Pomona — Roman Goddess of Orchards, Fruit and Cultivation
Pomona at a Glance
Tradition
Roman
Divine standing
Lesser Deity
Campaign alignment
Neutral Good
Portfolio
Orchards, fruit trees, grafting, pruning, cultivated fertility and stored fruit
Sacred places
Orchards, walled gardens, nurseries, vineyards and carefully tended rural estates
Emblems
Pruning hook, fruit basket, apple, pear and grafted branch
Favoured weapon
Sickle or pruning hook
Hellenic equivalent
None required; Pomona retains a distinctly Roman identity.
Related Roman powers
Roman Pantheon · Orchards · Fruit Trees · Pruning · Cultivation
Pomona is the Roman goddess of orchards, fruit trees and cultivated abundance. Ovid is unusually explicit that her love is for fruitful trees and the tended countryside rather than wild woods or rivers, making her a goddess of cultivation rather than generic nature.
Divine Mechanics
Campaign Divine Tier 28 describes Pomona’s setting-scale power. The 5.5e rules-facing form is an original epic extension at CR 32 with PB +9.
Pomona — 5.5e Rules-Facing Form
Medium Celestial (Deity), Neutral Good
CR 32 (custom epic) · PB +9 · Campaign Divine Tier 28
AC 25 · HP 550 · Speed 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 (+6) | 26 (+8) | 28 (+9) | 26 (+8) | 30 (+10) | 26 (+8) |
Saving Throws Dex +17, Con +18, Wis +19
Skills Nature +17, Perception +17, Survival +17, Religion +15
Damage Resistances poison, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities Poisoned
Senses Truesight 90 ft. · Languages all; telepathy 90 ft.
Traits
Legendary Resistance (5/Day). If Pomona fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
Mistress of Cultivation. Pomona instantly knows whether a cultivated plant within 120 feet is diseased, blighted, poorly grafted or deliberately poisoned.
Fruitful Ground. Nonmagical fruit trees and vines within 60 feet cannot be destroyed by ordinary drought, frost or disease while Pomona remains nearby.
Divine Spellcasting
Pomona has access to every spell granted by the deity’s portfolio domains in the edition being used: Plant · Abundance · Fertility · Protection. Those spells are always prepared or available to the deity.
Actions
Multiattack. Pomona makes three Pruning Hook attacks.
Pruning Hook. Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 25 (3d10 + 9) slashing plus 14 (4d6) radiant damage.
Orchard in Bloom (Recharge 5–6). A 40-foot-radius area within 120 feet erupts with flowering branches for 1 minute. Allies gain Half Cover and 10 Temporary Hit Points at the start of their turns; enemies treat the area as Difficult Terrain and make a DC 27 Dexterity save or become Restrained until the end of their next turn.
Bonus Actions
Ripen. Pomona restores 27 (6d8) Hit Points to one creature within 60 feet or instantly ripens a mundane crop sufficient to feed twenty people.
Reactions
Prune the Rot. When a creature within 60 feet fails a save against Poisoned or disease, Pomona allows it to reroll.
Legendary Actions
- Move. Move up to half Speed.
- Divine Strike. Make one Pruning Hook attack.
- Grafting Gift (Costs 2). One ally within 60 feet gains Resistance to one damage type until the end of its next turn.
Pomona — Pathfinder 1e
Campaign divine extension.
Benchmark CR 32 (custom epic). Emphasise plant growth, healing, crop protection, pruning and cultivated terrain.
Spell-Like Abilities. At will—plant growth, neutralize poison, tree shape; 3/day—heal, control plants; 1/day—miracle.
Statistics
CR 32 (custom epic) · AC 50 · hp 820 · Fort +35 · Ref +32 · Will +36
Str 22 · Dex 26 · Con 28 · Int 26 · Wis 30 · Cha 26
Base Atk +32 · CMB +38 · CMD 88
Domain Access
Pomona has full access to the deity’s linked portfolio domains in their Pathfinder-facing versions or clearly marked campaign adaptations.
