Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Ftagn! A Guide to the Elder Mythos Cultist

The Elder Mythos cultist is a cleric archetype from Horror Adventures, based around worshipping the deities of what are popularly known as the Cthulhu Mythos. The Elder Mythos cultist changes a lot of the cleric features, completely eliminating any real skill at healing and changing your base casting stat.

I'll use Treantmonk's usual color guide.

Red: Crappy. Don't take this.

Orange: Mediocre. You can take this, but it's not great.

Green: Good. A fine choice.

Blue: Excellent. Usually an optimal choice to take this.

Sky Blue: Incredibly good.

Sections:

1. Class Features and Party Role

2. Races

3. Domains & Subdomains

4. Deities

5. Skills, Traits, and Feats

1. Class Features

Taken individually, most of these class features are not as good as the vanilla cleric. However, they sync up very well together.

Alignment: You must be either chaotic neutral or chaotic evil. For many campaigns, that means chaotic neutral. This isn't that bad since most of the Great Old Ones or Outer Gods are chaotic evil anyway, and the rest are chaotic neutral or neutral evil.

Deities: You must worship an Outer God (Azathoth, [Black Pharaoh], [Haunter of the Dark], Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth), or a Great Old One (Bokrug, Cthulhu, Hastur, Mhar, Orgesh, Xhamen-Dor). While this restriction is technically worse than being able to worship any god, it's also the entire point of the class. You might be able to persuade your GM to allow other deities. Rovagug and Groetus would fit right in. Lamashtu, Dahak, Ghlaunder, Ydersius, and the qlippoth lords are possibilities.

Domains: You only get one domain, and it has to be Chaos, Madness, or Void. At first glance, this sucks balls. But those are actually some really good domains. It's having only one domain that sucks, making this orange instead of red.

Forbidden Knowledge: +2 on Knowledge (arcana), (dungeoneering), (history), (planes), and (religion), and you can make those untrained. Arcana, planes, and religion are among the top 4 knowledge skills, and dungeoneering is right up there with local. Also, all of these except dungeoneering are class skills already.

Unhinged Mind: This is the big one (other than your restricted choice of deities). The Elder Mythos cultist relies on Charisma instead of Wisdom for not only casting and domain abilities, but also for Will saves. This reduces the cleric's level of MAD significantly. Obviously, Charisma is now your primary stat, with nice benefits for your channeling.

There is, of course, the downside that you have a -2 to resist mind-affecting affects, and you auto-fail confusion, insanity, and nightmare from a higher CL caster. This is a glaring enough weakness to drop this otherwise amazing feature to green, and if your GM is particularly evil, it might make the class unplayable. However, there are ways around that, like having someone in the party carry a scroll or two of heal, or getting spell resistance somehow. Besides, you're not supposed to be sane anyway.

Channel the Void: Yes, this is not as good as being able to channel positive energy or spontaneously cast cure spells. And most monsters have good Fort saves (the save against this is Fort, not Will). But when combined with Charisma being your base ability, this is now a more important part of your cleric's offense. 3 + Cha mod is something different when your Charisma is starting between 16 and 18, and going up later. It also will harm fleshy undead (e.g. zombies, ghouls, vampires) and even fleshy constructs, so it covers the vast majority of your enemies. Also, the lack of spontaneous cure spells is easily solved by a wand of infernal healing. If you got access to a different set of spontaneous spells, this would be blue.

Maddening Gaze: Yes, it's an extra ability. But it's not that great, at least not until 11th level when confusion is added. I’d rather have full progression on Channel the Void.

Now, let's consider your role in the party. Tars has written a fantastic guide to clerics. Among other things, he discusses six possible roles for a cleric: Support Cleric, Melee Cleric, Archer Cleric, Bad Touch Cleric, Caster Cleric, and Lord of Undeath Cleric.

First, cultists are generally not good healers, at least not right out the door. You can always get a wand of infernal healing, but you can't spontaneously cast cure spells or channel positive energy. By the same token, the Lord of Undeath cleric is right out. You can't get any of the domains that boost your necromancy, nor can you channel negative energy to heal your undead minions or power those undead-controlling feats.

Of Tars' cleric roles, that leaves Melee, Archer, Bad Touch, and Caster.

Archer Cultist: This isn't a completely doomed build, but it's hard. None of the Ancient Ones have bows as favored weapons. You could take a crossbow, or you could take a race that is proficient with bows.

