Call of Cthulhu (Conan conversion)

[Iron_Chef]

I've gone through the Call of Cthulhu d20 book and separated 99% of the spells into my best guess for the appropriate Conan sorcery style. There are some new styles: Enchantment (empowering items) Life Magic (dealing with prevention of death/injury and destroying undead) and Metamagic (magic that makes your magic more potent).

I need help figuring out how to convert them from ability score damage to PP cost.

CALL OF CTHULHU TO CONAN SORCERY STYLES
Counterspells: Banishment of Yde Etad, Bind Enemy, Bind Loup Garou, Cast Out Devil, Create Bad Corpse-Dust, Create Barrier of Naach-Tith, Eibon's Wheel of Mist, Elder Sign, Eye of Light and Darkness, Identify Spirit, Imprison Mind, Seal of Isis, Unmask Demon, Warding the Eye.

Curses: Blind/Deafen, Curse of Chaugnar Faugn, Curse of the Putrid Husk, Curse of the Rat-Thing, Curse of the Stone, Death by Flames, Dread Curse of Azathoth, Evil Eye, Mindblast, Nightmare, Pipes of Madness.

Divination: Augury, Candle Communication, Create Scrying Window, Detect Life, Detect Magic, Divination, Find Gate, Locate Creature, Look To The Future, Mirror of Tarkhun Atep, True Strike, View Gate.

Enchantment: Create Bad-Corpse Dust, Enchant Item, Magic Weapon.

Hypnotism: Cause Fear, Cloud Memory, Frozen Tracks, Message, Mind Transfer, Pose Mundane, Sekhmenkenhep's Words, Siren's Song, Soul Singing, Suggestion, Voice of Ra.

Life Magic: Chant of Toth*, Create Self-Ward, Deflect Harm, Detect Life, Flesh Ward, Healing Touch, Power Drain, Return To Rest.

Metamagic: Power of Nyambe, Voorish Sign.

Nature Magic: Animal Form, Breath of the Deep, Cloak of Fire, Control Weather, Death by Flames, Dominate Animal, Hands of Colubra, Insect Plague, Obscuring Mist, Raise Night Fog, Skin of Sedefkar, Wave of Oblivion.

Necromancy: Bind Soul, Black Binding, Bring Pestilence, Circle of Nausea, Consume Likeness, Dark Resurrection, Eyes of the Zombie, Magic Jar, Power Drain, Shriveling, Song of Hastur, Soul Trap, Speak with Dead, Steal Life, Wither Limb, Wrack.

Prestidigitation: Clutch of Nyogtha, Fist of Yog-Sothoth, Grasp of Cthulhu, Levitate, Spectral Razor.

Summoning: Become Spectral Hunter, Body Warping of Gorgorath, Call Deity, Contact Creature, Contact Deity, Contact Human, Create Gate, Create Time Gate, Dismiss Deity, Dismissal, Red Sign of Shudde M'ell, Summon/Bind Creature, Unspeakable Oath.

 

[slaughterj]

I liked Call of Cthulhu back in the 80s, didn't play much though, how is the d20 version and is it worth picking up? Of much use with Conan?

 

[Johannixx]

"Pipes of Madness"

Is this spell similar to the effect of the magic item near the conclusion of "Red Nails"?

 

[Lion of Aquilonia]

Great break down! I've been working on a PP conversion and the formula I use is the total stat damage (Also +1 for each # of dice used), + the sanity loss die type, + the number of spell components required plus the following modifiers:

- Permanent stat or sanity loss +10 PP
- Spell invokes a gods name +5 PP
- Spell summons a god +50 PP! (Line up those virgins!)

Example:

CLOUD MEMORY (6 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Wis damage and 1d2 sanity points (+2/+2)

Example:

GRASP OF CTHULHU (15 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Str damage and 1d6 sanity points (+2 PP/+6 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [CTHULHU] (+5 PP)

Example:

CONTACT DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (20 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 1 Wis damage (permanent) and 1d2 sanity points (+1 PP/+2 PP)
*Permanent Wis loss (+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)

Example:

CALL DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (88 PP)
Components: V, S, F (+3 PP)
Cost: 20 Wis damage and 1d10 sanity points (+20 PP/+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)
*Spell actually summons a god (+50 PP)

 

[Anonymous]

I liked Call of Cthulhu back in the 80s, didn't play much though, how is the d20 version and is it worth picking up? Of much use with Conan?

It's good. It was written by Monte Cook and John Tynes - one knows d20 (hell, he co-designed d20) the other knows the original. The d20 version has more of a "pulp" feel to it than the BRP version - investigators at higher levels are harder to kill than BRP investigators, but it definitely is not "D&D in Lovecraft's mythos."

As for using CoC d20 with Conan? Sure. Hyboria is supposed to be Cthulhu mythos pre-history, right? You'll have to tweak the stats of some CoC baddies to make them compatible with Conan's OGL rules, but its definitely portable.

 

[Phil]

Great break down! I've been working on a PP conversion and the formula I use is the total stat damage done, + the sanity loss die type, + the number of spell components required plus the following modifiers:

- Permanent stat or sanity loss +10 PP
- Spell invokes a gods name +5 PP
- Spell summons a god +50 PP! (Line up those virgins!)

