Cthulhu
Cthulhu — The Encounter
Dreaming priest of the dead stars, drowned beneath the waves · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Cthulhu
Older than the seas and stranger than the stars, Cthulhu sleeps in a sunken house of monstrous angles, waiting until the heavens turn and the door of his tomb-city yields. The grimoires of drowned cults name him High Priest of the Old Ones, dreaming dead yet never truly so, his slumber pressing on the minds of poets, lunatics, and sailors across every ocean. Those who glimpse his shape in fevered sleep wake screaming, their journals filling with idols of squatting, tentacle-faced things. When the stones of his prison stir, the dreams sharpen into summons; mad worshippers gather on lonely shores to chant the syllables that loosen his chains. He does not rule by command but by presence: to stand before him is to feel one's reason dissolve like salt in surf. Sane men say he cannot truly die, for in the vast cold deep, that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.
Run Cthulhu in Sixty Seconds
- Presence first. Maddening Presence pings everyone within 30 ft. at the start of their turn for 2d8 psychic, DC 16 Wis. Roll it before anything else each round so the party is bleeding before they act.
- Open with Gaze + grapple. Lead with Dreaming Gaze to stun the deadliest PC, then Tentacle Maw the nearest melee striker into a grapple and grind 2d8 psychic on them every turn.
- Kill-priority: casters. Use Star-Spawned Rebuke as a reaction to gut any spell cast within 60 ft. and Maddening Whisper to give clustered PCs disadvantage. Wizards and clerics are the real threat to a creature this tanky.
- When bloodied (104 HP), go aquatic. Spend legendary actions on Sink Beneath to drop into water, gain cover, and force the melee party to come to it where it swims twice as fast.
- Three ways to run it: as a solo god at Tier 3 (full legendary kit), as a rising terror with Deep One escorts at Tier 2, or as a hallucinatory dream-vision the low-level party must survive rather than slay.
Cthulhu
Huge aberration, chaotic evil
CR 13 · 10,000 XP · GUIDELINEMaddening Presence. When a creature that can see Cthulhu starts its turn within 30 feet of it, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or take 9 (2d8) psychic damage as its mind buckles. On a success, the creature is immune to this trait for 24 hours. Signature: a creature reduced to 0 hit points by this damage does not fall unconscious but is instead incapacitated and babbling until the end of its next turn.
Amphibious. Cthulhu can breathe air and water, and it never suffers disadvantage from being submerged.
Actions
Multiattack. Cthulhu makes one Tentacle Maw attack and two Claw attacks. It can replace one attack with Dreaming Gaze (recharge 5-6).
Tentacle Maw. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (3d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and takes 9 (2d8) psychic damage at the start of each of its turns.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 7) slashing damage.
Dreaming Gaze (Recharge 5-6). Cthulhu fixes its alien stare on one creature it can see within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or take 27 (6d8) psychic damage and be stunned until the end of its next turn. On a success, the target takes half damage and is not stunned.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Star-Spawned Rebuke. When a creature within 60 feet casts a spell or moves out of Cthulhu's reach, Cthulhu can use its reaction to lash a tentacle at that creature: +12 to hit, dealing 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage on a hit. The triggering spell is also forced to be cast at disadvantage on the attack roll, or its save DC is reduced by 2.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Tentacle. Cthulhu makes one Claw attack.
Maddening Whisper (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature within 30 feet of Cthulhu must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or take 11 (2d10) psychic damage and have disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of its next turn.
Sink Beneath (Costs 2 Actions). Cthulhu moves up to its swim speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If it ends this movement underwater or in difficult terrain, it has half cover until the start of its next turn.
A mountain of green-black flesh hauls itself upright on the broken stones: a writhing octopus face above a bloated humanoid bulk, vast membranous wings half-folded, talons sinking into the rock as if the world itself were prey.
Cthulhu, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETide-Touched (signature). The acolyte has a swim speed of 40 feet, breathes water, and has advantage on saving throws against being frightened while within 60 feet of Cthulhu.
Actions
Barbed Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Drowning Chant. When an ally within 30 feet fails a saving throw against fear or psychic damage, the acolyte can use its reaction to let them reroll, taking the new result.
A scaled, bug-eyed worshipper dredged up from a forgotten shore, hurling itself between its sleeping god and any who would wake it.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
A nightmare-vision Cthulhu, not the waking god. Open with Maddening Presence to soften the front line, then grapple the loudest PC with Tentacle Maw and hold them. Save Dreaming Gaze for whoever lands the biggest hits, and have it sink toward water when bloodied.
A stirring Cthulhu rising in the shallows. Lead with Dreaming Gaze on the party's controller, grapple a melee striker, and let Star-Spawned Rebuke punish casters who keep their distance. Pair it with a Deep One Acolyte or two to soak actions; pull back to deep water when bloodied to force the party in after it.
The waking god, a true solo centerpiece. Open with Maddening Presence and a recharged Dreaming Gaze to stun the deadliest PC, then grapple with Tentacle Maw and grind psychic damage every turn. Spend legendary actions on Maddening Whisper when the party clusters and Tentacle on whoever is at full HP; Sink Beneath to reposition and force the fight into the water on its terms. When bloodied, lean on Star-Spawned Rebuke to shut down spellcasters.
Put Cthulhu on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Cthulhu?
Natively CR 13 (Tier 3, levels 11-15) and built as a solo boss: its legendary actions and Star-Spawned Rebuke reaction let it act outside its turn and play up against a four-PC party. The included Tier 1 and Tier 2 stat blocks rescale the same kit down to CR 2-ish dream-visions and CR 6-ish risen terrors.
Can Cthulhu be a companion or ally?
Not Cthulhu itself, but the bound Deep One Acolyte companion (AC 13, 124 HP) is built to fight alongside a party or another monster, with a swim speed, a slowing spear, and a Drowning Chant reaction that lets allies reroll failed fear and psychic saves.
How do I use Cthulhu without a one-shot kill on the party?
Telegraph the danger. The dream-vision Tier 1 block and rising Tier 2 block let lower-level groups face his presence and tentacles without the full save-or-stun gaze. At Tier 3, give players a clear win condition (re-seal the tomb, ring the bell, flee at dawn) so 'cannot truly die' becomes a survival story, not a TPK.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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