For a crossbow-wielding archer cultist, the statline should be DEX > CHA > CON > INT > STR > WIS. For the bow-wielder, it's DEX > CHA > STR > CON > INT > WIS.

Melee Cultist: A decent choice. The main problem is that so many of the Ancient Ones have daggers as their favored weapon. Your best choices are Azathoth, Bokrug, Hastur, and Mhar.

For the Mighty Melee Cultist (Azathoth, Bokrug, or Mhar), your stat order should be STR > CHA > CON > DEX > INT > WIS. Human is recommended for getting both Selective Channel and Power Attack right away.

For the Hastur Melee Cultist, your stat order is DEX > CHA > CON > STR > INT > WIS. You will be human, since you need both Selective Channel and Weapon Finesse immediately.

Bad Touch Cultist: A good approach, and one that fits with the cultist vibe. I'd recommend you still go with Hastur and human, but with the following stat order: CHA > DEX > CON > INT > STR > WIS. Chaos is the best domain for touch of chaos.

Caster Cultist: IMO, this is the best choice. Your domains give you some fun debuffs, especially Madness. The Dark Tapestry subdomain can make some terrifying summoners. My recommended stat order is CHA > CON > DEX > INT > STR > WIS.

2. Races

The exact stat distribution will depend on your choice of role, of course.

I'll also be reviewing the favored class bonuses to see how they fit in for a cultist. Many that have specific effects on channel energy just don't work for cultists.

Dwarf: +2 Wis and -2 Cha is really all we need to know. Pass!

Favored Class Bonus: Only good for some domain powers.

Elf: Elven immunities is nice, but the ability scores don't do much (and that Con penalty hurts). If for some reason you really want to make an archer cultist, this is the best option, as elves get proficiency with bows.

Favored Class Bonus: Only good for some domain powers.

Gnome: Ah! Not much good for combat, but +2 Con and +2 Cha sounds great for a caster! Being small will also help with survivability. Gnomes get a lot of alternate racial traits to fit your particular build. I'm partial to academician, gift of tongues, and magical linguist - it fits with the whole "master of eldritch lore" thing. The one big downside is slow movement - with medium armor, you'll be down to 15 ft. Might want to keep a spare summon monster spell handy to cover your escape.

Favored Class Bonus: Utterly useless.

Half-Elf: Excellent, as usual. You can put that floating +2 into Cha, and elven immunities helps against mind-influencing effects. You can also take the dual minded racial trait to further boost your Will saves.

Favored Class Bonus: Not bad, considering that your channel energy progression is slower than a normal cleric's.

Half-Orc: Not quite as good as half-elf, but a great choice for a battle-cultist, as you get some solid weapon proficiencies. Again, the floating +2 goes to Cha. None of their other traits really complement magic, but they have some excellent choices.

Favored Class Bonus: Only good for some domain powers.

Halfling: Con is better for clerics than Dex, which is why I'm rating this lower than gnome. That, and the lack of magic-oriented racial traits. They're still a decent choice, especially thanks to the fleet of foot trait, which raises their speed to 30 ft (20 ft with medium armor).

Favored Class Bonus: Only good for some domain powers.

Human: Is there any class that humans aren't great at? No. No, there is not. Humans are also the best choice for either variety of melee cultist, especially the Hastur rapier build.

Favored Class Bonus: Rather situational. Not a bad choice, mind you, but you'll probably get more use out of that extra skill point or hit point. If the campaign involves a lot of outsiders, mind you, this becomes green as you laugh at their spell resistance.

Aasimar: +2 Cha is what we want, and while +2 Wis doesn't help if you want to make Wis your dump stat, aasimars do also get +2 on Perception. Exalted resistance gives you SR against evil outsiders, and SR is one defense against confusion spells. Finally, being a native outsider makes you immune to charm or dominate person spells. Of the variant aasimars from Blood of Angels, pretty much any that have a Charisma bonus are even better than vanilla, although losing the bonus to Perception and Diplomacy hurts. Agathion-blooded is probably the best overall with a Con modifier.

Favored Class Bonus: Useless.

Catfolk: Good mental stats, and +2 Dex isn't horrible. However, their other traits don't really mesh well with a cleric. If you're the party face, consider the clever cat racial trait. Climber is also attractive.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Dhampir: The Charisma bonus is nice, but the Con hit sucks. Since you don't get spontaneous casting at all, you're just as hampered by negative energy affinity as any other dhampir. That said, undead resistance and manipulative are nice. Get dayborn unless you'll be spending the entire campaign skulking underground.

