Handling Unspeakable Horror

On Reddit, a user asked:

Is Sanity always a straight, unmodified roll?

So seeing a ghoul and seeing Azathoth would be the same roll, a straight Sanity roll, no modifications?

(Because Potency applies to Saves and Sanity is a Resource, not a Save.)

Is that correct in general?

(I say “in general” because you’d probably roll Sanity with Disadvantage if faced with Azathoth.)

In practice, the rules on pp 56–58 relate to handling Insanity and The Weight of Horror for common foes of the Mythos, as outlined and detailed in the Creatures section.

If the investigators find themselves in the presence of Gods or greater entities of the Mythos, the stakes rise considerably. My spot rule in that situation is that the Player checks Sanity with Compiled Disadvantage. They roll additional dice equal in number to the vowels and punctuation in the entity’s name. They then take the worst result, but each additional 1 or 2 rolled causes an additional Step Down.

For example, Gideon Prince stumbles across a doorway in the library of the necromancer Gaea Hillaire. Upon opening the portal, the majesty of Yog-Sothoth’s presence stands revealed, the swirling shapes within the timeless void ebbing and flowing. Gideon slams the door immediately and backs away, struggling to comprehend the vision. The Player must check Sanity to understand how this revelation impacts the investigator. Sanity D8 means grabbing an eight-sided die, but Compiled Disadvantage means throwing three more (yOg–sOthOth = 4). Rolling 4, 2, 7 and 2 means that Gideon’s Sanity drops twice, to D4. Eye’s goggling and sweat running down his face, Gideon recalls a terrifying night trapped in the clock-filled study of his uncle, and the dull ticking he recalls falls into rhythm with the thunderous thumping of his heart.

I just thought Cthulhu Hack GM’s would appreciate an official ruling.