D&D General Cthulhu by Torchlight Brings Mythos To D&D

Dungeons & Dragons 5E lead designer Mike Mearls' latest project combines his current and former employers--on D&D Beyond you can now access a digital exclusive product from Chaosium which brings the Cthulhu Mythos to D&D 5th Edition.

The supplement is called Cthulhu by Torchlight and includes subclasses, feats, and spells designed for 5E.

Cthulhu by Torchlight adds a new subclass to each of the character classes in the new Player’s Handbook, along with over two dozen Mythos-themed spells, a new background, and new Origin feats. For DMs, it holds over 20 horrid monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos. Rules for Passions and Dreadful Insights amplify roleplaying by putting mechanics behind your characters’ personality, while the skill challenge rules provide a framework for investigation, interaction, and other non-combat encounters.

 

[Selas]

So far, this book is vastly different from Sandy Petersen's version and more in line with the latest edition of CoC, though there's bound to be some similarities since they pull from the Mythos. The artwork on this book though is very toned down and more for mainstream appeal compared to Petersen's version--some of the art in that book are the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting that it’s dndbeyond exclusive.

How many other ddb 3PP exclusives have there been?

I do think thus is a straight up first, all the other partnered content has been published elsewhere first. Also, I don't think Chaosiuk has really delved into 5E publishing at all prior to this? So another first on that end.

 

[Professor Murder]

I picked up Sany Peterson's Cthulhu Mythos a couple years ago which seems much more exhaustive than this. So even though I'm an avid CoC player, probably not picking this one up anytime soon.

 

[Mistwell]

The digital format on D&D Beyond is a web format, you cannot download a copy. You can, of course, jump through some hoops to convert the webpages into another file type, but DDB doesn't support that natively.

Like all digital purchases, you are purchasing a license to the content, you do not "own" it. If DDB gets canceled in the future, so do all of your purchases.

Personally, I'm cool with the way DDB is set up, use it a lot, and plan to purchase this book. Others are not fans of how digital books like this work, at least not on DDB.

It's pretty easy to simply print to PDF

 

[Bolongo]

Others are not fans of how digital books like this work, at least not on DDB.

Yeah, count me out until this is available in some other format.

 

[dave2008]

View attachment 412263​

Dungeons & Dragons 5E lead designer Mike Mearls' latest project combines his current and former employers--on D&D Beyond you can now access a digital exclusive product from Chaosium which brings the Cthulhu Mythos to D&D 5th Edition.

I feel this statement is misleading as it implies that the Cthulhu Mythos was not already in 5e. I am sure there are others, but Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos (anyflip link) came out in 2018 for 5e. It is quite an interesting book IMO with interesting boss monster mechanics.

 

[dave2008]

I really hate that they're freely intermixing random 3pp stuff in with official sources on dndbeyond. It was bad enough when it was just the Blood Hunter.

Why? Do you get mad a DriveThruRPG or Barnes & Noble or Amazon because they sell WotC D&D books alongside 3PP books? If you are worried about "mixing" official and 3pp content it is clearly segregated on the Sources page after the official "Sourcebooks" & "Adventures:"

This is what I lot of fans have asked for and I personally like that it gets a lot of fresh new ideas on the platform.

 

[dave2008]

I dont mind it being on Beyond - but its literally sorted directly with the 1st party stuff, sandwiched between the Bigby and Eberron books in the list. Its confusing to casual players to differentiate.

On the D&D Beyond sources page it is under partnered content like all 3PP content, not Sourcebook or Adventure sections which are for official material only. Look down there on the bottom right.

 

[dave2008]

Any word on if the monsters have 2014 or 2024 stat blocks?

I believe I read it is 2024, but I will just buy it and confirm - give me 10 minutes

 

[dave2008]

Any word on if the monsters have 2014 or 2024 stat blocks?

2024

Spoiler: Great Cthulhu