Faunus at a Glance
Roman god of wild countryside, flocks and rural prophecy
Lesser deity; Chaotic Neutral
Wooded pastures in the Olympian Glades of Arborea
Tiber Island; Latian groves, springs and grazing country
A wolf passing lambs unharmed; a voice beneath trees; animals refusing a dangerous road
Goatskin, rustic staff, wolf, flock and whispering grove
The Island Staff and the Shepherd’s Mask
Faunus guards the flock and speaks prophecies people would rather not hear. In Latium, a herdsman knows the god by a wolf that passes lambs unharmed, a warning heard under the trees, or a dream that keeps a family off a doomed road. He smells of sun-warmed wool, leaf mould and running water. His conversation begins with the sheep that will not drink or the bridge that groans at night; a petitioner who asks about kingdoms may first have to answer for a neglected animal.
What Is Faunus Doing Right Now?
A flock on the road from the Roman countryside has stopped sleeping. Every sheep stands facing the same wooded hill, including the blind old ram that has never left its home pasture. Their shepherd, Livia, has followed their gaze to a spring whose water tastes of iron. Faunus is keeping the animals from drinking until someone finds the bodies buried uphill.
At his Tiber Island sanctuary, boatmen hear a voice beneath the bridge before floodwater reaches the city. The keeper, Marcellus, has closed the low landing and is being accused of inventing a warning to favour a rival ferryman. Faunus wants the passengers ashore. He leaves the accusations for people to settle after the rescue.
Meeting the God of the Countryside
Faunus appears as a weathered, horned countryman with a rustic staff, a wolf passing close at heel or a voice with no visible speaker. He can be warm, impatient, mocking and deeply unsettling in the same conversation. A clever speech pleases him less than a traveller who notices a limping ewe before approaching the altar.
He offers warnings freely when a community is in danger. A clearer answer requires a task: recover animals driven into a gorge, clean a fouled spring or bring a frightened witness safely through the grove. Bargaining succeeds through useful service and honest attention. Hurting a flock to force his appearance brings the guardian before the oracle.
His divine pastures lie along the wooded margins of the Olympian Glades in Arborea. Sheep graze among open clearings, and the paths carry the voices of animals long dead in mortal fields. A country shrine can open onto those pastures when Faunus welcomes its visitors. Their return is through the same grove or landing; taking a sacred animal without leave closes that way until it is restored.
Worship, Shrines and Rural Omens
Shepherds, herders, hunters and country families keep small rites around flocks and uncertain journeys. A sanctuary needs living ground: a pasture edge, a spring, a sheltered cave or a grove where an ordinary voice carries strangely. His country worshippers leave wool, milk and the first share of a meal beside the shrine. Cruelty dressed as devotion earns no favour.
Around a strong sanctuary, herd animals avoid unstable ground and concealed pits. Bird calls, rustling leaves and sudden animal silence warn attentive listeners. Healthy woodland resists wanton clearing; roots catch tools, paths narrow, and the labour grows harder until the cutters address the harm they are causing. A major sanctuary spreads these signs across roughly six miles; a small shrine manifests one sign over a smaller area. Unless another divine power contests them, the effects fade over 1d10 days after the sanctuary is abandoned or desecrated.
Faunus warns before using lethal force. He breaks off a fight when a threatened flock, spring or village is spared, leaving a path to peace even for an enemy who has harmed him.
Three Adventures
The Flock Will Not Sleep
Livia needs the spring safe before her flock weakens. The buried dead are travellers killed by a charcoal crew that now fears punishment. The party can protect the witnesses, move the bodies without fouling the water further, or lead the flock to a distant pasture while the truth is recovered. Faunus reveals the safe route once someone listens to the blind ram; burning the hill hides the crime and leaves the water poisoned.
The Island God Speaks
Marcellus’s warning comes before the market crossing. A cracked bridge footing is carrying a merchant’s trapped workers, and breaking the approach early will strand them over the rising river. The party can shore up the footing, organise boats or bring the workers down by rope while keeping the market crowd back. Faunus can name the moment the stone will fail; he cannot make a person choose whom to save first.
The False Faun
A wandering prophet named Severus sells protection from wolves and demands the villages’ best lambs. He wears the stolen Shepherd’s Mask and feeds a hungry pack from his wagon, drawing it behind the flocks of people who refuse him. The animals smell the wolves on his clothes. The party can recover the mask, expose his feeding trail or draw the pack away before angry villagers burn the wagon with its driver inside. Faunus requires the animals made safe and the stolen relic returned; saving Severus as well earns a clearer answer to the party’s next question.
Relics of Faunus
The Island Staff finds pasture and drinking water, leads a small company through rough country and answers a narrow question about danger. Its owner must have protected a flock, a community or a living woodland boundary. The Shepherd’s Mask conveys the emotional meaning of herd animals’ calls and movement: fear, hunger, warning and the wish to move. The powers in the selected rules panel give their limits.
The Island Staff can be destroyed only by a shepherd who knowingly leads a protected herd away from safe water and pasture into avoidable ruin for personal gain, then breaks the staff over the first animal lost.
