Lares — Roman Household, Crossroads and Community Guardian Gods
Lares at a Glance
Tradition
Roman household, neighbourhood and crossroads cult.
Divine standing
Collective guardian divinities; representative Greater Lar uses Divine Rank 5 and Campaign Divine Tier 24.
Alignment
Usually Lawful Neutral, shaped strongly by the place or community guarded.
Portfolio
Household guardianship, crossroads, neighbourhood continuity, local belonging and protected thresholds.
Domains
Protection · Community · Travel · Knowledge
Sacred places
Household shrines, street corners, crossroads, neighbourhood boundaries and places where a community regularly gathers.
Favoured weapon
Guardian staff.
Related Roman powers
Roman Pantheon · Divine Cult · Campaign Worship · Epic Mechanics
The Lares are Roman guardian divinities of households, crossroads, neighbourhoods and local communities. They are intensely particular powers: a Lar protects this house, this street, this boundary and the people whose repeated lives give that place continuity.
Divine Mechanics
These statistics represent an unusually powerful individual Lar; ordinary household spirits can be far weaker.
Representative Greater Lar — D&D 5.5e
Medium Celestial (Divine), Lawful Neutral
CR 28 · PB +8 · Campaign Divine Tier 24
AC 24 · HP 636 · Speed 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 (+6) | 28 (+9) | 28 (+9) | 22 (+6) | 30 (+10) | 30 (+10) |
Saving Throws Con +17, Wis +18, Cha +18
Skills Insight +18, Perception +18, Religion +14
Damage Resistances psychic, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned
Senses Truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 28 · Languages all appropriate mortal languages; telepathy 120 ft.
Traits
Legendary Resistance (5/Day). If the divine guardian fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. The divine guardian has Advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.
Divine Spellcasting
Primary spell save DC 26, +18 to hit with spell attacks. Full portfolio-domain access: Protection · Community · Travel · Knowledge. Domain spells are always prepared or available in the matching edition.
Actions
Multiattack. The divine guardian makes three Guardian Staff attacks.
Guardian Staff. Melee or Ranged Spell Attack: +18 to hit, reach 10 ft. or range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (4d8 + 9) force plus 13 (3d8) radiant damage.
Household Ward (Recharge 5–6). Allies within 30 feet gain 30 Temporary Hit Points and Advantage on their next saving throw before the Lar’s next turn.
Reaction
Protect the Household. When a resident or invited guest within 30 feet is hit by an attack, the Lar imposes Disadvantage on the attack roll, potentially causing it to miss.
Legendary Actions
The divine guardian can take 3 Legendary Actions per round.
- Move. Move up to half Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
- Guardian Staff. Make one Guardian Staff attack.
- Portfolio Intervention (Costs 2). Use one non-damaging portfolio ability, domain spell of 5th level or lower, or protective effect without expending a normal action.
Representative Greater Lar — Pathfinder 1e
Divine guardian; original epic campaign extension
CR 28 · AC 50 · hp 692
Fort +32 · Ref +30 · Will +33
DR 15/epic · SR 37 · Speed 40 ft.
Str 22 · Dex 28 · Con 28 · Int 22 · Wis 30 · Cha 30
Base Atk +28 · CMB +34 · CMD 73
Domain Access
Full access to Protection · Community · Travel · Knowledge in their Pathfinder-facing versions or clearly marked campaign adaptations.
Special Abilities
Household Ward (Su). Use the 5.5e effect above as the narrative baseline; Pathfinder targets make a DC 35 Will, Fortitude or Reflex save as appropriate.
Protect the Household (Su). Functions as an immediate action when its trigger occurs.
Representative Greater Lar — D&D 3.5e
Divine Rank 5 · CR benchmark 33 · DR 15/epic · SR 37 · Divine Aura 50 ft.
Str 22 · Dex 28 · Con 28 · Int 22 · Wis 30 · Cha 30
Salient Divine Abilities
Choose rank-appropriate abilities that express Lares’s established portfolio, with Alter Reality or equivalent divine intervention reserved for effects that directly serve that portfolio.
Domain Access
Lares can use every spell-like ability granted by Protection · Community · Travel · Knowledge at the caster level determined by Divine Rank.
Lares in Roman Religion
The Lares appear in several forms. Household Lares guard domestic continuity; Lares Compitales belong to crossroads and neighbourhood cult; other Lares protect communities and defined spheres. Treating every Lar as the same being misses the local character that makes them useful in play.
They are also distinct from the Penates. The two groups share domestic religious space, but the Penates are especially connected with household stores and sustenance while the Lares function as guardians.
What Are the Lares Doing Right Now?
Lares notice what grander gods can overlook: an abandoned house, a threatened alley, a family that has stopped sharing meals, a crossroads where strangers keep disappearing. Their interests are intensely local.
A Lar may appear personally as a youthful guardian figure, but dancing firelight at a shrine, cups that move before danger and footsteps crossing an empty threshold are more common signs.
Worship in the Campaign Present
The Lares are worshipped locally rather than through one central priesthood. Households maintain small domestic shrines; neighbourhoods honour crossroads guardians; workshops, streets and travelling communities may recognise their own protective Lar.
Offerings are modest and regular: food, wine, flowers, oil and the first portion of a shared meal. Neglect matters because a Lar’s authority is rooted in continued relationship with the people and place it protects.
Domains, Spells and Divine Gifts
Portfolio domains: Protection · Community · Travel · Knowledge. The Lares have access to every domain spell in the matching edition; individual household spirits may express only part of that portfolio.
Relics
Crossroads Cup
A small ritual cup that fills with clear water when everyone entering a protected neighbourhood comes without hostile intent.
Key of the Household Lar
A bronze key that can lock a threshold against a specifically named supernatural intruder for one night.
Adventure Hooks
- Every household Lar in one street disappears on the same night.
- A crossroads shrine begins protecting criminals because they are now the only people maintaining it.
- A family inherits a house whose Lar insists an unknown resident still belongs there.
- Two neighbouring Lares feud after a boundary marker is moved.
Related Roman Powers
Penates · Vesta · Terminus · Janus · Roman Pantheon
Divine Estate and Regional Effects
Where Lares’s presence is strong, a major sanctuary can project these effects across roughly six miles. A household or neighbourhood cult manifests them on a much smaller scale. Unless another divine power contests them, they fade over 1d10 days after the sanctuary is abandoned or desecrated.
The Threshold Knows Its People
A household Lar recognises residents, invited guests and deliberate intruders; doors, cups or lamps give small signs when an unwelcome hostile presence crosses the threshold.
Crossroads Stay Legible
Road signs, shrine markers and recognised neighbourhood boundaries remain unusually difficult to obscure or vandalise without leaving obvious evidence.
The House Remembers
A dwelling protected for generations retains faint impressions of important household events that a Lar may reveal through dreams, sounds or moving objects.
Deep Dive
Continue through the Roman Pantheon · Penates · Vesta · Terminus · Janus · Rome · Italy · Cleric · Cleric Domains.
Sources and Rules Note
The Lares are presented as multiple Roman guardian divinities with household, crossroads and community forms, and are kept distinct from the Penates. Campaign Divine Tier is separate from Challenge Rating; Pathfinder material is a campaign extension; the 3.5e block represents an unusually powerful individual Lar rather than every household spirit.
Historical Sources and Further Reading
- Roman Household Spirits: Lares and Penates — Overview of domestic Lares, household cult and related Roman spirits.
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.