Cyclops Monster Card art by Daniel Lopez-Melville

Cyclops Culture, Psychology, & Lore

by Vassar Oenbring

“Once our people wove magic into metal and stone. We forged artifacts of power to overthrow the Titans and hold open the doors to the planes themselves.  For this we were cursed by the gods of Order. They fractured our thoughts and cast us into the wilds to die. By the power of the One Eye may we unmake the curse that clouds our minds.”

– Corgrim Thickwrist, Cyclops Oculor

Culture and Psychology

Brash, loutish and myopic, Cyclopes often appear as dumb and brutish as their distant cousins the Hill Giants. Their broad definition of who and what constitutes food, coupled with their vulgar behavior and overall disregard for personal hygiene, makes it easy to conclude that they have little in the way of society or culture. To outsiders, the height of Cyclops humor appears to be the cruel and prolonged torture of their hapless prey.  As such, few races tolerate Cyclopes long enough to appreciate their subtlety or intelligence.

Cyclops communities are somewhat rare and usually depend on dominant leaders capable of enforcing of social order. Such leaders are most often powerful warlords who have subjugated a dozen or more followers through force of arms, but historic reports exist of larger Cyclops communities organized by religious or scholarly pursuits.

The Elves of Hastun refer to the Cyclopes of the Thernin Mountains as the Er-Vanwanirm, or “those who have forgotten themselves.” There is increasing evidence that Cyclopes occasionally experience ancestral memories in the form of dreams and trances. A daydreaming lout may awake from a fever dream to find that she has scribbled down plans on parchment for a fully functioning forge, only to burn them some hours later to build a crude fire.

Most Cyclops tribes specialize in some form of craft, frequently pottery, woodcraft, or metalworking. While most produce crude results by human standards, these goods are traded with Trolls, Ettins, Bugbears, and the like.  For some Cyclopes the act of crafting seems to be an end in itself, and they occasionally exchange their crafts for little more than additional raw materials.  Clever Trolls have been known to run tidy arbitrage businesses on the backs of Cyclopes, selling Cyclops-carved wooden flutes at market, for example, keeping the revenue, and providing the carver only with more wood to carve flutes.

Once in a great while, and seemingly without cause, an otherwise unremarkable individual will generate a masterpiece in their chosen craft. These ornate, over-sized works have attracted the attentions of Giants, Demons, and other powerful creatures over the centuries, with at least one piece, the Clockwork Beholder of Amosa, sparking a subterranean war between Stone Giants and Beholders in the Kolumdor Empire.

In the few places where communities of Cyclopes have endured for more than a few decades, their culture has matured with startling rapidity.  Art, crafts, trade, and religious organization begin to emerge as individuals awaken the slumbering fragments of their greater racial memory. At times, such enclaves send out emissary patrols to locate and reclaim their uncultivated fellows.

Special Tactics

A solitary Cyclops is nearly always savage and quick to anger, yet possesses a preternatural cunning when it comes to ambush and battle. Their ears are keen and their single eye is remarkably perceptive at great distances. Unless surprised at close range, a Cyclops will attack from above by hurling rocks down upon its quarry. Often, the cowardly creatures flee from enemies who are not struck down by the first volleys of stones. If forced into melee, or if confident of victory, a lone Cyclops will attempt to devour whomever it decides is the leader of the opposition. If bested, a sorely wounded Cyclops will often beg for mercy, offering foodstuffs, pilfered trinkets, and whatever lies it feels may give it the best chance of freedom.

A hunting party or war mob of Cyclopes fights in a more disciplined and steadfast manner.  Those with military training utilize a front line that advances under cover of missile fire (typically thrown rocks) from the second rank. If facing foes with many ranged weapons, the front line may fashion massive tower shields from the trunks of trees to shelter the fighters until they are able to close.

The most civilized Cyclopes forge armor and martial weapons, and are truly fearsome upon the battlefield. Important leaders ride to war with elaborate headdresses featuring visors of crystal or glass to protect the wearer’s eye. Cyclops armies are known to fight fanatically, usually seeking to smash enemy lines and slay opposing generals in one powerful push.

Qualities

Forgetful. It is rare for a Cyclops to remember details or events for more than a week. Given their strange latent memories, some become unable to consistently distinguish between events that happened recently and the ancestral memories of past millenia. The word used by Giants for this is Skodtanje, roughly translated as “Thought Fog,” and those lost in it live a mental life far removed from the physical day-to-day.