Powers, Clerics and Relics
Faunus — D&D 2024
Medium Celestial (Deity), Chaotic Neutral. CR 32 is an unofficial epic encounter estimate; campaign PB +9. No official CR 32 proficiency or XP progression is implied. These original deity rules are unplaytested.
AC 26 (divine hide); HP 609 (42d8 + 420); Speed 40 ft.; Initiative +9 (19).
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 (+9) | 28 (+9) | 30 (+10) | 24 (+7) | 30 (+10) | 28 (+9) |
Saving Throws Dex +18, Con +19, Wis +19, Cha +18. Skills Animal Handling +19, Insight +19, Nature +16, Perception +19, Survival +19. Resistances Psychic, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from nonmagical attacks (campaign defence). Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned. Senses Truesight 90 ft.; Passive Perception 29. Languages Latin, Sylvan; supernatural comprehension of all spoken languages; telepathy 120 ft.
Divine traits
Legendary Resistance (5/Day). When Faunus fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
Friend of Flocks. Friendly Beasts he chooses within 30 feet are immune to the Frightened condition.
Voice of the Grove. As a Magic action, he makes his voice issue from a natural tree, spring or stone within 1 mile that he has previously touched until the start of his next turn. It is ordinary audible speech and grants no remote hearing or sight.
Divine Insight. Outside combat, he can spend 1 minute listening to a rural place to name one present threat to its animals or people within 1 mile. This reveals a current danger, not a fixed future or another person’s thoughts.
Actions
Multiattack. Faunus makes three Wildwood Staff attacks.
Wildwood Staff. Melee Attack Roll: +20 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 29 (4d8 + 11) Bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) Psychic damage. The attack and physical damage include the Island Staff’s +2 bonus.
Rural Prophecy (Recharge 5–6). Each creature of Faunus’s choice within 60 feet that can hear him makes a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure it takes 45 (10d8) Psychic damage and is Frightened until the end of its next turn. On a success it takes half damage and avoids the condition. A creature that cannot hear him is unaffected. He may also choose allies in that area to gain Advantage on their next Wisdom check or saving throw before the end of their next turn; those allies take no damage and make no save.
Bonus action
Goat-Path. Faunus moves up to 30 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks. During this movement he ignores nonmagical natural Difficult Terrain; solid obstacles still block him.
Reaction
Warning Cry. When a creature within 60 feet that can hear him rolls Initiative with Disadvantage because it is surprised, Faunus can remove that source of Disadvantage for the roll. Other sources of Disadvantage still apply. Surprise does not make the creature lose a turn. See the 2024 surprise rule.
Legendary actions — 3 uses
Immediately after another creature’s turn, Faunus can spend uses on one option below. He regains all three uses at the start of his turn. He cannot use these options while Incapacitated.
- Stride (1 use). Move up to half Speed.
- Staff (1 use). Make one Wildwood Staff attack.
- Unsettling Omen (2 uses). One creature within 60 feet that can hear him makes a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure it cannot take Reactions until the end of its next turn.
Personal spells, slots and casting
Personal Divine Spellcasting. Wisdom is the casting ability (save DC 27; spell attacks +19). Faunus uses the spell slots below, regaining them after a Long Rest. He provides the normal Verbal, Somatic and Material components, including any costly components. He can maintain only one Concentration spell at a time. Spells retain their printed casting times; a long casting cannot be compressed into an action. This repertoire is his own divine power.
| Spell level | Personal repertoire | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| Cantrips | Druidcraft, Guidance, Thorn Whip | At will |
| 1st | Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Entangle | 4 slots |
| 2nd | Beast Sense, Pass without Trace, Augury | 3 slots |
| 3rd | Plant Growth, Speak with Plants, Sending | 3 slots |
| 4th | Dominate Beast, Divination, Freedom of Movement | 3 slots |
| 5th | Awaken, Commune with Nature, Scrying | 3 slots |
| 6th | Find the Path, Heroes’ Feast | 2 slots |
| 7th | Regenerate, Mirage Arcane | 2 slots |
| 8th | Animal Shapes, Control Weather | 1 slots |
| 9th | Foresight, Shapechange | 1 slots |
Clerics and domain spells
Faunus’s oracular and elusive clergy can choose the 2024 Trickery Domain. Its normal subclass features apply. These domain spells are always prepared after the listed Cleric level and use the follower’s own spell slots and spellcasting ability.
| Cleric level | Always-prepared domain spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | Charm Person, Disguise Self, Invisibility, Pass without Trace |
| 5 | Hypnotic Pattern, Nondetection |
| 7 | Confusion, Dimension Door |
| 9 | Dominate Person, Modify Memory |
Gifts to a faithful protector
After a service that saves a flock or country community, Faunus can grant one of these gifts to a creature. A creature bears only one such gift at a time.
Rural Omen. Once per Long Rest, the bearer can cast Augury without a spell slot or Material components; its normal casting time and limits apply.
