Cardea — Roman Goddess of Hinges, Doorways and Household Protection
Cardea at a Glance
Tradition
Roman
Divine standing
Lesser Deity
Campaign alignment
Neutral Good
Portfolio
Hinges, doors, household thresholds, warding, children and protective boundaries
Sacred places
Household doors, nurseries, gatehouses and shrines set beside vulnerable entrances
Primary emblems
Hinge, key, white-thorn branch and marked doorpost
Favoured weapon
Staff or club of hawthorn
Closest divine ties
Janus, Vesta, Forculus and Limentinus
Threat most closely associated with her
Striges and other night-creatures that prey upon the helpless
Campaign present
Active wherever war, plague, migration or supernatural intrusion has made the household threshold unsafe.
Roman Pantheon · Hinges · Doorways · Household Protection · Hawthorn · Warding
Cardea is the Roman goddess of the hinge: the small turning point upon which an entire doorway depends. In the campaign world her power governs opening and closing, household thresholds and the protection of children from things that enter a home by night.
Cardea in Roman Tradition
Cardea is best approached with care because the surviving literary evidence is tangled with the goddess Carna. In Fasti VI, Ovid introduces Carna as a goddess of the hinge and tells how Janus grants her authority to open what is closed and close what is open. The same episode gives her a white-thorn branch with power to repel harm from doors.
Ovid then describes predatory night-birds called striges attacking the infant Proca. The goddess protects the child through a household rite, marks the entrance and sets the white-thorn at the window so the creatures cannot return. Later scholarship has long noted that Ovid may be blending Carna and Cardea rather than preserving a cleanly separated cult tradition. The campaign therefore keeps Cardea as the hinge-and-door power while acknowledging the Carna tradition instead of pretending the surviving sources are simpler than they are.
She is not a “Roman Hecate,” and Beltane is not one of her Roman festivals. Her sacred logic is much more specific: a household survives because its openings can be controlled. The hinge is humble, but if it fails the strongest door is useless.
Divine Mechanics
Cardea
Medium Celestial (Deity), Neutral Good
Epic CR 27 (campaign-scale; PB +9)
AC 26 · HP 696 (48d8 + 480) · Speed 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 (+8) | 32 (+11) | 30 (+10) | 32 (+11) | 38 (+14) | 34 (+12) |
Saving Throws Dex +20, Int +20, Wis +23, Cha +21
Skills Arcana +19, Insight +22, Perception +22, Religion +19
Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning, psychic, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned
Senses Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 32
Languages all; telepathy 120 ft.
Traits
Legendary Resistance (5/Day). If Cardea fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Cardea has Advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.
Mistress of the Hinge. Cardea knows the state of every door, shutter, gate, chest, lock and deliberately constructed threshold within 300 feet. As a Bonus Action she may open, close, lock or unlock one nonartifact object she can see within that range.
White-Thorn Ward. Fiends, Undead and shapechanging predators that start their turn within 30 feet of Cardea take 18 (4d8) Radiant damage if they entered the area through a door, window or portal since the end of their last turn.
Divine Spellcasting
Cardea has access to every spell granted by the deity’s portfolio domains in the edition being used: Protection · Community · Purification. Those spells are always prepared or available to the deity.
Actions
Multiattack. Cardea makes three Hawthorn Staff attacks.
Hawthorn Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +23 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 29 (4d8 + 11) Bludgeoning plus 22 (4d10) Radiant damage.
Shut What Is Open (Recharge 5–6). Cardea chooses a 60-foot-radius area within 120 feet. Hostile creatures in the area make a DC 31 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 55 (10d10) Force damage and cannot teleport, become incorporeal or pass through a doorway, window or magical portal until the end of Cardea’s next turn. On a success it takes half damage.
Open What Is Shut (1/Day). Cardea ends one nonartifact magical seal, imprisonment, barred passage or planar closure she can see within 120 feet, provided the effect is not maintained directly by a deity of greater rank.
