Buy me a coffeePothos
“The Pothos: a seductive fey that turns love into a weapon, obsession into madness, and your heartbeat into its next meal.”
A Pothos is a statuesque, unnaturally beautiful humanoid with flawless skin, symmetrical features, and a hypnotic gaze that flickers with unnatural intensity. Their androgynous form shifts with elegant grace, draped in garments of living ivy or moonlight mist. But their most disturbing feature is their arms—replaced by four long, supple tentacles that glisten like polished silk, moving with predatory sensuality. These tentacles wrap and crush with both affection and lethal intent, often smeared with traces of blood or perfume.
Behaviour
A Pothos is calculated, intimate, and cruel—rarely acting in haste. It delights in emotional manipulation, sowing confusion between desire and destruction. It avoids open combat when possible, relying on its charm, spellcraft, and psychological games to weaken prey. In conversation, it is disarmingly eloquent, weaving lies with truths and slowly binding its victim’s will. A Pothos often toys with victims for days or weeks before delivering the final, intimate blow.
Habitat
Pothoi dwell in liminal wild spaces that stir human passions—mist-veiled waterfalls, glades bathed in perpetual twilight, or ruins overgrown with roses. Their lairs are often littered with tokens from past victims: love letters, jewelry, bones arranged in suggestive poses. They avoid fey courts and despise other fey, especially nymphs, whom they view as naive purveyors of false, balanced love.
Modus Operandi
It targets emotionally vulnerable humanoids, especially those longing for connection or grieving loss. With a single glance, it inflicts an obsessive psychic bond, compelling its victim to seek out its touch like a drug. It draws out the torment with occasional trysts, using suggestion and nightmare magic to erode sanity and push the victim to commit acts of desperation—murder, betrayal, or self-sacrifice. When the victim is utterly enthralled and isolated, the Pothos drains their life in a final, euphoric embrace.
Motivation
More than a predator, a Pothos is a sadistic artist of suffering. It seeks not just sustenance, but domination through desire. It revels in the unraveling of strong minds, the crumbling of moral resolve, and the beauty of love twisted into a weapon. To the Pothos, true power lies not in brute strength, but in being wanted so badly that others will die to touch it—and thank it for the privilege.
Pothos 5e
Pothos, Pathfinder
Pothos
Medium Fey, Neutral Evil
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP) | Proficiency Bonus +4
“To be loved by a Pothos is to weep with joy as it breaks you.”
Armor Class 18 (Uncanny Grace)
Hit Points 144 (17d8 + 68)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) | 18 (+4) | 16 (+3) | 15 (+2) | 22 (+6) |
Saving Throws
Dex +9, Cha +10, Wis +6
Skills
Deception +10, Insight +6, Persuasion +10, Stealth +9, Perception +6
Damage Resistances
Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities
Psychic
Condition Immunities
Charmed
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages
Common, Sylvan, telepathy 120 ft.
Fey Anathema
The Pothos has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks while within 60 feet of a nymph or a creature under the effects of the protection from evil and good spell.
Uncanny Grace
The Pothos adds its Charisma modifier (+6) to its AC and all saving throws. It ignores difficult terrain.
Addictive Presence (Aura)
Any creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the Pothos must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the start of its next turn. While charmed in this way, a creature has disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws made to resist the Pothos’s abilities and cannot willingly move away from it. A creature that succeeds is immune to this aura for 24 hours.
Actions
Multiattack
The Pothos makes two Tentacle attacks. If both hit, it can use Constrict as a bonus action.
Tentacle
Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 17). While grappled, the target is restrained.
Constrict
One creature grappled by the Pothos takes 18 (4d8) psychic damage and must succeed on a DC 18 Charisma saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Bewitching Glance (Recharge 5–6)
The Pothos targets one creature it can see within 30 feet. The target must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become infatuated with the Pothos for 24 hours. While infatuated:
- The creature regards the Pothos as a trusted lover.
- The creature is treated as willing for the Pothos’s touch-based abilities.
- The condition ends early if the Pothos attacks it.
This effect can be removed with greater restoration, remove curse, or wish.
Spellcasting
The Pothos casts spells using Charisma (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit). It requires no material components.
At Will: charm person, disguise self, suggestion, unnatural lust (as crown of madness, but the target is obsessed with the Pothos)
3/day: dimension door, dream, phantasmal killer
1/day: dominate person, modify memory
Legendary Actions
The Pothos can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn. It regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Hypnotic Whispers. One creature the Pothos can see within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute.
Tentacle Lash. The Pothos makes one Tentacle attack.
Drain Life (Costs 2 Actions). The Pothos targets one charmed or restrained creature within 10 feet. The target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) necrotic damage on a failed save and gaining one level of exhaustion. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and suffers no other effect.
Tactics
The Pothos avoids direct confrontation unless it has weakened its foes through manipulation or charm. It targets the most emotionally or mentally vulnerable first, using suggestion, dream, or dominate person to isolate and control its victim. It often retreats with dimension door when outmatched, returning days later through dreams or disguised encounters to resume its emotional predation.