Calm the Flock. The bearer has Advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks to calm frightened domestic herd animals.
Relics
The Island Staff
Weapon (Quarterstaff), Artifact; requires attunement by a creature that has protected a flock, rural community or living woodland boundary.
The Island Staff is a +2 Quarterstaff: 1d6 Bludgeoning damage, Versatile (1d8). It grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While carrying it outdoors, its attuned bearer has Advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks concerning grazing, fresh water and rural routes. Faunus’s own staff attacks include additional divine force, reflected in his statistics above.
Find Pasture. Plant the staff and spend 1 uninterrupted minute choosing fresh drinking water or safe grazing. It leans toward the nearest such place within 1 mile; it remains upright if none exists. This reveals direction, not a safe path through intervening obstacles.
Rural Passage (3/Day). As a Magic action, choose yourself and up to six willing creatures within 30 feet. For 1 hour, they ignore nonmagical Difficult Terrain from brush, pasture, slopes and shallow streams they can normally wade. This grants neither water-walking nor passage through solid barriers. All three uses return at dawn.
Faunus’s Warning (1/Day). As a Magic action, name a rural route, grove or grazing ground within 1 mile. The staff gives a true yes or no to whether it currently contains a dangerous predator, an ambush or hazardous ground. It identifies neither the danger nor its location. The use returns at dawn.
The Shepherd’s Mask
Wondrous Item, Uncommon; requires attunement.
While wearing the Shepherd’s Mask, the bearer understands the immediate emotional meaning of a herd animal’s calls and posture: fear, hunger, agitation, calm, warning or desire to move. It gains Advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) and Wisdom (Insight) checks concerning those animals. This grants emotional understanding, not spoken language, commands or access to memories.
Faunus — D&D 2014
Medium Celestial (Deity), Chaotic Neutral. CR 32 is an unofficial epic encounter estimate; campaign PB +9. No official CR 32 proficiency or XP progression is implied. These original deity rules are unplaytested.
AC 26 (divine hide); HP 609 (42d8 + 420); Speed 40 ft.; Initiative +9.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 (+9) | 28 (+9) | 30 (+10) | 24 (+7) | 30 (+10) | 28 (+9) |
Saving Throws Dex +18, Con +19, Wis +19, Cha +18. Skills Animal Handling +19, Insight +19, Nature +16, Perception +19, Survival +19. Resistances Psychic, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from nonmagical attacks (campaign defence). Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned. Senses Truesight 90 ft.; Passive Perception 29. Languages Latin, Sylvan; supernatural comprehension of all spoken languages; telepathy 120 ft.
Divine traits
Legendary Resistance (4/Day). When Faunus fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
Friend of Flocks. Friendly Beasts he chooses within 30 feet have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Voice of the Grove. As a action, he makes his voice issue from a natural tree, spring or stone within 300 feet until the start of his next turn. It is ordinary audible speech and grants no remote hearing or sight.
Divine Insight. Outside combat, he can spend 1 minute listening to a rural place to name one present threat to its animals or people within 1 mile. This reveals a current danger, not a fixed future or another person’s thoughts.
Actions
Multiattack. Faunus makes three Wildwood Staff attacks.
Wildwood Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +20 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 29 (4d8 + 11) Bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) Psychic damage. The attack and physical damage include the Island Staff’s +2 bonus.
Warning of the Grove (Recharge 5–6). Each creature of Faunus’s choice within 60 feet that can hear him makes a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure it takes 45 (10d8) Psychic damage and is Frightened until the end of its next turn. On a success it takes half damage and avoids the condition. A creature that cannot hear him is unaffected.
Bonus action
Goat-Path. Faunus moves up to 30 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks. During this movement he ignores nonmagical natural Difficult Terrain; solid obstacles still block him.
Reaction
Pasture’s Warning. When a creature he can see within 60 feet is hit by an attack, Faunus grants it +5 AC against that attack, potentially causing a miss. The creature must hear him.
Legendary actions — 3 uses
Immediately after another creature’s turn, Faunus can spend uses on one option below. He regains all three uses at the start of his turn. He cannot use these options while Incapacitated.
- Stride (1 use). Move up to half Speed.
- Staff (1 use). Make one Wildwood Staff attack.
- Unsettling Omen (2 uses). One creature within 60 feet that can hear him makes a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure it cannot take Reactions until the end of its next turn.
