Call of Cthulhu 7e Spell List: Grimoire Spells by Type and Purpose

Introduction

The Call of Cthulhu 7e Grimoire is not a menu. It is a collection of dangerous procedures whose names, costs, conditions, and effects change the shape of a scenario. This page lists the spells in the Keeper Rulebook's Grimoire (Chapter 12) by type, explains what each group does to a scenario, and helps you pick the kind of magic that fits the problem in front of you. The exact procedure, cost, and effect of each spell stay in the rulebook entry, so this page names the spells and describes them in a line rather than reproducing them.

Use it as a map. Spells here are grouped by what they do: make contact, bring something here, send something away, compel and control a monster, cross an impossible boundary, enchant an object, or act directly on a person, place, or thing. For the shared casting rules, including the Hard POW first casting and pushed casting, read the magic guide's How Magic Works section. For resources and consequences, see Magic Points Explained and the Mythos Magic Costs section.

Hot Take

The best spell list is not the one with the most options. It is the one that tells a Keeper, "This is the kind of terrible choice this scenario needs." If a rite does not create a clue, a cost, an escalation, or a hard decision, it is probably not serving Call of Cthulhu. Put it back in the book until it has a job.

How the Grimoire Is Organized

The Grimoire lists spells alphabetically, with a few grouped exceptions. It names three major classes, Call and Dismiss Deity spells, Contact spells, and Enchantment spells, and it also gathers Gate spells and Summoning spells under their own headings. Everything else is a standalone entry.

Three rules shape how any of these reach the table:

• Spells are starting points. The Grimoire says there is no definitive spell. A tome may hold a weaker or stronger version, a poor translation may give a lesser effect at a higher cost, and a spell imparted by a Great Old One may be stronger or cheaper. There is no fixed ratio of cost to effect.
• Rename them. Keepers are strongly advised to use evocative titles instead of the standard names. Two tomes may call the same spell by different names, and different spells may share similar ones. Most entries end with suggested alternative names.
• Deeper versions exist. When an insane investigator (temporary or indefinite) successfully casts a spell, the player rolls 1D100; a result at or under Cthulhu Mythos skill unlocks a deeper, more horrific version of that spell for good. Mythos entities and cultists at zero Sanity already know the deeper versions.

A spell entry gives a cost (usually Magic Points and Sanity, with permanent POW for lasting or major effects), a casting time, and a description. Range is usually touch, 100 yards, or sight. In combat, an instantaneous spell goes off at DEX+50, a one-round spell on the caster's DEX that round, and a two-round spell on their DEX the following round. Many offensive spells need an opposed POW roll: higher success level wins, a tie goes to higher POW, and a POW difference of 100 or more wins automatically.

First Choose the Scenario Need

Start with the situation, not a spell name. Ask what the investigators need that ordinary investigation cannot give them, then pick the group that creates the most interesting version of that result.

For example, a group that needs information from an underground creature has several routes. A Contact spell creates a negotiation. A Summon spell creates a confrontation and a control problem. A Gate may let the investigators enter the creature's territory. A protective or revealing spell may let them investigate without meeting it at all. Each route plays very differently.

Do not treat a group as a promise of capability. Two procedures that sound alike can have very different requirements, and the source of a spell is part of the scenario rather than a delivery system.

Call and Dismiss Deity Spells

Call spells bring a physical manifestation of a god, avatar, or Great Old One before the caster. The general Call Deity cost is at least 1 Magic Point from each participant and 1D10 Sanity for the caster, with a casting time of 1 to 100 minutes. The Magic Points spent become the percentage chance of success, and everyone present loses Sanity if the deity appears. The rulebook assumes a Call and a Dismiss spell exist for every Great Old One and god, and each Call needs its own conditions.

Dismiss Deity is the investigator-facing half. It can be cast anytime, anywhere, costs no Sanity, and works in two stages: first Magic Points equal to 1 per 25 of the deity's POW to open the way (a 5% chance), then each further point adds 5 percentiles, up to a 99% maximum. Use this group when the scenario is about presence and absence: something immense is arriving, has arrived, or must be stopped from arriving again. Never use Call or Dismiss as a casual way to get exposition.

Contact Spells

Contact spells request communication. With creatures, a successful spell draws one or more to the caster, but they come of their own will and are not controlled. The general framework is 1D3 Sanity (plus more for seeing the creature), a casting time of 1D6+4 rounds, and a Magic Point cost set by each spell. Most creature Contact spells succeed automatically if any of that species lives within a convenient distance, and the creature may take an hour, a day, or longer to arrive. Knowing one Contact spell is no help in casting another.

The key limitation is control. The contacted being may come late, bring companions, demand payment, lie, or decide the investigators are a threat. That makes Contact ideal for social horror and escalation, not for reliable rescue. The Contact Spells section of the magic guide covers how to prepare and run the meeting.

Contact Deity Spells

Contact Deity spells cost 5 POW and 1D6 Sanity and take 1D6+4 rounds. After the POW is sacrificed, the chance of success is half the caster's reduced POW. The deity or an aspect of it responds after hours or days, usually in a way the caster did not choose, and it rarely gives non-worshipers anything of value. The rulebook says only insane priests and powerful sorcerers normally use them.

Summon and Bind Spells

Summon spells compel a monster, not a god, to appear, and Bind spells make it obey. Unless the Keeper says otherwise, the two halves are learned together, and the rulebook warns against learning only to summon. Except for the Servitor of the Outer Gods, the general cost is 1 Magic Point for each 10 percent chance of success, five minutes of chanting per point, and 1D4 Sanity whether or not the spell works. A roll of 96-100 always fails. A successful summoning brings one creature 2D10 minutes after the chant ends.

