Happy Halloween! Cthulhoid creatures for 4e

[CattyNebulart]

Hmm, let me see if I can did up 'Lulu the friendly neighborhood Shogoth'

Here is a Shogoth template, though I havn't read many of the lovecraft books, so my estimation of the shogoth is probably completly off.
Shogoth Template:
ST: 25 DX: 13 IQ: 7 HT: 12
Will 11; Per 9; HP 30; Speed 5; Dodge 8; Move 5
SM: +3
Traits: Unaging, Constriction Attack, Injury Tolerance(Homogeneous), Shapeshifting (Morph + improvised forms), Extra Arms (long + flexible), Doesn't Sleep, Doesn't Breathe, Reduced Consumption
Skills: Brawling-14

I hope this is usefull to someone.

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Late to the party again :(
I don't have the Long story in my collection, and haven't read it in thirty years or so*... Is IQ15 really justified? My image of them was always more as predatory animals with a deep cunning. The Soul Drain should probably be a cumulative Affliction.

The Hounds are very mysterious, and their motives are never made quite clear, so it is difficult to say. Had Chaosium never made the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and I had to make these creatures from scratch, I would probably also go with preternaturally cunning animals (IQ 7 or so). In CoC they gave the Hounds INT 5D6 (roughly 18 in average, 30 max!), making them superhumanly intelligent. I chose the middle ground between Chaosium's superintelligent Hounds and a reading of them as animals, while also remembering that CoC INT is not directly translatable to GURPS, as CoC stats can go much higher than GURPS.

As for the Soul Drain, you're probably right, so I'll correct that right away. While I am at it, I'll delete No Fine Manipulators from the Hound, as it is redundant. It is already part of the Quadruped meta-trait.

Cheerio for now,

Max

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by CattyNebulart

Hmm, let me see if I can did up 'Lulu the friendly neighborhood Shogoth'

Here is a Shogoth template, though I havn't read many of the lovecraft books, so my estimation of the shogoth is probably completly off.
Shogoth Template:
ST: 25 DX: 13 IQ: 7 HT: 12
Will 11; Per 9; HP 30; Speed 5; Dodge 8; Move 5
SM: +3
Traits: Unaging, Constriction Attack, Injury Tolerance(Homogeneous), Shapeshifting (Morph + improvised forms), Extra Arms (long + flexible), Doesn't Sleep, Doesn't Breathe, Reduced Consumption
Skills: Brawling-14

I hope this is usefull to someone.

Good to see someone else joining the game! Hope to see more.

Cheers,

Max.

P.S.: your shoggoth is a tad weak; shoggoths are monstrously strong, and were used by the Elder Things much as we would use cranes, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment. Therefore, I would suggest at least ST 60, and maybe some extra HP thrown in for good measure. Considering their plastic nature, I would think that they could regenerate damage, maybe Regeneration (Very Fast).

[Max Schreck]

So it's been awhile... I have a daughter that demands that I do other things than roleplaying, the little rascal.

Without further ado, I present to you the head honcho of the Cthulhu Mythos:

The Lord of R'lyeh himself.

Cthulhu, The Dreamer of R'lyeh

ST 140 [390]; DX 20 [200]; IQ 20 [200]; HT 20 [100]

SM: 7

Basic Lift 3920
Basic Speed 10
Basic Move 10

Damage
Thrust 15d
Swing 17d

Claws-20: 19d cutting or impaling
3 Tentacles-20: 8d crushing; as for his spawn, Cthulhu will probably use all his tentacles for grabbing and grappling, rather than using three for slapping.

Advantages: Amphibious [10], Claws (long talons) [11], Damage Resistance 45 (tough skin -40%) [135], Doesn't Breathe [20], Extra Arms 8 (Extra flexible +50%, Weak: ST 70 -50%) [80], Extra Attack 3 (tentacles) [75], Flight (Space Flight +50%, Winged -25%) [50], Injury Tolerance (No Blood; No Vitals) [10], Pressure Support 3 [15], Regeneration (Very Fast, 1 HP/sec.) [100], Stretching 1 [6], Telecommunication (Telesend) (Broadcast +50%, Telepathic -10%, Vague -50%), Temperature Tolerance 30 [30], Terror 20 (Always on -20%) [176], Unaging [15], Unkillable 3 [150], Vacuum Support [5]

Disadvantages: Appearance (Horrific) [-24], Callous [-5], Disturbing Voice [-10], Frightens Animals [-10], Odious Personal Habit -3 (snacks on humans) [-15], Reputation -4 (blasphemous, rugose, extra-galactic abomination, all the time, large group) [-10], Social Stigma (monster) [-15]

Skills: Uhh...? Whatever comes in handy for the GM.

Phew! Done. Let me know, if there's anything missing.

Max

[Joel]

Controversy over fictional being about whom the author tells us very very little follows (some of this also goes for the star-spawn):

I would personally give big C higher IQ than the average or even most exceptional members of his race, probably IQ 30 or so, just on principle.

