7 Most Horrifying Spells in Call of Cthulhu TTRPG

Updated:

12 Nov 2022

Call of Cthulhu is a dark game filled with many bizarre and twisted secrets, where the supernatural powers of evil gods permeate the universe.

So it is no wonder that the twisted magic you can encounter within may shock you, with effects corroding the sanity of the caster, witnesses, and above all else, the victims.

The author waives any responsibility for the fear, anxiety, and nightmares he can invoke.

Proceed only if you are brave and strong!

But if you dare, prepare for dark inspiration to create.

To create not only scenarios and events in Call of Cthulhu, but maybe whole books, movies, and video games!

Without further ado, whether you are a vampire or not — I welcome thee to the palace of madness.

7. Eyes of the Zombie
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I will start with the presumption that you have your own Zombie. No? There are several ways to make one! Fetch your undead companion, and I will show you a neat trick you can do with him!

Take off his eyes and place them in this bath with this bizarre liquid. Weirded out? Khe, khe, khe, khe. We are just getting started.

Done? Ok. Now take out your eyes. Yes! Seriously!

Nice! Now put zombie eyes in your own sockets. Don’t look at me like that! Oh wait! You can’t! :D

Careful! You really don’t want to drop them. Yes. I know it is hard without eyes. Now that the zombie eyes are in you, it is time to put your eyes in that smelly gentleman.

Congratulations! Now you control the body of the zombie and see with his eyes! Be quick though — that fella is on the path of rapid decomposition. He will last for about one to three months. What about your body? Well, I hope you have someone to care for it. I have better things to do.

Is it permanent? Probably not. You have to bring your eyes back here, recite that magic formula, and switch once again.

What is it for? Well, a zombie does not tire and doesn't need to eat, breathe, or drink. Perfect for sentry work or working and researching non-stop.

Remember to stay out of danger! You need to bring your eyes back!

You know what really powerful and crazy warlocks do? They can switch only one eye, enabling them to see from and control two bodies at the same time! It depletes sanity faster than a cookie monster goes through the cookie jar!

Eyes of the Zombie

• Cost: 3 magic points; 1D8+2 Sanity points
• Casting time: 1 hour
Alternative names: Dead Sight, Shell of the Corpse, The Stalking Witness.

6. Mind Transfer
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This one is really nasty to be targeted with… After a bit of preparation, the caster can try to permanently possess another body.

You can say the stakes are pretty high!

The battle between souls commences, and the caster needs only one success, while resisting only forces them to recast.

Only if your spirit is powerful enough, you can endure till your rival weakens enough to stop.

Regardless of the results of the struggle, the caster's body becomes a lifeless husk.

The Defender’s victory means that the rival's soul “will dissipate into eternity”.

But if you lose, a grim fate dawns on you… You are to become a prisoner of your own body, helplessly observing as all your identity, possessions, and attachments will serve the purpose of another, begging that what was dear to you will not be destroyed.

Mind Transfer

• Cost: 10 magic points; 1D10 Sanity points
• Casting time: 5 rounds or more
Alternative names: The Mortal’s Bargain, Ceaseless Vitality of the Blood, Soul Possession.

5. Awaken the Beast

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There is a timeless trope among cultures all around the world:

Don’t piss off the witch

And they are right!

This spell requires her to paint a picture of the animal she wishes you to become, make you eat a pound of human flesh (willingly or not), and triumph over you in a spiritual battle.

You will change between 3 and 8 days, watching as you irreversibly start gaining the features of the animal and being helpless to stop it. Losing your body, your identity, and your mind… understood both as your intelligence and your sanity.

It may sound weird, but some may want to go through a transformation like this willingly. In that case, they have a chance to preserve their intelligence, but still, it is almost impossible to not go insane!

Awaken the Beast

• Cost: 5 magic points; 1D8 Sanity points
• Casting time: 1D3 hours
Alternative names: Regression, Reversion of the Soul, Two Feet Four Feet.

4. Skin Walker
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Being raised as a zombie is nasty enough, how about being resurrected only as skin!??

This is exactly what this spell does!

To make things weirder, the skin retains a humanoid shape as it travels.

Ok… this is super creepy, but is this dangerous?

Yea, this slick fella has quite a bizarre method of fighting. He crawls on your face and drowns you with itself :S

Be careful trying to… detach it from your mouth? It has no place it would rather be and tries to merge with your face! Taking it off can cause it to take some of your skin along!

And you thought your ex was clingy!

Skin Walker

• Cost: 1D6+2 magic points; 1D4 Sanity points
• Casting time: 3 rounds
Alternative names: Corpse Flesh, Creeping Flesh, Awaken Sheath of the Dead.

3. Balk Brood

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I have been working on my bucket list, and there’s one thing I won’t put on it for sure!

Being eaten alive by spiders

If you share my point I have great news for you!

But first…

<Creeps in, pats and whispers> This bad boy can fit so many insects inside!

Now I can show you how I can get rid of them!

If the god called Eihort injects you with his brood, you have between 1 and 100 months, until his children eat you alive!

Success of this spell depends on luck, but the more of my spiritual energy I use, the stronger are the chances of success.

Conversely, the longer the brood was in you, the harder it is to get it out!

If all goes well, the spiders will crawl out of your every orifice! This is quite a traumatic experience and will cause damage depending on how many days the parasites were in. After one day, the damage will be trivial, but the destruction caused after eleven days will kill most people.

So… if the brood would be in your body longer than a couple of days, you'd better seek alternatives!

Hey, there’s more! This spell comes with an increasing risk that his gelatinous highness Eihort himself will appear and attack the caster. He tries hard to maintain his “Father of the Year” title and doesn’t react kindly to kicking his children back to the street!

Why are you so angry with me?! I am helping you with your spider problems!
Talk about ingratitude!

I put them there in the first place? Yeah... Ooopsie! A little accident… now… calm down and don’t move. You don’t want me to mess it up.

Balk Brood

• Cost: variable magic points; 1D3 Sanity points
• Casting time: 3 rounds
Alternative names: Dispel Children of the Labyrinth, Crack the Eggs of White Death.

2. Mask of Death
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Ok, let me save face, though I think it may be too late for these ppl.

This spell starts with using Leatherface’s trick from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - flaying a face.

The end results are much more aesthetically pleasing, however — the caster who wears the bloody piece and recite a short prayer to Nyarlathotep completely changes their appearance to match that of the victim. The change is permanent, until reversed!

This can serve several purposes, such as the desire to be more beautiful, desire to assume someone’s identity or hide one’s own.

With this widely available — modeling can really become a cutthroat business!

Mask of Death

• Cost: 10 magic points; 5 POW; 1D6 Sanity points
• Casting time: 2 rounds
Alternative names: Assume Face, Guise of Other, Veneer of Flesh.

1. Zymoticism
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We are ending our list with a gruesome combination of horrors. We have mind control, terrible body transformation and being eaten alive all together!

The process starts with collecting a wide variety of mushrooms to create pale white, odorless paste. The caster ritually stirs the paste while reciting the names of the one hundred dark young of Shub-Niggurath and also concentrates on a single action he or she wishes the target(s) of the spell to perform. And you thought your Facebook friend is baby-crazy?

The successful casting results in 4 doses of paste, which could be used on 4 different targets or with more focus on one, to increase ability to penetrate resistance.
With each passing day, the fungus will control more of the victim’s body, taking control over the brain as fast as the 4th day!

The host will become more zombie-like with each moment, and the body will be replaced by the fungus.

Eventually, the mushroom will wither away, leaving only gnarled bones behind.

So yeah… be careful what you eat, Mario.