Bonus Actions
Turn the Hinge. Cardea teleports from one doorway, gate or window to another she can see within 90 feet.
Reactions
Bar the Nursery. When a creature within 60 feet would take damage from a Fiend, Undead or shapechanger, Cardea reduces that damage by 36 (8d8) and the attacker cannot move closer to that creature until the end of its turn.
Legendary Actions
- Hawthorn Strike. Cardea makes one Hawthorn Staff attack.
- Close. One door, gate, portal or opening within 90 feet seals until the start of Cardea’s next turn.
- Protect the Threshold (Costs 2). Cardea creates a 20-foot-radius ward around a doorway she can see. Hostile creatures crossing it take 27 (6d8) Radiant damage until the end of her next turn.
Cardea — Pathfinder 1e
CR 27; NG Medium outsider (divine, extraplanar)
Init +12; Senses true seeing, darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +43
AC 48, touch 31, flat-footed 38; hp 585
Fort +28, Ref +32, Will +35; DR 20/epic; SR 38
Speed 40 ft.
Melee +5 holy quarterstaff +43/+38/+33/+28 (1d6+15 plus 4d6 holy)
Special Abilities
Mistress of the Hinge (Su). Cardea automatically senses and may open, close, lock or unlock a nonartifact door, gate, shutter, chest or portal within 300 feet as a swift action.
White-Thorn Ward (Su). Fiends, undead and hostile shapechangers crossing a threshold within 60 feet take 8d6 holy damage, Will DC 34 half.
Shut What Is Open (Su). Every 1d4 rounds Cardea seals extradimensional movement in a 60-foot radius for 1 round; hostile creatures may resist with a Will DC 34 save.
Spell-Like Abilities
CL 27th. Constant—true seeing. At will—arcane lock, dimensional anchor, dispel magic, knock. 3/day—forbiddance, greater dispel magic, wall of force. 1/day—miracle.
Statistics Str 28, Dex 30, Con 30, Int 30, Wis 36, Cha 32
Cardea — D&D 3.5e
Lesser Deity; Divine Rank 6; NG Medium Outsider (Extraplanar)
CR 27 · Hit Dice 38d8+380 (551 hp) · Speed 40 ft. · AC 50
Attack +5 holy quarterstaff +48 melee (1d6+20 plus 4d6 holy)
Special Attacks alter reality, shut what is open, white-thorn ward, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities DR 20/epic, divine immunities, fast healing 15, SR 40, true seeing, mistress of the hinge
Saves Fort +31, Ref +34, Will +38
Abilities Str 28, Dex 30, Con 30, Int 30, Wis 36, Cha 32
Salient Divine Abilities Alter Reality, Divine Shield, Divine Skill Focus, Know Secrets, Power of Nature.
Spell-Like Abilities At will—arcane lock, dimensional anchor, dispel magic, knock; 3/day—forbiddance, greater dispel magic, wall of force; 1/day—miracle. Caster level 27th.
What Is Cardea Doing Right Now?
The campaign present is an age of breached households. Soldiers return to doors that no longer belong to them. Refugees sleep behind unfamiliar locks. Plague and war make people fear strangers, while supernatural predators exploit abandoned houses, ruined villages and broken city gates.
Cardea’s power concentrates at the smallest defensible boundary: a family door, a nursery shutter, the gate of a hospice or the cellar entrance beneath an occupied city. Her clergy are not grand temple politicians. They are ward-makers, locksmith-priests, protectors of children and people who know that a safe night can matter more than a glorious victory.
Worship in the Campaign Present
Cardea’s worship survives at the scale of the household. Parents, midwives, innkeepers, gatekeepers and people responsible for children mark doors and window-frames with protective signs, white thorn and small hinge offerings.
Her rites are strongest at dusk, when a house is closed for the night. A Cardean priest is more likely to be asked to secure a nursery, diagnose a haunted threshold or bless a rebuilt door than to preside over a great public temple.