I wouldn't assume he has spiderman-like dexterity, 13-14 with High Manual Dexterity +2-4 for the tentacles should be enough. The star-spawn on the other hand could do with some better DX.

His Telesend is vague when he's dead and dreaming, as well as uncontrolable, but I'd think he'd have better control when he's awake as it's supposedly the way his race communicates (I think?). I'd also give Telesend to his star-spawn, possibly limited to their own race.

He does seem to be able to send random images and sensory impressions from his mind into those of tortured artists, so assuming he can do this intentionally while awake; Illusion with Mental, Independent, Uncontrolable Trigger (from powers): While asleep (Very Common), and crazy range seems appropriate. You could probably add any level of area effect to that you deem appropriate if you want Cthulu to rise up from the deep and send entire cities/nations/continents on bad acid trips, the sailors and the narator who see him in the story seem to be hallucinating as far as I recall.

You missed Doesn't Breath for C.

Move 7-10 is really kinda slow for such large creatures.

BBL after I re-read The Call of Cthulhu.

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Joel

Controversy over fictional being about whom the author tells us very very little follows (some of this also goes for the star-spawn):

I would personally give big C higher IQ than the average or even most exceptional members of his race, probably IQ 30 or so, just on principle.

I really dislike giving anything much more than IQ 20 in GURPS, but I see your point, considering that I also gave the lesser Xothians IQ 20. Let me think about it...

Originally Posted by Joel

wouldn't assume he has spiderman-like dexterity, 13-14 with High Manual Dexterity +2-4 for the tentacles should be enough. The star-spawn on the other hand could do with some better DX.

I wouldn't think so either, he being a giant sea monster and all, but most of my interpretation of these cthulhoid beings is based on Chaosium's CoC RPG, and then converted according to some (but not all) of the guidelines in GURPS CthulhuPunk. In both these sources Cthulhu has DX 21, actually.

Originally Posted by Joel

His Telesend is vague when he's dead and dreaming, as well as uncontrolable, but I'd think he'd have better control when he's awake as it's supposedly the way his race communicates (I think?). I'd also give Telesend to his star-spawn, possibly limited to their own race.

He does seem to be able to send random images and sensory impressions from his mind into those of tortured artists, so assuming he can do this intentionally while awake; Illusion with Mental, Independent, Uncontrolable Trigger (from powers): While asleep (Very Common), and crazy range seems appropriate. You could probably add any level of area effect to that you deem appropriate if you want Cthulu to rise up from the deep and send entire cities/nations/continents on bad acid trips, the sailors and the narator who see him in the story seem to be hallucinating as far as I recall.

Duh... All good suggestions... I'll get back to the drawing board. As for the range, it is already "crazy" in Telesend. He has to roll an IQ, modified by the Long Range table.

Originally Posted by Joel

You missed Doesn't Breath for C.

So I did. Fixed.

Originally Posted by Joel

Move 7-10 is really kinda slow for such large creatures.

Maybe he's a lumbering giant? The Emma's crew managed to barely outrun him, though. If he was much faster, they wouldn't have made it onboard.

Max

[vitruvian]

Hmmm... ST/HP 140, Damage Resistance 45 - means the ship at the end of the story needs to have done about 1600 pts of damage in order to make him dissolve and start regenerating back using his Unkillable 3. You'd need over 450d of Slam damage to reliably do that much to him, in addition to the ship needing enough DR and HP to limp away from the encounter.

Maybe he has Fragile (Unnatural), at least until he's been awake for a while?

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Max Schreck

Phew! Done. Let me know, if there's anything missing.

Heh... It might become a work in progress :) I agree with Joel that the DX might be too high... there doesn't seem to be a reason to assume superior overall agility. The IQ.... meh. I wouldn't worry too much about it. There's reason to assume it's above human average, but keeping it within that range allows for even vaster intellects like some of the Outer Gods.

Advantages: It looks like you've covered most of what I can think of. Flight... I'd think there would be some Enhanced Move (Space), but... yeah... Who knows? Injury Tolerance might have one of the composition traits, like Unliving, to reflect that the Great Old Ones are not made of ordinary matter. I've always assumed that Fast Regen was good enough, since the natural healing rate for such a large being will already be high (inset, B424). TempTol comes out pretty good: With HT 20, you can set the "natural" comfortable range down low enough that the improved range covers from near absolute zero to about the boiling point of water. Terror might have the Presence enhancement from Powers p84. Unkillable 3 is a judgment call, I guess... I could see downgrading it to Unk2.

Disadvantages... yeah, you can justify stacking them on, I suppose. There should be something to reflect the site-bound status at R'lyeh, as well as the normal semi-comatose condition. Sessile might cover it, or a location Dependency (from Fantasy pp132-133). The dreaming state I'm not sure how to cover, or if it even needs to be... Maybe something like Short Attention Span?

