VIII Great Old Ones and Outer Gods the victim is considered grappled Creatures held in Cthulhu’s grip not take damage, for Cthulhu must devour living bodies in order to grow Physical escape from Cthulhu’s clutches is practically impossible, and requires a successful Escape Artist or combat maneuver check against CMD 55 + influence DC Magical methods, such as teleportation or freedom of movement, are likely to offer the only real route to escape for such a victim A victim must continue to make successful Fortitude saves at the start of each turn in order to avoid being consumed A victim that is consumed by Great Cthulhu is immediately slain and all carried gear is lost or destroyed (save for artifacts, which are left behind or shunted into other dimensions or realities at the GM’s whim) Only miracle, true resurrection, or wish can restore someone slain in this manner to life Creatures in Cthulhu’s clutches when he is defeated are released, but there’s a 75% chance that upon release they are dropped from a great height and take 20d6 falling damage In a densely populated area, you can assume that Great Cthulhu can successfully devour a number of panicking humanoids equal to 1d20 times his current influence stage in a single round At influence stage or higher, each humanoid Cthulhu devours heals the influence by 20 HP at stage 2, 50 HP at stage 3, and 100 HP at stage Devastation The area within Cthulhu’s influence is wracked with powerful storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis as appropriate Cthulhu himself is not impacted by these events, since by this time he has reached his maximum level of influence and those who perish from the disasters cannot be devoured Non-Euclidean Geometry Reality and the fundamental laws of physics go mad in the presence of Great Cthulhu Creatures within the area of his influence suffer an increasing number of disorienting and strange effects, as detailed below These effects are cumulative—at influence stage 4, all four stages of effects are active Within his home city of R’lyeh, the effects of Cthulhu’s non-Euclidean geometry always function as if he were at stage and always have a minimum area equal to the size of R’lyeh itself Influence Stage 1: Allies and minions of Great Cthulhu have their reach doubled Enemies of Great Cthulhu have their reach halved If a creature has a reach of feet, its reach is instead reduced to Influence Stage 2: Physical routes change, becoming dead ends or circles The terrain and architecture you traveled the previous round will be different if you return to it The presence of cover, difficult terrain, or the like shift from round to round (randomly or at the GM’s discretion), but generally so in ways advantageous to Cthulhu or his minions Influence Stage 3: If a foe of Cthulhu moves more than feet during its turn, that creature has a 25% chance of entering an area of geometry where it physically cannot exist When a victim is exposed to such a reality, it can avoid the effect with a successful Reflex saving throw If it fails, it vanishes, and is transported to somewhere else in the universe (randomly or at the GM’s discretion) If the saving throw was a natural 1, the victim instead winks out of existence, along with all of its gear (artifacts are not destroyed by this effect, but are transported elsewhere) Creatures lost in this way can only be restored to life via miracle, true resurrection, or wish Influence Stage 4: The chance of one of Cthulhu’s foes stumbling into dangerous geometry increases to 50% per round Additionally, each round, there’s a 25% chance that a dangerous creature from another dimension may emerge from strange angles or warped reality Shoggoths and starspawn and other aliens of similar power are typical arrivals Telepathic Assault All creatures within the area of Cthulhu’s influence must make a successful Will saving throw at the start of their turns or become overwhelmed with consuming terror and madness The exact effects of this madness depend on what stage of influence Cthulhu has achieved Once a creature fails this saving throw, the effects persist until the creature moves out of Cthulhu’s influence A creature suffering from Cthulhu’s telepathic assault when his influence escalates is automatically affected by the new effect and is no longer affected by the previous effect This is an mind-affecting, insanity effect Fear: At stage one, those who succumb to Cthulhu’s telepathic assault become shaken This effect stacks with multiple failed saves, first to frightened, and finally to its maximum effect of panicked Despair: At stage two, those who succumb to Cthulhu’s telepathic assault cower in fear Anarchy: At stage three, those who succumb to Cthulhu’s telepathic assault suffer from overwhelming paranoia and hallucinations, and find it impossible to tell friend from foe Under this effect, a creature babbles incoherently unless another creature is within 30 feet, in which case the victim uses every resource it has available to attack the perceived foe with intent to kill Global Enslavement: At stage four, those who succumb to Cthulhu’s telepathic assault fall under his control and his bidding as meat puppets This effect functions as dominate monster 233