Gluttonous. As the Halfling Bard Twibble Chubnose once remarked, “If I had to eat as much as a Cyclops, I suppose I wouldn’t care what I ate either.” Aside from Elementals, Undead, and constructs, there are few creatures that a Cyclops will not attempt to consume to slake its relentless hunger. Cyclops lairs are littered with the possessions of victims and random found objects. Often these items are tossed into unstable piles that may collapse upon unwary intruders.

Liars. Cyclopes often display boisterous pomposity and they are inveterate liars.  As such, they have Advantage on Deception and Intimidation checks against creatures smaller than them.

Monocular. Cyclopes are decisive, focused, and undeviating. Once an opinion or course of action has been determined, a Cyclops tends to follow it to the end. Persuasion, Intimidation, and Deception checks made to change a Cyclops’ mind are made at Disadvantage.

Rageful. Prideful and petulant, Cyclopes are easy to taunt. Insults and wounds will drive them into a frenzy, and they tend to obsess over finding and eating transgressors. Rageful Cyclopes gain a +1 bonus attack with their main weapon when engaging a foe that has injured them in the past.

Trickster. Most Cyclopes wear belts festooned with sacks and pouches, from which they can retrieve nearly any sort of mundane object. Outside combat they set traps to set for the unwary, but once combat has begun the great creatures take delight in surprising their foes with pots of alchemist’s fire, bottles of acid, and poisoned caltrops.

Unplumbed Depths. Written histories of the Fall of Cagra’dus report a curious incident in which a war mob of Cyclopes rampaging the halls of Suurim Castle were stopped in their tracks by the beauty of the Mural of Mora. Other stories tell of Cyclops raiders releasing Elven dreamsingers after hearing them croon death-songs.  Many have noted the oddness of perfectly preserved marble statues amidst the otherwise shattered ruins of Cyclopes-sacked cities.

Weapons

Melee 1. Grab (3d6+6 bludgeoning, reach 10).  A Cyclops with a free hand can attempt to crush a Large or smaller creature in its fist. On a successful hit, the victim must make an DC 16 Athletics or Acrobatics check to avoid being Grabbed and Restrained. Grab deals its damage automatically to a restrained creature until it is able to escape.

Melee 2. Bite (3d12+6 piercing). The Cyclops makes a single Bite attack against an adjacent creature. Bite automatically hits a creature that is already Grabbed by the Cyclops. On a natural 20, Bite decapitates its target, killing it instantly.

Ranged 1. Longspear (2d10+6, reach 15, range 60/180). Usually Cyclops Longspears are little more than sharpened tree limbs. Hunting parties carry many of these and can fashion more in several minutes.

Ranged 2. Bolas (3d6+6, range 30/120). Frequently used by hunting parties, a bolas wraps itself around its victim, who must make a DC 15 DEX save or become entangled, reducing its Move to 0. It requires a full round action to extract oneself from a bolas.

Special Units

Keep Master. Some few Cyclops achieve mnemonic rapture and can commune fully with the ancestral gestalt.  This allows them access to the entirety of the Cyclops cultural memory. These rare and potent individuals usually dedicate themselves to the mastery of a particular art form, producing masterpieces coveted by emperors and elder wyrms alike. Other Cyclops obey Keep Masters without question. Three times per long rest as a bonus action, a Keep Master may use its ancestral foresight to force a PC to reroll a save, attack, or ability check.

Cyclops Bandit. These brigands forsake the comfort of a warm cave for a life of adventure. Bandits adorn themselves with colorful swashes of cloth and roam the realms in search of plunder, frequently trading what they steal with other Cyclopes along the way. These canny Giants often waylay travelers at night, and as such they have developed Blindsight 30’ and Advantage on ability checks used to locate prey they can hear or smell.

Oculor. The shamans and mystics of Cyclops religion emphasize the superiority of the single-eye and preach a monolithic future based on a remembrance and rebuilding of Cyclops days of old . They cast magic as 3rd-level Clerics with the Knowledge domain, and focus on casting healing and protection spells if attacked.

Three-armed Cyclops. These reclusive tinkerers are rarely found far from their cluttered lairs. Rejected by other Cyclopes, they are more often tolerated by their neighbors as they usually accept donations of food in lieu of eating everyone they meet. Their additional arm increases their DEX by 4 and allows three attacks when using multiattack. Most wear leather helmets adorned with a variety of magnifying lenses fixed to rusty articulated struts, which they constantly adjust with one or the other of their three hands.

