Check out D&D's version of Cthulhu, via WizKids' new miniature for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

WizKids has provided retailers with a first look at the Dungeons & Dragons version of Cthulhu as it appears in the upcoming book Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. WizKids will be releasing a new Cthulhu figure that ties into the upcoming Ravenloft book, with the book due for release in June. The new figure sits on a 100 mm base and comes with a special iridescent paint scheme that makes it look perennially wet. The painted version of the figure will cost $79.99, while an unpainted version costs $69.99. Both versions of Cthulhu are due for release in October 2026.

This version of Cthulhu looks significantly different than classic depictions of the elder god, with Cthulhu sporting multiple wings and tentacles in place of traditional limbs. Notably, Cthulhu's head is also semi-translucent, with its brain visible underneath a rounded flap of skin. It appears that this version of Cthulhu drew heavy inspiration from an octopus. You can take a look at Cthulhu down below:

Wizards confirmed that Cthulhu, the classic elder being created by HP Lovecraft, will be featured in Ravenloft: The Horror Within as a Darklord. Innsmouth, a New England town featured in multiple Lovecraft stories, will also appear as a new Domain of Dread. Of course, Cthulhu has a long history with D&D, having appeared in early versions of the game before being pulled due to a license issue tied to rival game Call of Cthulhu. Now that Cthulhu and Lovecraft's other works are in the public domain, Wizards has decided to bring the eldritch being back into D&D canon.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

It makes some sense for a game, not so much for a living world/cosmos IMO

Ravenloft isn't a living world though, it's a constructed reality made by malevolent beings. It essentially is a game for the Dark Powers. You have a dark age domain next to industrial revolution domain next to a land where its routinely sealed off by a mile high wall of jabbering animal skulls and the populace just shrugs and says "It do be like that some days" because they're basically just bots in a simulation designed to mess with a few captured domain lords.

 

[dave2008]

Ravenloft isn't a living world though, it's a constructed reality made by malevolent beings. It essentially is a game for the Dark Powers. You have a dark age domain next to industrial revolution domain next to a land where its routinely sealed off by a mile high wall of jabbering animal skulls and the populace just shrugs and says "It do be like that some days" because they're basically just bots in a simulation designed to mess with a few captured domain lords.

I think I was unclear. When I said a "living world/cosmos." I mean the entire campaign cosmos. To me, the domains of dread do not make sense in the overall framework of my campaign setting. It may work for others, but not me. That is why I said "IMO."

 

[humble minion]

I don't much care for the shoggoth - my mental image is based on the Deities and Demigods version, and the illustration form one of the early CoC adventures where it rises from the water and sinks a yacht.

I've personally always imagined a shoggoth to me more of a glistening featureless ooze that grows eyes and mouths when it needs them, rather than a sort of gibbering mouther type 'covered in random eyeballs and maws all the time like twelve beholders melted together!' monstrosity. But I suppose that wouldn't make a very interesting miniature.

Paizo did a Shoggoth mini a while ago too

Just from the pics I slightly prefer this one, judging purely from the pictures it's more fluid and less symmetrical than the D&D one. They're both pretty good though.

 

[Azzy]

I've personally always imagined a shoggoth to me more of a glistening featureless ooze that grows eyes and mouths when it needs them, rather than a sort of gibbering mouther type 'covered in random eyeballs and maws all the time like twelve beholders melted together!' monstrosity. But I suppose that wouldn't make a very interesting miniature.

Paizo did a Shoggoth mini a while ago too

View attachment 436470
Just from the pics I slightly prefer this one, judging purely from the pictures it's more fluid and less symmetrical than the D&D one. They're both pretty good though.

IMO, the Paizo one looks way better than the WotC one.

 

[Selas]

Well, for me the WotC one has more similarities to the original HPL description and closer to the one in CoC bestiary. I guess it's fine

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Erol Otus is generally great in Deities and Demigods but the Shoggoth was my least favorite of the art there.

The thing I like about Erol's illustration is it makes sense. Shoggoth were created with the ability to manifest any tool required for the job in hand, and retain the memory of the tools even when the function is no longer needed. Limiting it to mouths, eyes and tentacles is really generic horror stuff. A shoggoth is a lot more than a gibbering mouther with tentacles. It's intelligent and extremely versatile. Try to stop it with a locked door, and it can create a key, and so on.