's "The Hound."