Favored Class Bonus: Useless.

Drow: Same stats as dhampir, but drow have much better racial traits that actually make up for the Con penalty. Spell resistance is big, as it offers a genuine defense against confusion spells. Drow immunities also helps. You probably want surface infiltrator.

Favored Class Bonus: Only good for some domain powers.

Fetchling: Same statline as catfolk, and better racial traits. A very good choice for a Bad Touch Cultist.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Goblin: No.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Hobgoblin: No racial bonus to Charisma, but no racial penalties at all. Still, they're short on great racial traits. Well, actually, they're short on racial traits, period.

Favored Class Bonus: While not completely useless, inflict spells are a poor choice for dealing damage, even for the bad touch caster.

Ifrit: Again with the Dex bonus! Their racial traits are pretty decent, especially fire resistance. Needless to say, replace fire affinity.

Favored Class Bonus: Not completely useless, but so incredibly situational it might never come up in the entire campaign.

Kobold: While they have a crappy statline and light sensitivity, kobolds could still make an okay caster cultist. Could work well in a stealthy party.

Favored Class Bonus: Actually pretty good, especially if your party is the sort that frequently ambushes its enemies.

Orc: Again, nothing good.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Oread: Great vanilla clerics, horrible cultists with that Charisma penalty.

Favored Class Bonus: Not completely useless, but so incredibly situational it might never come up in the entire campaign.

Ratfolk: No bonus to Charisma, and their racial traits don't help much. Too bad, since sewers are a great place for cults to meet.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Sylph: While there's no Charisma penalty, there is that Con penalty. Their racial traits are OK, though. You could make this work, but not easily.

Favored Class Bonus: Not completely useless, but so incredibly situational it might never come up in the entire campaign.

Tengu: That Con penalty really sucks, because otherwise swordtrained or its replacement traits could make tengus serious battle clerics. As it is, the lack of a Charisma bonus drags this down to orange.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Tiefling: Vanilla tieflings are obviously out... but there are a lot of options in Blood of Fiends. Any tiefling without a Charisma modifier becomes orange. Demon-spawn and div-spawn are green, with demon-spawn being particularly suited for battle-cultists. Kyton-spawn and Rakshasa-spawn are blue, being ideal for caster and bad touch cultists, respectively.

Undine: Nothing that helps, not much that hinders. If this is an aquatic campaign, they go up to green for obvious reasons.

Favored Class Bonus: In a non-aquatic campaign, probably useless. In an aquatic campaign, better, but unlike the human and tiefling bonuses, SR isn't as common among aquatic creatures.

Changeling: Finally another Charisma bonus. Unfortunately, like so many others, this one comes paired with a Con penalty. If the racial traits did more, this could still be green. As it is, it's orange.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Duergar: -4 to Charisma? No. Way. In. R'yleh.

Favored Class Bonus: Not that bad, actually.

Gillman: Their ability modifiers are perfect, for one. No one will say no to a Con boost, and Wis is already a dump stat. Their enchantment resistance helps make up the downside of Unhinged Mind, and being able to cast create water solves the problems of water dependent. Oh, and the spell aboleth's lung is a level 2 save-or-die spell. Don't bother with any of the alternate racial traits, unless you expect to fight a lot of aboleths, in which case take slimehunter. They become blue in an aquatic campaign.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Grippli: No real bonuses or penalties. Still, being Small doesn't hurt a caster.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Kitsune: Actual good stats! Most of their racial traits don't help a lot, but kitsune magic works great for bad touch and debuff cultists.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Merfolk: Amazing stats, although slow speed hurts. Get strong tail.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Nagaji: Another hit. Not only is there a Charisma bonus, but the racial traits help too. Natural armor? Resistant to mind-affecting effects? Yes, please. Flavor-wise, this could work great for a worshipper of Shub-Niggurath.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Samsaran: No Charisma bonus, a Con penalty, and the racial traits don't help much.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Strix: Normally a Charisma penalty would send a race straight to red, but having flight almost compensates.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Suli: Their stats are good, but they are very short on racial traits, and elemental assault doesn't help much for your average cultist. Still a pretty good choice.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Svirfneblin: -4 Charisma. Go home.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Vanara: -2 Charisma. Not even climb speed helps.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Vishkanya: A nice Charisma bonus, but all the poison stuff does little for a cultist. Still a decent choice.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Wayang: And we end with yet another mediocre choice.