Domains, Spells and Divine Gifts
Cardea’s clerics favour Protection, Knowledge, Home and Threshold themes. Suitable spells include Alarm, Arcane Lock, Protection from Evil and Good, Knock, Glyph of Warding, Magic Circle, Dispel Magic, Forbiddance and Gate, using edition-equivalent options where necessary.
Gift: White-Thorn Mark
Once per long rest, a devotee can mark one doorway. Until the next dawn, the first Fiend, Undead or hostile shapechanger to cross it becomes outlined in pale light and cannot become Invisible for 1 minute.
Gift: The Hinge Remembers
By touching a door or gate, the devotee can learn whether it was forced, picked, magically opened or willingly opened since the previous sunset.
Artifacts and Relics
The First Hinge
Major Divine Artifact · Wondrous Item (hinge)
Attunement: The owner of the door, chest or gate to which it is fixed.
5.5e
Once fixed to a door, gate or container, the Hinge makes it immune to mundane forced entry while closed. The owner may name any number of creatures, bloodlines or spoken oaths that permit opening.
Threshold Ward. A hostile incorporeal or ethereal creature trying to cross the closed threshold must succeed on a DC 22 Charisma save or be unable to cross for 24 hours.
Change the Welcome. After 1 minute touching the Hinge, the owner may rewrite the permitted names, bloodlines or oaths.
Pathfinder 1e
Major Artifact · CL 20th. The attached closure is treated as permanently arcane locked at CL 20 and may be opened by designated names, bloodlines or oath-bearers. Hostile incorporeal creatures must succeed at DC 25 Will save to cross the closed threshold.
D&D 3.5e
Major Artifact · CL 20th. The attached closure is permanently arcane locked and opens for designated names, bloodlines or oath-bearers. Hostile incorporeal creatures must succeed on DC 25 Will save to cross the closed threshold.
Destroying the First Hinge
The Hinge can be destroyed only when the lawful owner freely opens a protected threshold to a known enemy for the purpose of offering genuine sanctuary, then removes the Hinge by hand before the enemy departs.
The White Thorn of Cardea
Lesser Divine Relic · Wondrous Item (living branch)
Set above a doorway, the Thorn never dries. Hostile incorporeal creatures crossing that doorway must succeed on a DC 18 Charisma save in 5.5e or DC 20 Will save in PF1e/3.5e or recoil and be unable to cross for 1 hour. Predatory night-creatures have Disadvantage on the 5.5e save.
Use Cardea Tonight
The Hawthorn Has Blackened
Every protective branch in one street blackens on the same night. No child has yet been taken, which means the ward gave warning before the predator crossed.
The Door That Opens Inward
A sealed Roman doorway in a ruined villa opens only for children. Something on the other side knows Cardea’s oldest name.
The Locksmith’s Oath
A guild of locksmiths refuses to repair a nobleman’s doors because every hinge whispers that the household itself is the threat.
Striges at the Window
Night-birds circle a noble nursery despite every mundane guard. The only untouched entrance is a tiny window sealed with ancient white-thorn.
Historical Sources
- Ovid, Fasti VI — the hinge-goddess story, Janus, the white-thorn and the protection of infant Proca from the striges.
- Eugene Tavenner, “The Development of Early Roman Religion” — discussion of Carna, Cardea, the striges and the uncertainty surrounding the traditions.
Rules licensing. D&D 5.5e terminology derived from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 is used under CC BY 4.0 where applicable. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e deity statistics on this page are original campaign conversions rather than official published deity stat blocks.
Rules Compatibility
The divine combat statistics, gifts, relics and campaign events on this page are original game material. Ovid’s account is a literary source for Roman religious tradition; the page distinguishes that evidence from later interpretation and campaign invention.
Deep Dive
Continue through the Roman Pantheon, Janus, Mars, Juturna. Follow the cult into Rome and wider Italy, or use the Cleric and Cleric Domains pages for player-facing worship.