Personal spells, slots and casting
Personal Divine Spellcasting. Wisdom is the casting ability (save DC 27; spell attacks +19). Faunus uses the spell slots below, regaining them after a long rest. He provides the normal Verbal, Somatic and Material components, including any costly components. He can maintain only one Concentration spell at a time. Spells retain their printed casting times; a long casting cannot be compressed into an action. This repertoire is his own divine power.
| Spell level | Personal repertoire | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| Cantrips | Druidcraft, Guidance, Thorn Whip | At will |
| 1st | Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Entangle | 4 slots |
| 2nd | Beast Sense, Pass without Trace, Augury | 3 slots |
| 3rd | Plant Growth, Speak with Plants, Sending | 3 slots |
| 4th | Dominate Beast, Divination, Freedom of Movement | 3 slots |
| 5th | Awaken, Commune with Nature, Scrying | 3 slots |
| 6th | Find the Path, Heroes’ Feast | 2 slots |
| 7th | Regenerate, Mirage Arcane | 2 slots |
| 8th | Animal Shapes, Control Weather | 1 slots |
| 9th | Foresight, Shapechange | 1 slots |
Clerics and domain spells
Faunus’s pastoral clergy can choose the Nature Domain from the Player’s Handbook (2014, pp. 61–62), using its normal subclass features. Its domain spells are always prepared after the listed Cleric level and use the follower’s own slots and spellcasting ability.
| Cleric level | Always-prepared domain spells |
|---|---|
| 1 | Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals |
| 3 | Barkskin, Spike Growth |
| 5 | Plant Growth, Wind Wall |
| 7 | Dominate Beast, Grasping Vine |
| 9 | Insect Plague, Tree Stride |
Gifts to a faithful protector
After a service that saves a flock or country community, Faunus can grant one of these gifts to a creature. A creature bears only one such gift at a time.
Rural Omen. Once per long rest, the bearer can cast Augury without a spell slot or Material components; its normal casting time and limits apply.
Calm the Flock. The bearer has advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks to calm frightened domestic herd animals.
Relics
The Island Staff
Weapon (Quarterstaff), Artifact; requires attunement by a creature that has protected a flock, rural community or living woodland boundary.
The Island Staff is a +2 Quarterstaff: 1d6 bludgeoning damage, versatile (1d8). It grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While carrying it outdoors, its attuned bearer has advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks concerning grazing, fresh water and rural routes. Faunus’s own staff attacks include additional divine force, reflected in his statistics above.
Find Pasture. Plant the staff and spend 1 uninterrupted minute choosing fresh drinking water or safe grazing. It leans toward the nearest such place within 1 mile; it remains upright if none exists. This reveals direction, not a safe path through intervening obstacles.
Rural Passage (3/Day). As a action, choose yourself and up to six willing creatures within 30 feet. For 1 hour, they ignore nonmagical Difficult Terrain from brush, pasture, slopes and shallow streams they can normally wade. This grants neither water-walking nor passage through solid barriers. All three uses return at dawn.
Faunus’s Warning (1/Day). As a action, name a rural route, grove or grazing ground within 1 mile. The staff gives a true yes or no to whether it currently contains a dangerous predator, an ambush or hazardous ground. It identifies neither the danger nor its location. The use returns at dawn.
The Shepherd’s Mask
Wondrous Item, Uncommon; requires attunement.
While wearing the Shepherd’s Mask, the bearer understands the immediate emotional meaning of a herd animal’s calls and posture: fear, hunger, agitation, calm, warning or desire to move. It gains advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) and Wisdom (Insight) checks concerning those animals. This grants emotional understanding, not spoken language, commands or access to memories.
Faunus — Pathfinder 1e
CN Medium outsider (extraplanar); original campaign deity. CR 32 is an unofficial, unplaytested encounter estimate; XP is not assigned. This uses native outsider Hit Dice and Pathfinder combat rules, with the divine ward and prophetic powers stated below.
Initiative +13; Senses darkvision 60 ft., constant true seeing (CL 30th), Perception +47. Speed 40 ft.; woodland stride through nonmagical undergrowth.
AC 50, touch 37, flat-footed 40 (10 base, +9 Dex, +13 natural, +8 sacred ward, +9 deflection, +1 Dodge). HP 495 (30d10 + 330, including Toughness). Fort +28, Ref +34, Will +35. DR 15/epic; SR 41; Immunities poison, fear; Resistances cold 20, fire 20.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 (+9) | 28 (+9) | 30 (+10) | 24 (+7) | 30 (+10) | 28 (+9) |
Base attack +30; CMB +39; CMD 76. Melee Island Staff +44/+39/+34/+29 (4d8 + 17 bludgeoning plus 4d6 sonic, 19–20/×2). Space/reach 5 ft./5 ft. He uses one end two-handed: damage includes Strength +13 and enhancement +4. The +4 staff and Weapon Focus are included in attacks; Power Attack is inactive. Sonic damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. His attacks count as epic for overcoming damage reduction (campaign divine weapon rule).
Divine Ward (Su). The figures include +8 sacred AC, +9 deflection AC from Charisma, and +6 sacred on saves. Reflex and Will are the two good outsider saves. His innate divine staff-blow replaces the staff’s base weapon dice with 4d8 and adds 4d6 sonic damage; another bearer receives the item’s listed powers.
Feats, skills and languages
Feats (15). Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), Improved Critical (quarterstaff), Alertness, Skill Focus (Handle Animal), Blind-Fight, Power Attack.