Lair
A Pothos’s lair is a corrupted romantic haven: a mist-drenched glade, a moonlit ruin, or a sun-dappled waterfall overgrown with roses and ivy. The area may feature bones posed like lovers’ embraces, discarded jewelry, and love letters torn to shreds.
Pothos
This statuesque humanoid has fine features and perfect proportions. The only disturbing addition to their beauty is the four long tentacles that grow in place of their arms.
A pothos, also known as a lethal lover, is a fey creature that represents obsessive and destructive love. Pothoi delight in driving humanoids to madness and violence with love—their very presence is like a drug to their victims, who willingly sink into the lethal lover’s embrace even as the creature drains their life force. A mere glance is enough to initiate this love madness, and pothoi tend to live in places where the unaware are likely to stumble upon them—dappled glades, pristine waterfalls and other wild areas that stir the passions of travelers.
A pothos typically prefers to work its insidious magic over extended periods of time. First they inflict a creature with their bewitching magic, and then kill them slowly over days of intimate contact. The drawn out nature of the death is what a pothos most enjoys; sending their dupe back home to pine for a while before deigning to meet them for another tryst, using their spell-like abilities to torment and vex their victim, and even magically encouraging them to commit crimes to appease their lethal lover.
If forced into direct combat, a pothos will render enemies dazed with their beauty, then grab and crush any creature that resists. They will readily flee for their lives from a foe unaffected by their mind-influencing magic.
Lethal lovers can assume the physical appearance of any gender or sex they choose. They can change their appearance by wrapping themselves in a cocoon of tentacles for 24 hours, during which time they gently mold their features into whatever form they please. Pothoi hate other fey, especially nymphs, whom they view as a manifestation of balanced and healthy love. Unlike most fey, they have no particular affinity for animals, and may torture and kill animals in their territory specifically to antagonize other fey creatures.
They typically stands as tall as a human, although some are sized to prey on Small creatures.
In myth
Pothos, is one of the Erotes, who were aspects of or associated with Eros. Pothos specifically was the god of yearning and unrequited love
Pothos CR 7
XP 3,200
NE Medium fey
Init +5; Senses low-light vision, Perception +12
Defense
AC 21, touch 20, flat-footed 15 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 deflection, +1 natural)
hp 68 (8d6+40); fast healing 3
Fort +6, Ref +11, Will +9
DR 10/cold iron; SR 18
Defensive Abilities uncanny grace
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 4 tentacles +9 (1d4+2 plus grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks bewitching glance, constrict (4d4+3), drain life, gaze
Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +12
At will—reckless infatuation (DC 17), unnatural lust (DC 16)
3/day—dimension door, sending, suggestion (DC 17)
1/day—nightmare (DC 19), terrible remorse (DC 18)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 21, Con 18, Int 15, Wis16, Cha 18
Base Atk +4; CMB +9 (+13 grapple); CMD 26
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Dodge, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +14, Bluff +14, Diplomacy +14, Disguise +14, Knowledge (local) +12, Perception +12, Sense Motive +12, Stealth +14, Survival +12, Swim +11
Languages Common, Gnome, Sylvan
Ecology
Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary
Treasure double standard
Special Abilities
Bewitching Glance (Su) As a standard action, a pothos may cast a glance at a living creature within 30 feet in order to make the creature to become obsessed with them. If the creature fails a DC 18 Will save, it is treated as having a moderate addiction to the pothos’ touch. Unlike a normal drug addiction, a remove curse can remove this effect, rather than a remove disease. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to the bewitching glance of that pothos for the next 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma based.
Drain Life (Su) A pothos can use drain life by touching a willing, helpless or pinned living creature as a standard action. Doing so inflicts one negative level; this negative level can be removed 24 hours later with a successful DC 18 Fortitude save. A creature addicted to the pothos’ touch via its bewitching glance ability is always treated as a willing target. The save DC is Constitution based.
Gaze (Su) 30 ft., Will DC 18 negates, dazed 1 round. The save DC is Charisma based.
Uncanny Grace (Su) A pothos gains its Charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to its AC and CMD.
Pothos Boons and Banes (CL 8th, level 4, DC 18)
A pothos typically inflicts their boon and bane on the same target, the better to drive them into a frenzy of lust and wear down their sanity and morality. Their boon is particularly treacherous; though it seems like a benefit, it makes it more and more difficult for the allies of their victims to get the help they need.
Boon: You become deadened to any emotions, save for those inspired by a pothos.You gain a +4 morale bonus on all saves against emotion and fear effects, except for those cast by the pothos that bestowed this boon. This boon lasts for 1 week.
Bane: You are in constant telepathic contact with the pothos that inflicted this bane. You may communicate with them telepathically at any range, as long as you are on the same plane. She may use any of her spell-like abilities, or her bewitching glance, on you as a standard action through this link. This bane lasts for 1 month.