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Hi there.
I own the Call of Cthulhu Campaign and am embroiled in a series of epic D&D games with concurrent plotline. I was planning on having an Alienist ally of my Diabolic PC try to contact Great Cthulhu and ordered the book only to be infuriated.
Demigod status?!?!?!
DEMIGOD???
Now I know it/s/he's a servitor to Yog-Sothoth, but come on! If Tyr can have Helm and Torm giving him Due, then Yog-Sothoth can certaintly have a more powerful Servant ...
I mean, I have factored in all the different spells and whatnot.
At any rate, was looking for advise in porting old 'thullhu into a Planar D&D campaign . . . with the express purpose of toppling/subverting Ilsensine and setting up a new hierarchy for the Illithids.
Any ideas/feedbacks/flames-as-to-why-this-wouldn't-work?
Do you think Great Cthullhu would get a shot in the arm from the transmogrification to a magic-rich setting like the D&D cosmos, or be crippled by the journey? Would he be a psionic entity or no?
Thanks in advance.
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Well this isn't necessarily a PC encounter per se.
I am the pc in a epic game, cleared this with the DM as a way of unhinging the cosmos enough to justify a massive scramble towards order, "tipping the cosmic balance" as it were, with having Cthulhu supplant Ilsensine, if possible.
If so, the various Elder Brain Enclaves would be directly brought to heel and tied in to the Lovecraftian Mythos, kicking off a modified version of the events of the Illithiad Adventures where the illithids blot out the sun.
This is all part of a ploy to get the Multiverse so shaken up across the various planes and settings that the Gods will have to empower Asmodeus to fix it all and to keep up with the sheer anarchic chaos threatening to run pell-mell over all of Creation in its various manifestations.
Queue the reverse-justification for the 4E cosmology re-write.
:-) My character in question is a 1 Binder/ 3 Hellfire Warlock / 2 Ur-Priest / 8 Eldritch Disciple / 5 Anima Mage with ALOT of Cthulhu Mythos / Far Realm Lore and Obyrith Lore.
He currently serves/worships a "Dark Triage" of Asmodeus, Tenebrous & Vecna.
This is just one of various "Big Scope" events in "the Plan", but I don't want to downplay the deployment of Cthullhu that way, so I'm of two minds about this... The Queen of Chaos & The Rod of Seven Parts is involved, as is an Artifact known as the "Wand of Dagon". May even have to Unleash the Apocalypse Stone on a Prime Setting like Greyhawk to stir things up enough. The (evil) party's a bunch of hard-hitting movers & shakers, so it's plausible enough.
Basically we're setting up the challenges in this campaign that will plague the PC's of five or six others.
But the point is to deploy him (Cthullhu) as a major setting piece, that will get the rest of the PCs across the various concurrent campaigns to PAY ATTENTION to the Aberrations and Ancient Histories that usually get ignored in Monty-Haul esque fashion. My DM basically called me in a a "Fixer" to blast into oblivion or subtly twist the direction towards the goals he's shooting for.
So what I'm really asking here, I guess, is :
1. How would you use Cthullhu in a D&D setting?
2. How would he interact with the other Deities of the D&D Universe?
3. Is Cthullhu in and of himself, psionic?
4. Would Cthullhu be powerful enough to take on/change or enslave Ilsensine? Or merge with it?
5. What would the interaction level be if we dumped the entire Mythos Pantheon in? Could Cthulhu summon Yog-Sothoth? If not, How about the others? (It's obvious that Yog-Sothoth would bring the others if so)
6. What would their alien, ineffable goals be? ( It's pointless to shine the light on them and then keep it inscrutable)
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I've actually been provided an opportunity to utilize this idea in a new and more interesting way ... as providing an external antagonistic force to my Sahasra/Mindshadows/Fantasy-India campaign.
Was wondering ... does anyone have any further thoughts on this?
I know Gugs were recently used in the Pathfinder Adventure Paths ...
Was looking for something a little more substantial.
I am running 'The Gates of Firestorm Peak' and looking to use that as a potential entry point for the alien powers of Yog-Sothoth, Cthullhu, Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, and Yg.
These will try and subvert the locals of my setting, as represented by Alienist Cults, Corrupt Psions, Sahaugin, and a Yuan-Ti Priesthood's internal coup d'etat and insurrection, respectively.
With this, the barrier in my setting will be pierced and other invasive forces will be able to invade the setting "between seasons", from my initial "preludes" game to my "Season 2" actual, long-running campaign.
I am also contemplating having this release a "moonfall" like series of events as described in Dragonmech and using some of the Lunar monsters/abilities depicted therein as servants to these "Outer Gods".
Ideas?
Another prospect is repurposing the Lovecroftian in favor of a more Typhonic Warhammer 40,000 feel as per the purposed tasks and flavor/ideologies of Slaanesh, Khorne, Tzentch and Nurgle.
