This is a sister article to my previous on mitigating Sanity loss, and equally not-recommended because dying horribly should be the expectation (not the exception) in Call of Cthulhu. The whole point is that your characters are delving into things mankind is neither supposed nor equipped to know, and the system is built to run your party ragged and then spit them out as chewed-up gibbering husks. That’s half the fun!
However, I’m not gonna pretend there aren’t ways to spec your character out for a bit more survivability than the average joe. I checked the internet to see if anyone else has covered this topic, and while the question has certainly been asked, the answers are always cheeky stuff like “don’t go into spooky houses, don’t read ancient books” etc, which is very cute but I’m here to give actual tangible methods to up your odds of surviving the combat encounters that will inevitably happen whether your character likes it or not.
1. Wear Armor.
Did you know armor exists in Call of Cthulhu? That’s a thing you could be wearing! Most players routinely march into the dhole’s den with nary a shred of protection, which I usually encourage but won’t pretend is the smartest call against Cthulhu’s finest. Any clothing’s armor value is subtracted from damage taken, which will add up over time. And the weakest armor, a leather jacket, is a perfectly respectable addition to any wardrobe. Consider it the bare minimum for a properly-equipped investigator!
2. Pump that Dodge.
But you know what’s even better than deflecting damage? Not getting hit in the first place! Dodge is a skill like any other, you can put points into it and I consider it among the most important in the game. Like any skill, you can push it all the way to 75, meaning you’ll dodge ¾ of incoming attacks on average. Some occupations like Acrobat and Prostitute even get it as a profession skill, saving your personal development points for flashier things. Your starting Dodge is determined by your DEX, meaning getting that as high as you can will really help save some skillpoints later in character creation.
3. Pump that HP Value.
But just in case you do take damage, you might want some decent HP to cushion that blow. Hitpoints are calculated via your SIZ and CON, which is very pricy as those are otherwise pretty low-importance attributes. I admittedly don’t generally follow this bulletpoint myself, choosing to prioritize not getting hit in the first place. Call of Cthulhu has notoriously squishy player characters no matter how optimized they are, so this should be considered a last resort to the other recommendations on this list.
4. Invest in First Aid.
There are only two skills that can heal wounded investigators, and both have massive drawbacks. Medicine takes an hour, starts at a measly 1% proficiency, and only heals 1d3 points, so I don’t generally consider it worth it. But First Aid is a nice little bulwark for quickly regenerating a single hitpoint from whatever damage you just took that fight. And it starts at 30% so you don’t need to sacrifice many points to get good at it. Your teammates will appreciate you too!
5. Pump that Movement Speed.
There are only three possible movement speeds for player characters in modern CoC rules: 7, 8, and 9, and do you really want to be one of those poor sods trudging along at 7 when the Deep Ones come crawling from the surf? You’ve already pumped DEX to get good Dodge, just make sure your STR is higher than your SIZ and you’ll have the best chance of outrunning whatever’s trying to tear your throat out. (This clashes with #3 which wants high SIZ for more hitpoints, another reason I generally ignore that bullet point.)
6. Take Cover!
Much like in D&D, players in Call of Cthulhu generally tend to forget about cover, the most obvious ruleset in place to increase their combat defenses. CoC is a turn-based system, remember you can emerge from cover, take your shot, and then get back behind cover to end your turn and force those penalty die on your opponents. If caught entirely flat-footed, there’s also a rule for Diving Into Cover, which requires a successful Dodge roll but otherwise doesn’t even need movement or for it to be your turn. Stop standing out in the open like a doofus and you may find your measly hitpoints lasting a good while longer.
And that’s it! Now you’ve got some guidance for how to tilt the odds in your favor when fighting inevitably breaks out. Can’t think of any other suggestions I’d add…well, except…
Bonus #7. Form a Pact with an Eldritch Being.
You KNOW they’ve offered! My investigating parties can’t throw a stick at a haunted forest without at least one of us getting uncomfortable dreams from an unfathomable entity whispering of terrible boons they could grant if we let them. My fellow players always doggedly resist these temptations, and I cannot for the life of me understand why.
Call of Cthulhu is an extremely deadly setting, where your enemies will be wielding horrific supernatural powers to shred your pathetic fleshy body, but choosing a side in the Eldritch Struggle will give you some downright unearthly options for evening those odds. 10 out of 10 of the most ass-kicking moments in my CoC career came from investigators who wielded some chthonic artifact or forbidden spell to rain death and decimation upon their enemies. Embrace that opportunity! Spending the whole campaign unaligned is like playing an RPG with a permanently-empty weapon slot, why would you do that?
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