Dungeon Warden. Loathsome, depraved, and mad with Skodtanje, the Dungeon Wardens have been walled into crypts and labyrinths to serve as brutish guardians.  They are the only Cyclopes mad enough to eat anything alive, including their own kind. These horrific creatures armor themselves with the bones of their victims, granting them AC 18. They grow massive, with 200 Hit Points, and their Bite damage increased to 3d20+6. They roll saves against Illusion and Enchantment spells at Disadvantage, and have Disadvantage on Perception and Sense Motive checks.

Special Abilities

Blitzkreig.  Once per combat, by calling upon ancient memories of valor and victory, Cyclopes with the Blitzkrieg ability gain +2 to hit and damage, as well as +10 Speed for 10 rounds. If a creature has previously been observed by Zoom In, all attacks made against it have Advantage.

Taunt. By using a combination of pidgin and pantomime, a Cyclops can use an action to incite weak-minded creatures it can see to recklessly charge it.  Taunted creatures within a 10 x 10 square must make a DC 8 WIS save or use their turn to approach and attack the Cyclops.

Call Beasts. The Cyclops puts an ox horn to its lips and blows a discordant blast that summons its bestial allies. 1d6 Dire creatures of a type that suits the landscape quickly arrive to aid the Cyclops in battle.

Hurl Boulder. Cyclopes smooth the edges of their favorite rocks, making them bounce and roll when they strike the ground.  Hurled boulders deal 4d10+6 bludgeoning damage on impact and roll for up to 50’ if not stopped by a solid object. Medium-sized and smaller creatures in the 10’ wide path of the boulder must Save DC 15 DEX save or take 2d10+6 bludgeoning damage.

Giant Wasp Jar. These ornate vases explode on impact, releasing swarms of stinging insects the size of cats. The swarm is 20 x 20 with 60 Hit Points and Speed 60. It automatically hits anything inside of it for 3d6+4 Poison damage, Save DC 14 CON for half damage.

Manburger Paddles. Dripping with stale innards, these grotesque implements look like combination grater and cleaver. A Cyclops wielding two of these may attack three times per round, with the Paddles doing 3d10+6 slashing damage per hit.

Zoom In. Cyclops are able to spend a full round action observing a single object that they can see at any distance and discern details that even Elves might miss. A Cyclops that is able to spy upon a group of creatures in such a manner gains Advantage on all checks made to locate any creature observed.

Movement

Run. Good. Cyclopes cover ground quickly on their muscular legs.

Climb. Good.  At home in mountains and rough places, Cyclopes are surprisingly dexterous climbers.

Swim. Poor. While they are capable of swimming, these giants rarely enter water they cannot stand in.

Burrow. Average. Usually Cyclopes slowly enlarge their lairs by moving stones and digging out loose soil. They are not generally interested in more complex excavations but if motivated are quite capable.

Fly. N/A

Grudges

Cyclopes struggle to form alliances with other Giant-Kin and are known to sow conflict with almost anyone who enters their domain. They tolerate each other well enough, and occasionally befriend some of the less-belligerent Hill Giants, but are generally poor company and unreliable allies.

Powerful beings of all kinds have often sought to harness the latent crafting abilities of the Cyclopes, and lesser enemies have harassed and hounded them in the mortal realms since time eternal. Revenge or long-lived feuds do not hold much interest for these scatter-brained folk, though they will happily pull an intruder apart and suck its bones laughing. Often grudges are as easily forgotten as favors. Like their cousins the Hill Giants, Cyclopes daydream in the Skodtanje, drifting in a wheel of time most mortals can only dimly comprehend.

Those that attempt to enslave a Cyclops often meet a bad end, as the creatures prove preternaturally cunning.  They act at unpredictable and inopportune moments, unseating and devouring their masters despite restraints or wards.

The once mighty Scourge of Shomoa was slain with his own battle standard when a conscripted Cyclops hurled it nearly 500’ to pierce his armored chest atop the ramparts of Rekrivo. Another Cyclops slave slew his master, a powerful Rakshasa sorcerer, by slathering himself with a seemingly random selection of spell reagents and potions that nullified his master’s magics. Whatever they were, and whatever they may be again, the Cyclopes of today are not to be trusted or trifled with.

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