Contact (spell)

Description

A group of commonly-encountered spells for contacting Mythos creatures, monsters, or deities, summoning and/or binding lesser creatures, or calling Mythos deities to the caster's presence and dismissing the deity.

Contact/Contact Deity

Common to most versions of Call of Cthulhu, these two spells allow wizards to contact either monsters, or deities:

• Contact / Contact Creature - opens communication with one or more members of a Mythos race, perhaps in a vision, dream, or telepathically
• Contact Deity - opens communication with a Mythos deity, perhaps in a vision, dream, or telepathically

Some suggested variant names for "Contact" spells might have names like "Commune", "Commerce", "Conjure", "Call Up", "Channel", "Covenant", "Pact", "Concord", "Compact", and the like.

Summon/Bind

Common to most versions of Call of Cthulhu, these two spells allow wizards to summon monsters, and/or bind summoned monsters:

• Summon / Summon Creature - summons one or more members of a Mythos race to the caster's presence
• Bind / Bind Creature - compels a summoned creature to obedience
• Summon/Bind / Separate Binding - see the note on Seventh Edition, below

Some suggested variant names for "Call" spells might have names like "Call Forth", "Bring Forth", "Bring Up", "Call Down", "Invoke", "Summon", "Conjure", etc., and for "Bind" spells, names like "Compel", "Command", "Abjure", "Beguile", "Tame", and the like.

In Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Rulebook, Summon/Bind may appear together in the same source (tome, etc.) as part of the same spell, or may be separate - "Separate Binding" (for example, a deranged cultist might provide just the Summon portion of a spell in a tome, without the Bind portion, leaving an unsuspecting caster in the unfortunate situation of summoning an unbound monster which resents being summoned, with no way to bind it into obedience!)

Dismissal

A D20 Call of Cthulhu spell for dismissing a summoned monster:

• Dismissal - dismisses summoned members of a Mythos race from the caster's presence. (D20 Call of Cthulhu)

Call/Dismiss

Common to most versions of Call of Cthulhu, these two spells allow a wizard to try to call a Great Old One, Outer God, Elder God, Other God, Avatar, or the like voluntarily to the wizard's presence (a risky idea), or to try to dismiss such a being when it doesn't wish to leave (which is also risky, though perhaps less risky than allowing it to stay):

• Call Deity - a perilous spell that may voluntarily bring a Mythos deity to the caster's presence
• Dismiss Deity - involuntarily dismisses a Mythos deity from the summoner's presence, should it refuse to leave

Some suggested variant names for "Dismiss" spells might have names like "Banish", "Repel", "Dispel", "Cast Out", "Exile", "Exorcise", "Turn", and the like; for "Call" spells names like "Call Forth", "Petition", "Evoke", "Conjure", "Invoke", "Bring Forth", "Bring", etc.

Appearances

This spell is ubiquitous in the Call of Cthulhu (RPG), appearing in virtually any rulebook, sourcebook, or scenario.

• Call of Cthulhu 7e
• Call of Cthulhu 6e
• Call of Cthulhu 5e
• Call of Cthulhu 4e
• Call of Cthulhu 3e
• Call of Cthulhu 2e
• Call of Cthulhu 1e
• D20 Call of Cthulhu