Favored Class Bonus: None.

Domains

Deities

Choosing your deity is actually less important for an elder mythos cultist than for an average cleric. You're restricted to the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods, and you can only pick Chaos, Madness, or Void for your single domain, so picking exactly which alien monstrosity you worship won't have that much of an impact. Alignment also makes little difference, as all of the available choices are either chaotic neutral or chaotic evil. Mostly, it will determine what domains you have available.

I will point out that in addition to being more acceptable to the average party, being chaotic neutral with a chaotic neutral patron gives you the option of casting spells with the [good] descriptor. Most parties fight a lot of evil enemies, so regardless of your cultist's feelings, having access to holy magic might be very useful.

Name: The name and title of the deity.

Alignment and Type: The deity's alignment, and whether it's a Great Old One or an Outer God.

Favored Weapon: How the deity's favored weapon stacks up.

Domains: Since your only options are Chaos, Madness, Void, or their subdomains, I'll rate this more on versatility.

Roleplaying: How easy it is to roleplay as a cultist of this deity.

A general note on roleplaying: None of these gods are socially acceptable. Fortunately, very few people in Golarion actually know who they are. Pass yourself off as a scholar of eldritch lore or something like that. You don't need to tell people that you're even a cleric.

There is actually one of the Great Old Ones who is ineligible for an elder mythos cultist to serve: Xhamen-Dor, the Star-Seed. This is because his domains are Death, Evil, Plant, and Trickery, none of which an elder mythos cultist can take.

AZATHOTH, the Primal Chaos, the Idiot God, the Daemon Sultan

CN Outer God

Favored Weapon: Warhammer

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos (Entropy), Madness (Insanity, Nightmare), Void (Dark Tapestry, Stars)

Azathoth pretty much has everything a cultist could want. His favored weapon opens up options for a battle-cultist.

Roleplaying: Azathoth is one of the hardest patrons possible for a PC, even an elder mythos cultist. He's even worse than Rovagug, since at least Rovagug's followers take pleasure in destruction. Azathoth just destroys because he and his followers are all completely insane. He's called the Idiot God for a reason. This is why I've knocked him down to orange, even though stat-wise, he's probably blue.

BOKRUG, the Water Lizard

CN Great Old One

Favored Weapon: Ranseur

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos

Chaos is a pretty good domain, but that's all Bokrug has for cultists.

Roleplaying: As one of the few nonevil options, Bokrug can work well even in a more traditional party. Your god is Gozreh with an attitude. Bokrug also fits well with characters from a savage aquatic background.

CTHULHU, the Dreamer in the Deep, the Madness from the Sea

CE Great Old One

Favored Weapon: Dagger

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos, Madness (Insanity, Nightmare), Void (Dark Tapestry, Stars)

Cthulhu delivers the goods. Plenty of options here, though his favored weapon makes battle-cultist risky.

Roleplaying: Being chaotic evil and plotting the eventual destruction of the world, Cthulhu is a bit hard to play. However, there are a lot of angles. You could be just sane enough to keep your composure in public. You could be patiently waiting for the stars to be right and doing what you want in the meantime. If nothing else, he's the best-known Old One by far (in real life, that is), and who doesn't want to charge into battle crying "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Ftagn!" It should also be mentioned at this point that Cthulhu is currently slumbering beneath the seas of Earth - our Earth.

HASTUR, the King in Yellow

CE Great Old One

Favored Weapon: Rapier

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos, Void (Dark Tapestry, Stars)

Hastur has two out of three, which isn't bad. I'm rating his weapon green mostly on the basis of a Weapon Finesse build.

Roleplaying: While chaotic evil, Hastur is actually relatively sane. He'd be a great patron for a campaign involving decadent nobles and political intrigue. Yellow robes are of course mandatory.

MHAR, the World Thunder

CN Great Old One

Favored Weapon: Heavy Pick

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos

As with Bokrug, Mhar doesn't offer a lot of options. He does have potential for battle-cultists.

Roleplaying: Similar to Bokrug, only with more of a mountain tribe feel. "The World Thunder" sounds like a good name for a barbaric tribe's patron deity. Or a heavy metal band.

NEPHREN-KA, the Black Pharaoh (Inner Sea Gods has a mistake listing this as a second entry for Nyarlathotep)

CE Outer God

Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos

Very few options here, really. Nephren-Ka has other good domains, but your sole choice is Chaos.

