The Call of Cthulhu RPG Wiki

# 1. Investigator Charactistics

To begin, a Call of Cthulhu character has eight characteristics:

  • Strength (STR) measures the raw physical power your investigator can bring to bear.

  • Constitution (CON) is a measure of the health and hardiness of your investigator.

  • Power (POW) is a combination of force of will, spirit, and mental stability.

  • Dexterity (DEX) is a measure of your investigator’s physical agility and speed.

  • Appearance (APP) measures the physical appeal of your character.

  • Size (SIZ) reflects your investigator’s combined height and weight.

  • Intelligence (INT) is a rough measure of your investigator’s cunning and ability to make leaps of logic and intuition.

  • Education (EDU) is a measure of the knowledge that your investigator has accumulated through formal education, or the venerated “School of Hard Knocks.”

Allocate the following values where you like among these eight characteristics: 40, 50, 50, 50, 60, 60, 70, 80. Each of these values is a percentage number, so deciding to put 70 into your investigator’s Strength means they have “STR 70%,” an above average score, meaning they are quite strong. Write down the numbers on the investigator sheet in the large box by each of the characteristics. We call these the “Regular” characteristic values.

# Half and Fifth Characteristic Values

Looking at the investigator sheet, you will see that there are three boxes next to each characteristic: a large box (in which you have just written the numbers for that characteristic) and then two smaller boxes to the side. The top smaller box is for the “Half ” value, and the lower box is for the “Fifth” value.

  • To work out the Half value of a characteristic, simply halve the number you chose to allocate to the characteristic, rounding that value down to the nearest whole number if necessary. For example, if you chose STR 70, the Half (Hard) value would be 35.

  • To work out the Fifth value, divide the Regular value by 5, again rounding down as required. For example, with STR 70, the Fifth (Extreme) value would be 14.

Write in the Half and Fifth values for each characteristic on the investigator sheet. Below is a Quick Reference Chart for Half and Fifth Values, which allow you to look up the values without needing to do any math. The downloadable PDF investigator sheet works out these values for you automatically.

# Quick Reference Chart for Half and Fifth Values

Find the characteristic or skill value under the Base Number column, and read across to determine the half (Hard) and fifth (Extreme) values.

Base Number
Regular		 Half Value (½)
Hard		 Fifth Value (1/5)
Extreme		 Base Number
Regular		 Half Value (½)
Hard		 Fifth Value (1/5)
Extreme
1 0 0 26 13 5
2 1 0 27 13 5
3 1 0 28 14 5
4 2 0 29 14 5
5 2 1 30 15 6
6 3 1 31 15 6
7 3 1 32 16 6
8 4 1 33 16 6
9 4 1 34 17 6
10 5 2 35 17 7
11 5 2 36 18 7
12 6 2 37 18 7
13 6 2 38 18 7
14 7 2 39 19 7
15 7 3 40 20 8
16 8 3 41 20 8
17 8 3 42 21 8
18 9 3 43 21 8
19 9 3 44 22 8
20 10 4 45 22 9
21 10 4 46 23 9
22 11 4 47 23 9
23 11 4 48 24 9
24 12 4 49 24 9
25 12 5 50 25 10
Base Number
Regular		 Half Value (½)
Hard		 Fifth Value (1/5)
Extreme		 Base Number
Regular		 Half Value (½)
Hard		 Fifth Value (1/5)
Extreme
51 25 10 76 38 15
52 26 10 77 38 15
53 26 10 78 39 15
54 27 10 79 39 15
55 27 11 80 40 16
56 28 11 81 40 16
57 28 11 82 41 16
58 29 11 83 41 16
59 29 11 84 42 16
60 30 12 85 42 17
61 30 12 86 43 17
62 31 12 87 43 17
63 31 12 88 44 17
64 32 12 89 44 17
65 32 13 90 45 18
66 33 13 91 45 18
67 33 13 92 46 18
68 34 13 93 46 18
69 34 13 94 47 18
70 35 14 95 47 19
71 35 14 96 48 19
72 36 14 97 48 19
73 36 14 98 49 19
74 37 14 99 49 19
75 37 15 100 50 20

← 2. Secondary Attributes →