Wizards of the Coast Confirms that Cthulhu is Coming to D&D

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One of the greatest and most terrifying monsters of all time is about to enter the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. Wizards of the Coast has revealed that Cthulhu will officially be in the D&D 5.5e ruleset, courtesy of the upcoming supplement Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. The ultimate eldritch BBEG will be a Darklord for a new Domain of Dread, in addition to getting a complete stat block, adventure hooks, associated magic items and lore.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until June to gaze upon all his sanity shattering glory, with the Horrors Within available for pre-order now from local game stores, D&D Beyond and Amazon. Wizards of the Coast has, however, released new art and a few other additional details. Below, we take a closer look at what to expect when this greatest of Great Old Ones makes his triumphant debut in modern D&D.

What is Cthulhu?

Cthulhu is a terrifying, god-like entity of unfathomable cosmic power. He is depicted as being several hundred feet tall with an octopus-like head, a scaly humanoid body and rudimentary wings. Birthed eons ago in the vast depths of space, he was eventually imprisoned on Earth in the ancient sunken city known as R’lyeh located deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. While slumbering in a dormant state, over the eons Cthulhu has exerted his psychic influence over humanity, shaping civilizations and often attracting the attention of cultists seeking to awaken him and usher in a new epoch on Earth.

In the real world, Cthulhu is the creation of legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, appearing for the first time in the 1928 short story “The Call of Cthulhu” for the pulp magazine Weird Tales. And while Lovecraft himself never achieved mainstream success during his lifetime, his friend and fellow writer August Derleth expanded the setting into what is now known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Over the following century, Cthulhu has become a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring countless official and unofficial books, TV shows, films, video games and comic books, as well as TTRPGs including the popular Call of Cthulhu game from publisher Chaosium.

Has Cthulhu appeared in official D&D content before?

Yes. Cthulhu has actually been in previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons. His first appearance was in the initial print run of the 1980 AD&D 1st edition supplement Deities & Demigods. In the book, then D&D publisher TSR included a full “Cthulhu Mythos” chapter featuring complete stats and lore for him, much of which was based on an article entitled “The Lovecraftian Mythos in Dungeons & Dragons,” written by designer Rob Kuntz and appearing in issue #12 of The Dragon magazine in February 1978.

Unfortunately, a copyright dispute quickly arose as publisher Chaosium had already secured the TTRPG rights to Lovecraft’s works for their own Call of Cthulhu game. Eventually the two companies reached an agreement that allowed Cthulhu to remain in the second printing of the Deities & Demigods, although all reference was subsequently removed in the third edition.

Since that time, Cthulhu has not received an official core stat block in any subsequent edition of D&D (although he has appeared in unofficial 5E supplements, such as Sandy Petersen’s 2018 sourcebook Cthulhu Mythos for 5E). Cthulhu has, however, been mentioned briefly from time to time in official D&D content, including in the 2024 Player’s Handbook as a potential Patron for Warlocks of the Great Old One subclass. More recently, he appeared on D&D Beyond in July 2025 in Cthulhu by Torchlight, a third-party D&D 5E supplement, which was produced for Wizards of the Coast by Chaosium.

How is Cthulhu presented in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within?

So far details are still under wraps in regards to Cthulhu’s modern update for the D&D 5.5E rules. We do know that he is the Dark Lord of a new Domain of Dread known as Innsmouth; a nod to a fictional New England town that first appeared in the iconic H.P. Lovecraft short story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”

Third-party D&D publisher Beadle & Grimm’s also recently revealed new art of Cthulhu which will appear from the Strahd Silver Edition Box Set version of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. In addition they also showcased a physical artifact know as the Cthulhu Mist Talisman, which ties in to the supplement (and is presumably one of the magic items associated with the elder god).

D&D miniature and toy manufacturer WizKids has also recently posted a picture of a new Cthulhu D&D miniature on Bluesky, which they said will be part of an upcoming set of new minis for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.

This mini gives us a much better look at the revised D&D version of Cthulhu, which differs slightly in appearance from his depictions in other media over the years. It’s not clear, however, what powers he has or what specific D&D 5.5E mechanics will be associated with him.

Final Thoughts

The official arrival of Cthulhu to Ravenloft marks a major milestone, both for the mythos of H.P Lovecraft and Dungeons & Dragons as a whole. Whether or not this latest iteration is worthy of the Great Dreamer of R’lyeh, however, is something we’ll have to wait and see.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on The Horrors Within in the weeks ahead and will be doing a complete review closer to launch (including looking at the new content around Cthulhu). In the meantime, you can pre-order the book now from local game stores, D&D Beyond and on Amazon.

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