[Joel]

Originally Posted by The Call of Cthulhu

From Dunedin the Alert and her noisome crew had darted eagerly forth as if imperiously summoned, and on the other side of the earth poets and artists had begun to dream of a strange, dank Cyclopean city whilst a young sculptor had moulded in his sleep the form of the dreaded Cthulhu. March 23rd the crew of the Emma landed on an unknown island and left six men dead; and on that date the dreams of sensitive men assumed a heightened vividness and darkened with dread of a giant monster's malign pursuit, whilst an architect had gone mad and a sculptor had lapsed suddenly into delirium!

Telesend with Broadcast, Reliable (to reach the entire planet), Selective Effect, Sensie, and Uncontrolable should do the trick.

Originally Posted by The Call of Cthulhu

For an instant the ship was befouled by an acrid and blinding green cloud, and then there was only a venomous seething astern; where - God in heaven! - the scattered plasticity of that nameless sky-spawn was nebulously recombining in its hateful original form, whilst its distance widened every second as the Alert gained impetus from its mounting steam.

Very Fast Regeneration seems appropriate as it's effects seem clearly visable from a boat fleeing at full engines a moment after the injury took place.

Here's the passage that perhaps gives most insight into the Great Old Ones (or Star-Spawn) and Cthulhu, from the cult itself.

Originally Posted by The Call of Cthulhu

These Great Old Ones, Castro continued, were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape - for did not this star-fashioned image prove it? - but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R'lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them. But at that time some force from outside must serve to liberate Their bodies. The spells that preserved them intact likewise prevented Them from making an initial move, and They could only lie awake in the dark and think whilst uncounted millions of years rolled by. They knew all that was occurring in the universe, for Their mode of speech was transmitted thought. Even now They talked in Their tombs. When, after infinities of chaos, the first men came, the Great Old Ones spoke to the sensitive among them by moulding their dreams; for only thus could Their language reach the fleshly minds of mammals.

Some of these aren't really that interesting from a game perspective, like Cthulhu's ability to preserve the rest of his race. It does mean that the regular members of the race don't have a natural way of surviving when the stars are wrong but need Cthulhu's help or the ability to cast the same spells.

Some form of Injury Tolerance: Unliving might be called for.

Their mode of speech was transmitted thought; seems all star spawn have Telesend limited to their own race and a few sensitive humans (people with Gifted Artist Talent it seems).

They could plunge from world to world through the sky; Warp with Hyperjump, -25%, Accessability: Only in Space/Upper Atmosphere, and Reliable.

[Bandii]

Originally Posted by Max Schreck

So it's been awhile... I have a daughter that demands that I do other things than roleplaying, the little rascal.

Without further ado, I present to you the head honcho of the Cthulhu Mythos:

The Lord of R'lyeh himself.

Cthulhu, The Dreamer of R'lyeh

ST 140 [390]; DX 20 [200]; IQ 20 [200]; HT 20 [100]

SM: 7

Basic Lift 3920
Basic Speed 10
Basic Move 10

Damage
Thrust 15d
Swing 17d

Claws-20: 19d cutting or impaling
3 Tentacles-20: 8d crushing; as for his spawn, Cthulhu will probably use all his tentacles for grabbing and grappling, rather than using three for slapping.

Advantages: Amphibious [10], Claws (long talons) [11], Damage Resistance 45 (tough skin -40%) [135], Doesn't Breathe [20], Extra Arms 8 (Extra flexible +50%, Weak: ST 70 -50%) [80], Extra Attack 3 (tentacles) [75], Flight (Space Flight +50%, Winged -25%) [50], Injury Tolerance (No Blood; No Vitals) [10], Pressure Support 3 [15], Regeneration (Very Fast, 1 HP/sec.) [100], Stretching 1 [6], Telecommunication (Telesend) (Broadcast +50%, Telepathic -10%, Vague -50%), Temperature Tolerance 30 [30], Terror 20 (Always on -20%) [176], Unaging [15], Unkillable 3 [150], Vacuum Support [5]

Disadvantages: Appearance (Horrific) [-24], Callous [-5], Disturbing Voice [-10], Frightens Animals [-10], Odious Personal Habit -3 (snacks on humans) [-15], Reputation -4 (blasphemous, rugose, extra-galactic abomination, all the time, large group) [-10], Social Stigma (monster) [-15]

Skills: Uhh...? Whatever comes in handy for the GM.

Phew! Done. Let me know, if there's anything missing.

Max

Nice. I agree with others that his Telepathic abilities while awake should be much vaster; even his manifestation in CoC was more like a dream fragment or thought form of his true self.

My own interpretation of the Big C comes from Charles Stross' short story, A Colder War; where Cthulhu serves as Fermi's "Great Filter" by wiping out any competition on worlds he visits. One of the abilities he possesses in that story is the ability to, essentially, devour both the minds and bodies of his victims, recreating them in the simulation spaces within his own vast and incomprehensible mind.

-Mike