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.

 

[dave2008]

This was interesting about mythos monsters:

 

[dave2008]

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.

I need to go back an look at that book again. I remember liking how it handled the big bads of the mythos, but not the specifics of what they did. This books more traditional in its approach: it uses 2024 design ideas plus the "mythic" trait from Theros.

 

[Clint_L]

This was an instant purchase for me. It looks great, and I already have a ton of miniatures to go with it!

 

[M.T. Black]

I purchased this as soon as I saw it, and it looks excellent so far. I hope it sells well and we see more content like this on D&D Beyond.

 

[Nikosandros]

It's pretty easy to simply print to PDF

It is easy and I've tried it, but the result looks (unsurprisingly) terrible.

 

[Selas]

I need to go back an look at that book again. I remember liking how it handled the big bads of the mythos, but not the specifics of what they did. This books more traditional in its approach: it uses 2024 design ideas plus the "mythic" trait from Theros.

I was doing some comparisons yesterday between them. GOOs in Sandy's are treated more like a hostile environment using a 4 phase mechanic called Elder Influence, where each stage brings certain effects on players and surrounding environments. Each stage has mechanics for escalation to next stage or defeat, with stages 2-4 also having de-escalation mechanics; higher stages brings stronger effects and covers a larger area--with some able to engulf an entire planet. About half of the GOOs don't have a proper statblock, only including basic stats like HP, AC, Senses, Resistances, etc.

 

[J.M]

This might be a good resource for bringing a more Howardian/S&S tone to the game. I also think it would be interesting to present the Dreamlands as a setting for fantasy adventures.

 

[popuman]

A unexpected surprise. Bought it. Read it. Great job by Mike Mearls. Nice addition to D&D Beyond. Monster stats, spells, subclasses, and the Passions mechanic are all bangers.

Unfortunately, I had to submit a support ticket because even though I enabled in my sources when using their Character Builder and my account’s entitlements synced after purchasing said content, I couldn’t create a character using the subclasses listed on the book. I thought this morning’s scheduled maintenance would have resolved it. It didn’t.

Checking their Discord, several users are having the same issue.

 

[SkidAce]

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

2024

 

[Clint_L]

2024

I doubt you’ll see new texts being published on DDB that don’t use the current rules.