Binding can also be cast on its own (1 Sanity point, one round) on a monster that arrived unbound or was met by chance. It needs an opposed POW roll, which cannot be pushed, and the creature must be visible and within 100 yards. The command must be specific and limited: "slay that man in the corner" works; "protect me forever" does not. An attacking creature cannot be bound by the person it is fighting.

Summon and Bind suit villains, cultists, and investigators making a visibly desperate choice. Give the scene a target, a limited objective, and a failure plan. "Bring a dangerous creature here" is not an objective.

Gate Spells

Gate spells open doorways to other lands, times, dimensions, or worlds. Creating a Gate costs permanent POW that scales with distance (5 POW for up to 100 miles, rising by 5 for each tenfold increase), and takes an hour per POW spent. Each trip through costs Magic Points equal to one-fifth of the POW used to build it, plus 1 Sanity point, with any Magic Point shortfall paid in Hit Points.

Use Gates when geography is part of the horror. Do not treat one as fast travel. Establish who can use it, where it leads, what the other side is like, and how the group gets back. A good Gate scene solves one spatial problem while creating another: separation, exposure, a hostile destination, or a route someone else can now use.

Enchant Spells

The Grimoire's Enchantment class is narrower than the name suggests. Enchant spells put magic into a specific device, and each involves a blood sacrifice, spent Magic Points or POW, at least 1D4 Sanity, and at least a day of work. Most exist to raise the chance of casting another spell.

An enchanted item rarely leaves play once it exists. It becomes something to guard, something a cult wants back, and evidence of what its owner has done.

Standalone Grimoire Spells

The rest of the Grimoire is alphabetical. Most of these act directly on a person, place, or object: they harm, control, protect, reveal, transform, or banish. Several need an opposed POW roll to affect a target.

Some of these are the most player-friendly magic in the book because they support the investigation: a ward buys time, a revealing powder turns a suspicion into a visible clue, and a banishment ends one threat without ending the case. Their limits should matter as much as their benefits. A ward covers only its stones. Something made visible is not made harmless.

The offensive and body-altering spells need extra care before they enter play. Ask what exactly changes, how long it lasts, whether the target resists or notices, and what evidence the change leaves. Lasting effects, such as Create Zombie, Green Decay, Mind Transfer, or Apportion Ka, create questions the campaign keeps answering: who is responsible for a created servant, and what happens when an altered person goes home?

How to Read an Individual Spell Entry

Once you have a plausible spell, read its entry in this order:

1. Purpose: State the concrete result the investigators expect.
2. Cost: Record every listed resource, including anything permanent.
3. Casting time: Decide whether the current scene can support it.
4. Requirements: Components, location, target, conditions, and freedom of movement.
5. Resolution: A first-casting Hard POW roll for a newly learned spell, an opposed POW roll, or another roll after casting.
6. Limits: Range, duration, number of targets, control, and what the spell does not do.
7. Aftermath: What witnesses, evidence, attention, or obligation success creates.

This order prevents a common table error: noticing the effect, paying the cost, and finding out too late that the spell needs a week, a specific target, or an entirely different roll.

Build a Scenario Around a Spell Group

For Keepers, choose the group before the specific spell. The group tells you what pressure the magic should create.

• A Contact scenario needs an entity with an agenda and an answer that complicates the next step.
• A Call or Dismiss scenario needs a looming manifestation, a ritual clock, and a way for investigators to find the countermeasure.
• A Summon and Bind scenario needs containment, competing control, and a reason no mundane method will do.
• A Gate scenario needs two meaningful locations and a reason the impossible route is necessary but unsafe.
• An Enchant scenario needs an object someone wants, and a clue to the sacrifice that made it.
• A protective or revealing scenario needs an obstacle that magic clarifies or contains without ending the case.
• A harmful or transforming scenario needs consequences that last beyond the final scene.

Then add the details: the tome or teacher the spell comes from, its title in that source, the component or place that makes it possible, the cost, and the complication that follows success. That gives you scenario magic of your own instead of a copied entry.

Player Guidance

Use this list to choose a direction, then read the actual spell your investigator knows. Do not assume another spell in the same group has the same limits, cost, or reliability, and expect your version to differ from the rulebook's.

Pick magic that supports a clear objective. A Contact spell can secure a clue. A ward can buy an hour. A Gate can open an escape route. Casting because a spell sounds powerful is how an investigator turns one problem into a bigger one.

If the effect lasts or controls another being, talk it through with the group. Those choices shape the campaign's tone and other characters' agency.

Keeper Guidance

Use groups to protect scenario structure. If a spell would erase the investigation, narrow the version available, change its source, add a condition, or let it reveal only the next usable clue. The rulebook explicitly supports varying spells by source.

Give spells evocative names in play instead of handing players a technical catalog. The rulebook's own example turns "Summon Byakhee" into a line about a great winged beast brought from the void. That keeps mystery alive and makes the group investigate what a rite does before assuming it matches a familiar label.

Do not hand players copied spell entries when a summary of what it does, how it is cast, and what it is known to cost will do. Your scenario should add the local history, personal stakes, visible consequences, and decisions that make the procedure memorable.

Spell Selection Checklist

Before selecting a spell, confirm:

• The scenario need is specific and ordinary investigation cannot answer it as well.
• The chosen group creates the kind of scene the table wants to play.
• The individual Grimoire entry has been read for its actual requirements and effects.
• Costs, timing, conditions, and limits are understood before the first casting roll.
• The spell will produce a clue, cost, escalation, or decision rather than end the case outright.
• A Contact spell is not being mistaken for control, and a summoned creature can be bound.
• A Call, Summon, or lasting transformation has consequences to match its scale.
• The spell has a source and a name that give it a story role beyond its mechanics.