Skills (30 ranks each; 390 ranks). Acrobatics +39, Bluff +42, Climb +39, Craft (woodcarving) +40, Handle Animal +48, Knowledge (nature, planes) +40 each, Perception +47, Sense Motive +47, Spellcraft +40, Stealth +42, Survival +43, Swim +39. Knowledge (nature), Handle Animal, Survival and Spellcraft are the four additional outsider class skills. Alertness grants +4 Perception/Sense Motive; Skill Focus grants +6 Handle Animal. The allocation uses (6 + Int 7) × 30 ranks; no first-HD multiplier.
Languages. Latin, Sylvan; constant tongues (CL 30th); telepathy 120 ft.
Special abilities
Rural Prophecy (Su; every 1d4 rounds). As a standard action, choose creatures within 60 feet that can hear him. Each makes a DC 34 Will save; failure deals 45 (10d8) sonic damage and leaves it shaken for 1 round, success halves the damage and avoids fear. The fear is mind-affecting; immunity to fear prevents that condition, not sonic damage. The DC is Charisma-based.
Voice of the Grove (Su). A standard action carries his voice through one natural tree, spring or stone he has touched within 1 mile for 1 minute. This grants no remote perception.
Goat-Path (Su). Once each round as a swift action he moves 30 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity. Nonmagical undergrowth does not slow this movement; solid obstacles remain impassable.
Pasture’s Warning (Su; 3/day). As an immediate action when a creature within 60 feet that can hear him is hit, he grants it +5 insight AC against that attack, potentially making it miss.
Personal spell-like repertoire, levels 0–9
Personal spell-like abilities. Caster level 30th; Charisma-based save DC 19 + spell level; concentration +39. They use native spell-like ability rules: no components, ordinary casting time, spell resistance and concentration rules. At-will powers are detect magic, guidance, speak with animals, pass without trace and commune with nature. The table adds limited uses; an at-will power remains at will.
| Spell level | Personal powers | Uses | Save DC when applicable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | detect magic, guidance | At will | 19 |
| 1st | speak with animals, entangle | 3/day each | 20 |
| 2nd | animal trance, augury | 3/day each | 21 |
| 3rd | plant growth, speak with plants | 3/day each | 22 |
| 4th | command plants, divination | 2/day each | 23 |
| 5th | awaken, commune with nature | 2/day each | 24 |
| 6th | find the path, heroes’ feast | 2/day each | 25 |
| 7th | regenerate, creeping doom | 1/day each | 26 |
| 8th | animal shapes, control plants | 3/day each | 27 |
| 9th | foresight (3/day), miracle (1/day) | As listed | 28 |
Clerics and granted domains
Clerics choose two of Animal, Plant, Knowledge and Trickery. Each selected domain grants its native powers and its nine spell levels below. Domain spells use the cleric’s daily domain slots; they do not confer Faunus’s personal at-will powers.
Animal domain: powers and nine spell levels
Animal domain powers and source rules.
- calm animals
- hold animal
- dominate animal
- summon nature’s ally IV (animals only)
- beast shape III (animals only)
- antilife shell
- animal shapes
- summon nature’s ally VIII (animals only)
- shapechange
Plant domain: powers and nine spell levels
Plant domain powers and source rules.
- entangle
- barkskin
- plant growth
- command plants
- wall of thorns
- repel wood
- animate plants
- control plants
- shambler
Knowledge domain: powers and nine spell levels
Knowledge domain powers and source rules.
- comprehend languages
- detect thoughts
- speak with dead
- divination
- true seeing
- find the path
- legend lore
- discern location
- foresight
Trickery domain: powers and nine spell levels
Trickery domain powers and source rules.
- disguise self
- invisibility
- nondetection
- confusion
- false vision
- mislead
- screen
- mass invisibility
- time stop
Gifts to a faithful protector
After a service that saves a flock or country community, Faunus can grant one gift to a creature; it can bear only one at a time.
Rural Omen. Once per day the bearer can use augury as a spell-like ability, caster level equal to its Hit Dice (minimum 1). The spell’s normal casting time and limitations apply.
Calm the Flock. The bearer gains a +4 competence bonus on Handle Animal checks to calm frightened domestic herd animals.
Relics
The Island Staff
Major artifact; caster level 18th; strong divination and transmutation; 4 lb.; no market price.
Each end of the Island Staff functions as a +4 quarterstaff. Its bearer gains a +4 competence bonus on Survival checks outdoors. Faunus’s supernatural staff blows replace the normal weapon dice; another bearer uses the normal quarterstaff damage for its size (1d6 for Medium). A strike using one end two-handed adds one-and-a-half Strength plus the +4 enhancement; fighting with both ends follows the normal double-weapon rules.
Find Pasture. Plant it for 1 uninterrupted minute to locate the direction of the nearest fresh drinking water or safe grazing within 1 mile. It remains upright if neither is present and reveals no route through intervening hazards.
Rural Passage (3/Day). As a standard action, choose yourself and up to six willing creatures within 30 feet. For 1 hour they benefit from pass without trace and ignore nonmagical difficult terrain from undergrowth, pasture, slopes and shallow streams they can wade. Solid barriers and deeper water still obstruct them. The uses return at dawn.
