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.