Cthugha CR 20; XP 307,200 CE Great Old One of arson, deliberate destruction and fire Primary Source August Derleth, “The Dweller in Darkness” and “The House on Curwen Street” C U LT Domains Chaos, Destruction, Evil, and Fire Subdomains Ash, Catastrophe, Rage, and Smoke Favored Weapon torch Symbol vortex of fire Temple burnt-out ruins, high buildings, mountaintops, regions devastated by fire Worshipers arsonists, fire-using creatures Servitors fire vampires, fire elementals I N F L U E N C E S TA G E D C 27 Speed fly 50 ft Area 100-ft radius; Nucleus 30-ft square AC 36; Saves +22; hp 370 Effects heat wave, spawn fire vampires Escalation At the start of any round, if there are at least 10 fire vampires alive and active in the area of influence, there’s a 10% chance that Cthugha escalates to stage I N F L U E N C E S TA G E D C 29 CR 23; XP 819,200 Speed fly 100 ft Area 900-ft radius; Nucleus 100-ft square AC 40; Saves +24; hp 480 Effects fiery darts, heat wave, spawn fire vampires Escalation At the start of any round, if there are at least 20 fire vampires alive and active in the area of influence, there’s a 10% chance that Cthugha escalates to stage I N F L U E N C E S TA G E D C 31 CR 26; XP 2,457,600 Speed fly 300 ft Area 1-mile radius; Nucleus 500-ft square AC 44; Saves +27; hp 600 Effects capture mind, fiery darts, heat wave, spawn fire vampires What You See A huge mass of fire floats off in the distance Within the mass, a repulsive form can be seen eternally burning, but never consumed 228 Escalation At the start of any round, if there are at least 30 fire vampires alive and active in the area of influence, there’s a 10% chance that Cthugha escalates to stage I N F L U E N C E S TA G E DC 34 CR 29; XP 6,553,600 Area 10-mile radius column Proxy fire vampires Effects capture mind, fiery darts, heat wave, immobile, spawn fire vampires D E F E AT Combat In Cthuhga’s first three stages, it can be defeated by reducing its influence to hit points In its final stage, it must be defeated by destroying all fire vampires within the Great Old One’s influence INFLUENCE EFFEC TS Capture Mind Creatures with an Intelligence score of or higher are in danger of having their minds captured by Cthugha if they spend too much time in its presence If such a creature begins its turn within Cthugha’s area of influence, it must make a successful Will save or it gains capture point A creature with capture point has its mind linked to Cthugha’s but suffers no further peril When a creature has capture points, it becomes overwhelmed by Cthugha and must look directly at the Great Old One—all other targets gain concealment from the victim Once a creature has capture points, its mind becomes controlled by Cthugha, and it now follows the commands of Cthugha or any fire vampire without hesitation Protection from evil, protection from chaos, or a similar effect does not affect this control (although such spells grant their normal bonus to saving throws) Each time a creature begins its turn outside of Cthugha’s area of influence, it loses capture point Additionally, each time a creature's saving throw to resist mind capture exceeds the DC by at least 10, or whenever a creature rolls a natural 20 on its saving throw to resist capture mind, it loses capture point If the creature rolls a on its saving throw to avoid gaining its third capture point, the mind control is permanent until Cthugha's influence ends, regardless of whether the creature stays in the area of its influence of not This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect Fiery Darts At the start of the round, Cthugha launches a number of fiery darts equal to twice its current influence stage Targets are selected by Cthugha (generally, Cthugha targets the most dangerous foes in the area first) A targeted creature takes fire damage equal to 8d6 per stage (16d6 fire damage at stage 2, 24d6 at stage 3, and 32d6 at stage 4) and catches on fire A successful