The Spelljammer: Adventures In Space set for Dungeons & Dragons has added Cosmic Horrors to the tabletop game, which are Lovecraftian monsters.
The Spelljammer campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons is bringing Lovecraftian monsters into 5e, through the Cosmic Horror creatures that roam Wildspace. There has been officially licensed D&D and H.P. Lovecraft content in the past, as well as some unlicensed stuff, leading to the D&D lawsuit involving the Cthulhu Mythos, where Lovecraftian deities appeared in Deities & Demigods, even though they had been licensed by another company. The works of H.P. Lovecraft are in the public domain, but other writers contributed to the Cthulhu Mythos, so not all of the work associated with the franchise is available to be freely used.
In the D&D 5e multiverse, most of the campaign settings exist in the Prime Material Plane, which acts as the center of reality. The Prime Material Plane is surrounded by the Feywild and Shadowfell, which are wrapped in the Ethereal Plane. These elements of reality are wrapped in the elemental Inner Planes, beyond which exist D&D's Outer Planes and the Astral Plane, where the D&D afterlives reside, being the homes of demons, devils, angels, and the manifestations of law and chaos. These are the boundaries of reality, but those who travel beyond will find themselves in the Far Realm, where truly horrific and alien creatures can be found.
The players who wish to use the power of the Far Realm can do so, by playing a warlock with the Great Old One Otherworldly Patron, one of whom can be Cthulhu. If the party is lucky, the patron won't come to collect on their deal while the game is ongoing. The players in the Spelljammer campaign setting might not be so fortunate, as the monster book in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space bring Lovecraftian monsters into the game, and the average adventuring party isn't likely to survive long in a direct conflict.
Spelljammer Brings Cosmic Horrors Into D&D
Boo's Astral Menagerie is the Spelljammer monster book, which features 5e versions of the Spelljammer monsters. The third most powerful creature in the book (behind the Astral Lunar Dragon and the Astral Solar Dragon) is the Cosmic Horror, which is a CR 18 Gargantuan Aberration, with over 280 hit points, three uses of Legendary Resistance, three Legendary Actions, and the Psychic Whispers ability, where all non-Aberration creatures in a 60ft sphere must pass a Wisdom save or take 6d10 psychic damage. These creatures can easily go toe-to-toe with a spelljammer vessel, allowing them to annihilate the player's ship from beneath their feet.
The Cosmic Horrors originate from the Far Realm and have wandered into Wildspace, where they seek to devour all who come into their path. They are indescribable in appearance, much like the Lovecraftian gods, resembling an ever-changing mass of flesh that is painful to behold. The D&D Far Realm should not be taken lightly, as it's home to incredibly powerful monsters that will devour the flesh and scrape the sanity of those who encounter them, and the Cosmic Horror creature in Dungeons & Dragons is just one example of the terrors that await beyond the stars.
Related Topics About The AuthorScott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz. A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.
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