In this case, I would use some of the flavor from Hecatomb and the Endbringers, perhaps even the different glyphs therein to represent the aspects of the outer gods and their relative purposes.
I am usually an enthusiast of original creation as opposed to bastardized cross-polination of concepts, so any input would be welcome.
This is completely separate from the Asuras/Rakshasa that are the native antagonists/villains of the setting, which will have that whole 'Demonic/Oni' feel to them. I cite the Warhammer demons only from a design standpoint of purposing and tasks.
Hence, the Hecatomb 'mana' concepts of Corruption, Deceit, Destruction and Greed will be embodied by Mother Hydra, Yg, Father Dagon, and Great Cthullhu, respectively.
Yog-Sothoth will overlook all this as the Overseer, as s/he/it is meant to be a distant and infinitely unimpressed entity that simply encompasses 'All That Is', but in this context, from a different context.
I am sorely tempted to rename and redesign entirely, and simply lift the mechanics and servitors from Call of Cthullhu, without bastardizing the concepts, but if I am going to go through all that trouble, why should I bother doing it at all, right? Perhaps I would be served by more original construction...
I am really mentally exhausted on this one and could use some objective input.
<other stuff>
My character in question is a 1 Binder/ 3 Hellfire Warlock / 2 Ur-Priest / 8 Eldritch Disciple / 5 Anima Mage with ALOT of Cthulhu Mythos / Far Realm Lore and Obyrith Lore.
He currently serves/worships a "Dark Triage" of Asmodeus, Tenebrous & Vecna.
<more other stuff>
But the point is to deploy him (Cthullhu) as a major setting piece, that will get the rest of the PCs across the various concurrent campaigns to PAY ATTENTION to the Aberrations and Ancient Histories that usually get ignored in Monty-Haul esque fashion.
<yet more other stuff>
The other stuff sounds interesting, but I wanted to ask/comment on the quoted parts above.
That character combination sounds like a nasty piece of business to go up against! But ... he seems to be missing several base class levels, like Warlock, a divine spellcasting class like Cleric, and an arcane spellcasting class like Wizard. Otherwise I fail to see how he could have fulfilled all those prestige class requirements!
"Dark Triage" ... umm, don't you mean "Dark Triad"? :)
I completely agree with the part about getting the PCs to pay more attention to the ancient history of the world/cosmos. It's incredibly frustrating to have/create all that background information for the setting, just to see it being ignored in favour for some cheap XP.
I occasionally check out your Vedic Indian fantasy thread, and enjoy reading it. (Partly because it's something which I would never run myself - our group can't be bothered to deal with Psionics, Incarnum, etc.). Keep up the good work!
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To comment, sorry forgot he started with like 3-4 levels of Warlock, hellfire invoker and anima mage buffing his eldritch blast and Invocations. Ur-Priest does not require divine casting, and provides it's own Progression which is then buffed with Eldritch Disciple, leading to a nasty, nasty combination of powers.
It got so bad once he reached epic, he took a page from Keraptis and the K-Imprint virus, and using the Epic Spell Seed Eidolon, separated his soul into various "Shards" which rearranged their individual builds for independent purposes and proceeded to rampage across the cosmos (in my DM's campaign). He replaced Cthullhu with an Obyrith I will not name here. (he and the other players read these boards). Suffice to say, it was/is AWESOME, but I doubt the other players will ever put two and two together, and if so, they will most likely shrug and continue to try and hit the problem with as much "Might and Magic" gauntlet style tactics as possible without appreciating its true scope. Which is what prompted me to form my own group "cherry picking" from independent players and new prospects around my local area ...
I am pleased that you took interest in the Original Purpose of this thread. By all means, if you could provide me some input in my current quandry about using Mythos Entities in my Sahasra campaign, it'd be greatly appreciated!
I found all of the above a little hard to follow, as my own gaming experience is really on the opposite end of the power spectrum (low fantasy medieval and modern).
Neverthless anything Cthulhu always catches my attention. Your campaign certainly sounds very interesting - I suspect I am missing out on a very different role-playing experience.
I know something about Lovecraftian stuff so maybe I can throw in something useful to your multiversal mix...
Although it sounds like Cthulhu might fit into your current story, what function does Cthulhu actually serve in a narrative? In my opinion Cthulhu is something partially grasped, hinted at, known imperfectly but terrifyingly suggestive. I think that player familiarity with the Mythos can detract from the potential to mystify, confuse and frighten.
For this reason it is my humble suggestion that something new and truly unknown be created to meet the same role in your story. The Lovecraftian flavour might be best channelled through the mystery of an enemy incomprehensible to players and characters alike.
If it were me, I'd want to start my imagining by turning the whole thing on it's head and consider whether beauty and perfection cannot be more frightening than tentacles and ruins...