Roleplaying: There's not a lot of information on Nephren-Ka. His original Lovecraft version is Egyptian, so the Pathfinder version is presumably from Ancient Osirian, which offers an angle. Of course, the Pathfinder version might also be Egyptian, which offers links with Earth.

NYARLOTHOTEP, the Haunter in the Dark, the Crawling Chaos

CE Outer God

Favored Weapon: Dagger

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos

Stat-wise, probably the worst option.

Roleplaying: Nyarlathotep is supposed to have a lot of cultists, and he does have potential as a god of forbidden magic. Unfortunately, certain practices of his cult are hard to reconcile with the average adventurer. And having lots of cultists could actually work against you if they decide to draft you into their latest plot.

ORGESH, the Faceless God

CE Great Old One

Favored Weapon: Spear

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos (Entropy)

Slightly better than the others that only give you Chaos, because he can also provide the Entropy subdomain.

SHUB-NIGGURATH, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young

CE Outer God

Favored Weapon: Dagger

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos, Void (Dark Tapestry, Stars)

While she seriously needs a better favored weapon, her domains are quite decent.

Roleplaying: In many ways, Shub-Niggurath is very similar to Lamashtu, only her spawn are truly monstrous. This will probably make it hard, but in a monstrous campaign she'll do nicely.

YOG-SOTHOTH, the Lurker at the Threshold, the Key and the Gate

CN Outer God

Favored Weapon: Dagger

Domains (Subdomains): Chaos, Void (Dark Tapestry, Stars)

Identical to Shub-Niggurath. Good domains, bad favored weapon.

Roleplaying: I think Yog-Sothoth is the easiest Outer God or Great Old One to worship. He's not evil, so you can play him up as a god of space and magic.

Feats:

I won't go over every feat in the book, or even every feat a cleric should take. I'll just focus on those feats which are either particularly good for a cultist, or are traps.

Selective Channeling: You will take this as your first feat. This is not optional. You have several uses per day of Channel the Void, and all it does is inflict damage. With Selective Channeling, you can exclude your fellow adventurers, allowing you to blast away at will.

Augment Summoning: Essential for any summoner. If you have the Void subdomain, combine this with It Came From Beyond with nightmarish results.

Channel Smite: At first glance, this seems like a bad idea even for cultists. After all, you're still expending one use of channel the void to only damage one target, and if you miss, the use is wasted. However, the advantage of this feat is that you can combine channeling and attacking into a single round. For a battle-cultist fighting a boss, this is a powerful option. For cultists that don't specialize in melee combat, forget it.

Combat Casting: For a divine caster who's likely to spend a lot of time in close range to enemies, I consider this almost essential.

Extra Channel: Not necessary, but since this is such a major ability, I won't blame you for taking it.

Leadership: If your GM lets you take it, then take it and start your own cult! You've got the Charisma for it.

Selective Channeling: Just to make sure you got the memo.

Spell Focus: Varies. Spell Focus (conjuration) is essential for summoners. A debuff build could use Spell Focus (enchantment), (necromancy), or (transmutation).

Traits:

Mostly, I want to discuss the two traits specific to the Ancient Ones from Inner Sea Gods:

Unspeakable Bond (Outer Gods): In a campaign themed around the Elder Mythos, this could be green or even blue. In your average campaign, you'll have very few opportunities to deal peacefully with aberrations.

Worthless Pawn (Great Old Ones): This one is highly situational. You could go an entire campaign without using it. An ordinary cleric should not take it, but an Elder Mythos cultist can handle a Wisdom hit. Not a huge one - Wisdom is probably your dump stat - but it does give you that option of busting out a surprise holy spell.

Equipment:

Elder Mythos cultists generally use the same equipment as other clerics. However, there are a few things you might want in particular:

- A better melee weapon. Half the deity options have daggers as their favored weapons. While I always recommend characters carry a dagger as a backup weapon or utility item, you should get something better for your main weapon. A morningstar or shortspear is best.

- A wand of infernal healing. This is better than cure light wounds, and it'll make up for your lack of spontaneous casting.

- Headbands of Charisma. Charisma not only powers your spells, but also your channel the void and your Will saves.

- Any item that improves your defense against mind-affecting effects.

- At higher levels, any item that grants you spell resistance. SR is your one true defense against confusion spells from higher-level casters.