Faunus’s Warning (1/Day). As a standard action, name a rural route, grove or grazing ground within 1 mile. The staff gives a true yes or no about the current presence of dangerous predators, an ambush or hazardous ground, without identifying its location. The use returns at dawn. These are original Pathfinder 1e artifact powers.
The Shepherd’s Mask
Minor artifact; head slot; caster level 5th; faint divination; 1 lb.; no market price.
The Shepherd’s Mask conveys the immediate emotional meaning of herd animals’ calls and posture: fear, hunger, agitation, calm, warning or desire to move. While worn it grants a +4 competence bonus on Handle Animal and Sense Motive checks involving those animals. This permits judging an animal’s mood, not conversation, control or access to memories.
Faunus — D&D 3.5e
CN Medium outsider (chaotic, extraplanar); Lesser Deity, divine rank 9. The CR 38 benchmark is an unofficial epic estimate, unplaytested. Divine-rank powers materially affect difficulty beyond weapon damage.
Hit Dice 30d8 + 303; HP 543 (maximized d8s, Constitution +300, Toughness +3). Initiative +22; Speed 60 ft.; woodland stride through nonmagical undergrowth. AC 59, touch 37, flat-footed 50 (10 base, +9 Dex, +9 divine, +22 natural, +9 deflection); Dodge adds +1 against one designated opponent.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 (+9) | 28 (+9) | 30 (+10) | 24 (+7) | 30 (+10) | 28 (+9) |
Base attack +20; epic attack +5; grapple +43. Melee Island Staff +48/+43/+38/+33 (4d8 + 17 bludgeoning plus 4d6 sonic, 19–20/×2). Touch attacks melee +43, ranged +43. Space/reach 5 ft./5 ft. He uses one end two-handed, adding Strength +13 and enhancement +4 to damage. Attacks include rank +9, the staff’s +4 and Weapon Focus +1; sonic damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. The epic progression after the first 20 Hit Dice grants no fifth iterative attack.
Fort +38, Ref +37, Will +38 (base +12, epic +5, ability modifier, rank +9, corresponding save feat +2). DR 20/epic; SR 41; fire resistance 14. His staff strikes count as chaotic and epic for damage reduction; the epic property is an original divine-weapon quality. Divine force replaces its normal weapon dice with 4d8 and adds 4d6 sonic damage only in Faunus’s hands.
Divine immunities. Electricity, cold and acid; disease, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, death effects, disintegration; energy/ability drain and ability damage; mind-affecting effects and hostile form changes; magical imprisonment, banishment and binding. Equal-or-higher divine rank bypasses immunities where the native divine rules permit; the electricity/cold/acid immunities persist against higher rank. Natural 1s do not automatically fail his attacks or saves. He does not age, eat, sleep or breathe, cannot die from natural causes and is immune to death from massive damage.
Feats, skill allocation and divine perception
Feats (11). Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), Improved Critical (quarterstaff).
Skills (33 ranks each; 495 points). Bluff +51, Concentration +52, Diplomacy +59, Disguise +51 (+55 while acting), Handle Animal +51, Hide +51, Knowledge (nature) +53, Knowledge (religion, planes) +49 each, Listen +52, Move Silently +51, Sense Motive +52, Spellcraft +49, Spot +52, Survival +52. All are outsider class skills. The budget is (8 + Int 7) × (30 + 3). Diplomacy includes +4 each from Bluff and Sense Motive; Knowledge (nature) includes +4 from Survival. Survival gains +4 aboveground in natural environments and +4 on other planes, stacking when both apply.
Divine checks. Rank +9 is included. As a lesser deity he may take 10 on checks; this does not replace attack rolls or saves. Thus he can use an initiative result of 32. Normal senses extend 9 miles without seeing through solid obstructions. Remote sensing uses a standard action to select up to five locations associated with his worship, sacred sites, his spoken name within the last hour or portfolio events; each view reaches 9 miles and respects equal-or-higher divine shielding. He knows portfolio events involving at least 500 people as they occur, without automatically receiving their sensory details. He understands, speaks and reads all languages and can communicate directly within 9 miles.
Actions and divine powers
Rural Prophecy (Su; every 1d4 rounds). Standard action; creatures he chooses within 60 feet that can hear him make a DC 34 Will save. Failure deals 45 (10d8) sonic damage and causes shaken for 1 round; success halves damage and avoids fear. Immunity to fear prevents the mind-affecting fear component, not the sonic damage. The DC is Charisma-based.
Eleven salient divine abilities
These eleven original salient powers fill the rank 9 allowance and two lesser-deity bonus slots. Unless stated otherwise, using one does not provoke attacks of opportunity. They function in antimagic and ignore spell resistance. Their saving throw DC is 28 (10 + rank 9 + Charisma 9).
- Voice in the Grove. At will, standard action. Speak and listen through one natural tree, spring or stone you have touched within 1 mile for 1 minute. Your hearing through it reaches 30 feet; destroying the object ends the link.
