Dream Sending of Cthulhu

6th-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Special

Components: V, S, M (a handful of sand, a dab of ink, and a holy symbol of Cthulhu)

Duration: 8 hours

This spell allows the presence of Cthulhu to enter the mind of a creature known to you, shaping its dreams. The target must be on the same plane of existence.

Creatures that don’t sleep, such as elves, can’t be reached by this spell. You enter a trance state. While in a trance, you are aware of your surroundings but can’t take actions or move. If the target is asleep, you appear in its dreams and can deliver a message of no more than 10 words to the target in a form reminiscent of Cthulhu or his minions. The environment of the dream, including objects and images, twists into geometrically impossible ways as omens of Cthulhu saturate it. The target must then make a Wisdom saving throw to continue sleeping normally. Regardless of the success or failure of this saving throw, the target takes 4d6 psychic damage and recalls the dream perfectly when it awakens.

On a failed saving throw, the target’s dream becomes a nightmare that lasts the duration of the target’s sleep and prevents it from gaining any benefit from that rest. When it awakens after failing its saving throw, the target has disadvantage on ability checks until the next dawn and it must succeed on a second Wisdom saving throw or gain a first-degree insanity (generally a phobia; see insanity rules) or indefinite madness and draws Cthulhu’s attention (GM’s discretion as to the effect of this communion). If the target is awake when you cast the spell, you know it, and can choose to either end the trance (and the spell) or wait for the target to fall asleep, at which point you appear in its dreams. You can emerge from the trance at any time, ending the spell early.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos, © 2018, Petersen Games; Authors: Sandy Petersen, David N. Ross, James Jacobs, Arthur Petersen, Ian Starcher.

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