Example:

CLOUD MEMORY (6 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Wis damage and 1d2 sanity points (+2/+2)
Example:

GRASP OF CTHULHU (15 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Str damage and 1d6 sanity points (+2 PP/+6 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [CTHULHU] (+5 PP)

Example:

CONTACT DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (20 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 1 Wis damage (permanent) and 1d2 sanity points (+1 PP/+2 PP)
*Permanent Wis loss (+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)

Example:

CALL DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (88 PP)
Components: V, S, F (+3 PP)
Cost: 20 Wis damage and 1d10 sanity points (+20 PP/+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)
*Spell actually summons a god (+50 PP)

We still need to come up with the pre-reqs for each spell. I am aware of the D&D levels for these spells in the back - what about matching these up to MAB - ie. a 5th level spell requires a MAB of +5?

 

[Phil]

I've gone through the Call of Cthulhu d20 book and separated 99% of the spells into my best guess for the appropriate Conan sorcery style. There are some new styles: Enchantment (empowering items) Life Magic (dealing with prevention of death/injury and destroying undead) and Metamagic (magic that makes your magic more potent).

I need help figuring out how to convert them from ability score damage to PP cost.

CALL OF CTHULHU TO CONAN SORCERY STYLES
...
Become Spectral Hunter, Body Warping of Gorgorath,

Wouldn't these two fall under Curses? They don't really 'summon' anything, more twist what is already present.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Become Spectral Hunter, Body Warping of Gorgorath,

Wouldn't these two fall under Curses? They don't really 'summon' anything, more twist what is already present.

Possibly. I never really thought that curses should affect the caster. I put Become Spectral Hunter under Summoning because I felt that you were destroying the existing lifeforce and replacing it with an alien/demonic one. The hunter, in my mind, isn't really the base creature, but an alien being using the base creature's flesh as a house (which is warped into the likeness of the beast). Body Warping of Gorgorath is another judgement call. Body Warping affects only the caster, so again, I felt it wasn't a curse. I see it as more of summoning the desired DNA (or whatever) into you. YMMV, and I'm open to counter-arguments.

 

[Lion of Aquilonia]

We still need to come up with the pre-reqs for each spell. I am aware of the D&D levels for these spells in the back - what about matching these up to MAB - ie. a 5th level spell requires a MAB of +5?

ACK! Sorry long day.

For the MAB I use total stat damage, + the sanity loss die type with the following mods:

- Permanent Duration +1
- Saving throw (None) +1
- Target (Self) -1
- +1 for every 10 PP required
- MABs that figure over 20 is converted to Scholar level (so far only CALL DEITY has needed this)

CLOUD MEMORY (6 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Wis damage and 1d2 sanity points (+2/+2)
MAB +4

GRASP OF CTHULHU (15 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 2 Str damage and 1d6 sanity points (+2 PP/+6 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [CTHULHU] (+5 PP)
MAB +9

CONTACT DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (20 PP)
Components: V, S (+2 PP)
Cost: 1 Wis damage (permanent) and 1d2 sanity points (+1 PP/+2 PP)
*Permanent Wis loss (+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)
MAB +5

CALL DEITY [Nyarlathotep] (88 PP)
Components: V, S, F (+3 PP)
Cost: 20 Wis damage and 1d10 sanity points (+20 PP/+10 PP)
*Spell invokes a gods name [Nyarlathotep] (+5 PP)
*Spell actually summons a god (+50 PP)
MAB +18 Scholar level 12

Most Special prerequisites are covered under each spell in the CoC d20 book

 

[Phil]

Become Spectral Hunter, Body Warping of Gorgorath,

Wouldn't these two fall under Curses? They don't really 'summon' anything, more twist what is already present.

Possibly. I never really thought that curses should affect the caster. I put Become Spectral Hunter under Summoning because I felt that you were destroying the existing lifeforce and replacing it with an alien/demonic one. The hunter, in my mind, isn't really the base creature, but an alien being using the base creature's flesh as a house (which is warped into the likeness of the beast). Body Warping of Gorgorath is another judgement call. Body Warping affects only the caster, so again, I felt it wasn't a curse. I see it as more of summoning the desired DNA (or whatever) into you. YMMV, and I'm open to counter-arguments.

Okay, with that reasoning I can see where you are coming from. Unfortunately IMO they don't fit into either category properly. Perhaps we need a new category - perhaps Enhancements?

 

[Iron_Chef]

On another note:

MYTHOS GODS AND MONSTERS
All of the Cthulhu gods and monsters can port over fine, flavor-wise. The only thing to do is figure out the creature's Dodge and Parry DV, DR, AP of its attacks, and the Terror Save (Fear check = 10 + half creature's HD, rounded down).

Good reflex save = Barbarian progression for Dodge/Parry bonus (CRPG, p.296).
Poor Reflex save: Scholar progression for Dodge/Parry bonus (CRPG, p.296).

 

[dinska]

I liked Call of Cthulhu back in the 80s, didn't play much though, how is the d20 version and is it worth picking up? Of much use with Conan?

It's good. It was written by Monte Cook and John Tynes - one knows d20 (hell, he co-designed d20) the other knows the original. The d20 version has more of a "pulp" feel to it than the BRP version - investigators at higher levels are harder to kill than BRP investigators, but it definitely is not "D&D in Lovecraft's mythos."

As for using CoC d20 with Conan? Sure. Hyboria is supposed to be Cthulhu mythos pre-history, right? You'll have to tweak the stats of some CoC baddies to make them compatible with Conan's OGL rules, but its definitely portable.

Interesting, I've been wondering about the new Cthulhu in general but hadn't investigated it. I don't like the idea of portraying it as pulp, per se ... seems a bit cheap but bringing it into the new age of gaming is VERY welcome.