- Flock Shelter. 3/day, immediate action. Halve one instance of damage dealt to an ally within 60 feet that can hear you, after damage is rolled and before it is applied.
- The Lamb’s Road. 1/day, standard action. For 8 hours, you and up to six willing creatures within 30 feet leave no tracks and ignore nonmagical undergrowth and steep pasture as difficult terrain. This does not cross solid barriers or permit walking on deep water.
- The False Prophet’s Breath. 3/day, standard action. A creature within 60 feet that deliberately lied within the last minute makes a Will save. On a failure its last deliberate spoken lie is repeated aloud by the nearest natural tree or stone. This reveals the lie, not the truth; the effect is mind-affecting.
- Woodland Lullaby. 3/day, standard action. Animals of your choice within 60 feet that can hear you make Will saves or sleep for 1 minute. Damage or a standard action spent waking an animal ends its sleep. This is a mind-affecting sleep effect with no Hit Dice cap.
- Wolf Before the Flock. 3/day, swift action. Name a protected creature within 60 feet and one Animal you can see within 120 feet. The Animal makes a Will save; failure prevents it attacking the protected creature for 1 minute. The effect ends if the protected creature harms it. This is a mind-affecting compulsion.
- Pasture Reclaimed. 1/day, standard action. Purify nonmagical water within a 20-foot-radius spread within 60 feet, removing ordinary poison and disease from the water. This neither treats creatures nor dispels magical contamination.
- The Path Refused. 1/day, standard action. Mark a 20-foot-radius patch of natural ground within 100 feet for 1 minute. An enemy entering it makes a Reflex save or moves at half speed and cannot charge while within it. A successful save gives immunity to that use; leaving ends the movement penalty.
- Find the Lost Lamb. 3/day, standard action. Learn the direction and distance to one creature you have met, within 1 mile. A divine ward from an equal-or-higher-rank god blocks the answer. This conveys no other sensory information.
- Unsettling Country Laughter. 3/day, standard action. Creatures you choose within 30 feet that can hear you make Will saves or become shaken for 1 minute. A successful save gives immunity for 24 hours. This mind-affecting fear effect cannot increase an existing fear condition.
- Shepherd’s Reprieve. 1/day, immediate action. An ally within 60 feet that can hear you rerolls one failed saving throw and must use the new result.
Aura, travel and divine estate
Divine Aura. As a free action choose a radius of 0–900 feet and Daze, Fright or Resolve. Daze prevents affected creatures acting; Fright causes shaken and a gesture can make them frightened; Resolve grants allies +4 morale on attacks, saves and checks and imposes −4 morale on enemies. Will DC 28 negates an unwanted effect and gives immunity for 24 hours. These are mind-affecting extraordinary effects; gods of equal or higher rank are immune. The strongest overlapping divine aura applies. Faunus can exempt worshippers and creatures of his alignment. His own mind-affecting immunity prevents his receiving a morale bonus.
Travel. At will, greater teleport (self plus 900 lb.) and plane shift (self plus 100 lb.), caster level 20. Normal casting is a standard action. Divine realm barriers still apply.
Estate. He shapes the ordinary climate and sounds within 1 mile of his Arborean pastures, changing environmental conditions with a standard action that takes effect over 10 minutes. Changing planar travel links takes a year and a day of work; it cannot be improvised during a fight. He can perform up to five portfolio-related actions of check DC 20 or lower as free actions each round, following the native automatic-action limits.
Personal spell-like repertoire, levels 0–9
Personal spell-like abilities. Caster level 30th; Charisma-based save DC 28 + spell level, including divine rank. Divination powers operate at caster level 31 through Knowledge; his corresponding caster-level checks are +40 rather than +39. These original powers require no components and retain their native casting time, concentration and spell resistance. They are separate from his at-will domain repertoire.
| Spell level | Personal powers | Uses | Save DC when applicable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | detect magic, guidance | At will | 28 |
| 1st | speak with animals, entangle | 3/day each | 29 |
| 2nd | animal trance, augury | 3/day each | 30 |
| 3rd | plant growth, speak with plants | 3/day each | 31 |
| 4th | command plants, divination | 2/day each | 32 |
| 5th | awaken, commune with nature | 2/day each | 33 |
| 6th | find the path, heroes’ feast | 2/day each | 34 |
| 7th | regenerate, creeping doom | 1/day each | 35 |
| 8th | animal shapes, control plants | 1/day each | 36 |
| 9th | foresight, miracle | 1/day each | 37 |
Granted domains and the god’s native domain powers
Mortal Clerics choose two of Animal, Plant, Knowledge and Trickery, receiving their native granted powers and daily domain slots. Faunus grants all four. Animal permits speaking with animals; Plant permits rebuking or commanding plants and adds Knowledge (nature); Knowledge adds all Knowledge class skills and +1 caster level for divinations; Trickery adds Bluff, Disguise and Hide.
