DCC Bestiary - Shoggoth-Kind

Next up, the Shoggoth!  I want an otherworldly servant of Cthulhu in my campaign, and there have been write ups in DCC publications like Shadow Under Devil's Reef and the Zine Tales From the Smoking Wyrm, as well as in the d20 Call of Cthulhu RPG, but all of these felt not right for what I wanted to do.

I feel a lesser shoggoth should be scary -- not make a Sanity check scary (although that could be done using my fear and insanity blog article),  by giving them a dissolving touch that does Stamina damage will scare the heck out of any adventurer.  I didn't want to make them too complicated, but I gave them resistance to slicing and piercing weapons and immunity to cold.  A lesser shoggoth is scary to a low level party, but can be defeated in a few rounds, and be appropriately unnerving.  High level parties encountering a clutch of lesser shoggoth will still fear the Stamina drain.

I've left any mid-range non-lesser-shoggoth out of this blog, but it's easy to extrapolate with some more HD and adjust their hit bonuses and saving throws.

Then on the far end of the power spectrum, let's do a terrible shoggoth lord, like Call of Cthulu's Mr. Shiny.  We want it to be fearsome and powerful, but many of the published versions of a shoggoth lord are waaaay too complicated.  I didn't bother with engulf abilities as their Stamina dissolving attack is more than sufficient, simplified their ability to take human form by having them digest a body they can duplicate, and upped their hit dice and hit points, increased the AC to 14 and made their saving throws higher than any lesser shoggoth, and gave them 2d20 actions.  I didn't bother with immunity to mind control, non-magical weapons, etc, because at the end of it, it's an extradimensional blob of terror-flesh with a ridiculous amount of hit points and amazing saving throws, hard enough to kill as-is.

Thoughts?  Drop me a note to archadethered@gmail.com

 

Lesser Shoggoth 

     A lesser shoggoth is a nightmare of primordial flesh that crawls and surges across the ground like a living tide. Its surface constantly bubbles with half-formed eyes, mouths, pseudopods, claws, and vestigial organs, only for them to melt back into its shapeless bulk. Though mindless by mortal standards, the shoggoth possesses a terrible alien intelligence and serves the inscrutable desires of the Great Cthulhu.

     The shoggoth communicate through a chorus of wet, bubbling voices, repeating fragments of commands in increasingly distorted forms, and occasionally shriek an alien cry of “tekeli-li!”!

     Shoggoth lords often take human form and lead cults of deep ones or cultists of Cthulhu.

 

     Lesser Shoggoth: Init -4; Atk pseudopod +4 melee (1d4 plus protoplasmic breakdown); AC 10; HD 6d4 (15 hp); MV 20’, climb 5’; Act 1d20; SP half damage from slicing and piercing weapons, immune to cold, protoplasmic breakdown (any that touch it or are struck by it take 1d4 Stamina damage); SV Fort +6, Ref -8, Will -6; AL N.

 

     Shoggoth Lord: Init +1; Atk pseudopod +10 melee (1d10+4 plus protoplasmic breakdown); AC 14; HD 12d12+24 (102 hp); MV 30', climb 10’; Act 2d20; SP half damage from slicing and piercing weapons, human form, immune to cold, protoplasmic breakdown (any that touch it or are struck by it take 1d4 Stamina damage); SV Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +12; AL N.

     A shoggoth lord can consume a slain human or similar creature, and then assume it’s appearance.  However, there may be slight imperfections or mutable features (DC 18 Intelligence check to notice). While in human form, it can communicate with others clearly but cannot use it’s protoplasmic breakdown ability.  It can use an action to revert to it’s monstrous form.