Faunus’s own domain powers. He uses the Animal speech power 9/day and Plant turning/rebuking 12/day (the larger of rank 9 and 3 + Charisma 9), as an effective 9th-level Cleric. The Knowledge caster-level increase applies to his divination powers. Every spell in the four domain lists is an at-will spell-like ability for him at caster level 19 (20 for divinations), save DC 28 + its domain spell level; native spell-specific limits still apply. These grants are separate from the limited personal repertoire above.
Animal domain: powers and nine spell levels
Animal domain powers and source rules.
- calm animals
- hold animal
- dominate animal
- summon nature’s ally IV (animals only)
- commune with nature
- antilife shell
- animal shapes
- summon nature’s ally VIII (animals only)
- shapechange
Plant domain: powers and nine spell levels
Plant domain powers and source rules.
- entangle
- barkskin
- plant growth
- command plants
- wall of thorns
- repel wood
- animate plants
- control plants
- shambler
Knowledge domain: powers and nine spell levels
Knowledge domain powers and source rules.
- detect secret doors
- detect thoughts
- clairaudience/clairvoyance
- divination
- true seeing
- find the path
- legend lore
- discern location
- foresight
Trickery domain: powers and nine spell levels
Trickery domain powers and source rules.
- disguise self
- invisibility
- nondetection
- confusion
- false vision
- mislead
- screen
- polymorph any object
- time stop
Gifts to a faithful protector
After a service that saves a flock or country community, Faunus can grant one gift to a creature; it can bear only one at a time.
Rural Omen. Once per day the bearer can use augury as a spell-like ability, caster level equal to its Hit Dice (minimum 1). The spell’s normal casting time and limitations apply.
Calm the Flock. The bearer gains a +4 competence bonus on Handle Animal checks to calm frightened domestic herd animals.
Relics
The Island Staff
Major artifact; caster level 18th; strong divination and transmutation; 4 lb.; no market price.
Each end of the Island Staff functions as a +4 quarterstaff. Its bearer gains a +4 competence bonus on Survival checks outdoors. Faunus’s supernatural staff blows replace the normal weapon dice; another bearer uses the normal quarterstaff damage for its size (1d6 for Medium). A strike using one end two-handed adds one-and-a-half Strength plus the +4 enhancement; fighting with both ends follows the normal double-weapon rules.
Find Pasture. Plant it for 1 uninterrupted minute to locate the direction of the nearest fresh drinking water or safe grazing within 1 mile. It remains upright if neither is present and reveals no route through intervening hazards.
Rural Passage (3/Day). As a standard action, choose yourself and up to six willing creatures within 30 feet. For 1 hour they benefit from pass without trace and ignore nonmagical difficult terrain from undergrowth, pasture, slopes and shallow streams they can wade. Solid barriers and deeper water still obstruct them. The uses return at dawn.
Faunus’s Warning (1/Day). As a standard action, name a rural route, grove or grazing ground within 1 mile. The staff gives a true yes or no about the current presence of dangerous predators, an ambush or hazardous ground, without identifying its location. The use returns at dawn. These are original D&D 3.5e artifact powers.
The Shepherd’s Mask
Minor artifact; head slot; caster level 5th; faint divination; 1 lb.; no market price.
The Shepherd’s Mask conveys the immediate emotional meaning of herd animals’ calls and posture: fear, hunger, agitation, calm, warning or desire to move. While worn it grants a +4 competence bonus on Handle Animal and Sense Motive checks involving those animals. This permits judging an animal’s mood, not conversation, control or access to memories.
Faunus, the Roman Gods and Ancient Tradition
Silvanus watches woods and rural boundaries; Diana protects wild sanctuary and the hunt; Pomona tends orchards. Faunus is the pastoral oracle whose voice emerges from the country itself. Roman poets also draw comparisons with Pan.
In Virgil’s Aeneid, Faunus is the son of Picus and father of Latinus, with Saturn behind their family line. Latinus seeks his counsel in the sacred grove of Albunea and receives a warning about the marriage that will shape his people’s future. Faunus also has an ancient temple on Tiber Island, dedicated on the Ides of February. The Faunalia belongs to his country worship.
Sources and Rules
Historical reading: Virgil, Aeneid VII, the oracle sought by Latinus; Platner and Ashby, Aedes Fauni, for the Tiber Island temple and its dedication. The latter is a scholarly topographical reference, with its ancient sources identified.
The living worshippers, Arborean pastures and adventures are original setting adaptations; the deity, gifts and two relics are original campaign rules. The four panels use the 2024 and 2014 Player’s Handbook frameworks, the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary outsider rules and Core Rulebook domains, and the D&D 3.5 System Reference Document epic and divine rules. Printed class options are attributed in their own panels. No official Faunus stat block or relic conversion is claimed.
Rules references. Pathfinder outsider type; 3.5 epic progression; 3.5 divine rank; salient divine abilities.
Attribution. D&D terminology derived from the System Reference Documents 5.1 and 5.2.1 is used under CC BY 4.0, where applicable. Those documents are works of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Pathfinder and 3.5 rule references identify their native published sources; the deity and artifact implementations are original campaign material. The painted hero was supplied for this entry.
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