Pomona — D&D 3.5e
Lesser Deity; Divine Rank 7; Neutral Good Medium Outsider (Extraplanar)
Divine Rank 7 · DR 20/epic · SR 39 · Domain SLA caster level 17.
Salient Divine Abilities. Power of Nature, Divine Healing, Divine Skill Focus and rank-appropriate plant abilities.
Statistics
Challenge benchmark 38. Ability scores may exceed 30 where the deity’s divine nature requires it; Divine Rank remains the primary measure of cosmic authority.
Domain Access
Pomona can use every spell-like ability granted by the deity’s portfolio domains at the caster level determined by Divine Rank.
Pomona in Roman Religion
Ovid describes Pomona as unmatched in the care of gardens and fruit trees. Crucially, he says she loved the country and fruitful branches but had no delight in wild woods or rivers. Her curved pruning knife, not a hunter’s bow, defines her.
That distinction separates Pomona from Diana and Silvanus. She represents nature deliberately cultivated through grafting, pruning, patience and skilled care.
What Is Pomona Doing Right Now?
Orchards are long-term investments in a violent age. Armies can burn in an afternoon what families spent decades grafting and tending. Pomona therefore becomes involved in disputes about inheritance, enclosure, siege and scorched-earth tactics.
She is especially hostile to destruction performed for spectacle. Cutting one diseased tree to save an orchard may please her; burning ten healthy orchards to frighten a rival does not.
Worship in the Campaign Present
Orchard keepers, gardeners, vintners, grafters and estate workers leave first fruits and well-sharpened tools at Pomona’s shrines. Her rites are practical and seasonal rather than grandly imperial.
Her priests are often excellent judges of land because they think in decades. They can tell whether a lord’s promised prosperity is compatible with the soil, labour and trees actually available.
Domains, Spells and Divine Gifts
Pomona’s clergy favour Nature, Life, Plant and Community themes. Suitable spells include Goodberry, Lesser Restoration, Plant Growth, Speak with Plants, Control Plants, Heroes’ Feast and Heal.
Gift: Gardener’s Eye
The devotee can identify a cultivated plant’s disease, deficiency or graft history by examining it for one minute.
Gift: Preserve the Harvest
Once per long rest, the devotee can prevent a quantity of fruit or vegetables sufficient for twenty people from spoiling for seven days.
Relics
The First Pruning Hook
It cuts only dead, diseased or deliberately selected growth; a healthy branch resists the blade unless the wielder understands why it must be removed.
The Grafting Knife
A graft made with it takes root overnight if the plants are biologically compatible and the graft is made to preserve rather than exploit the tree.
Relationships
Ceres governs the wider grain harvest; Venus fertility and attraction; Flora blossoming; Silvanus the rural and wooded margin. Pomona’s special concern is the tended tree and the fruit produced through skill.
Use Pomona Tonight
The Orchard Bears Names
Every apple in an inherited orchard grows the name of a different claimant to the estate.
The Graft Refuses
A noble family’s prized fruit trees reject every cutting taken from one branch of the bloodline.
The Trees Survive the Fire
An army burns a valley, but one orchard remains untouched and its owner has disappeared.
Divine Estate and Regional Effects
Where Pomona’s presence is strong, a major sanctuary can project the following effects across roughly six miles. A small shrine normally manifests only one effect in a smaller area. Unless another divine power contests them, the effects fade over 1d10 days after the sanctuary is abandoned or desecrated.
Orchards Hold Fruit
Healthy fruit trees resist premature drop, ordinary frost damage and common pests while properly tended.
Grafts Take
A skilled gardener attempting a legitimate graft or transplant gains Advantage on the relevant check and can tell within a day whether it will succeed.
Rot Is Revealed
Hidden rot, worm damage and magically induced spoilage show first on the outermost fruit of a store, warning keepers before the whole crop is lost.
Deep Dive
Continue through the Roman Pantheon, Ceres, Venus. Follow the cult into Rome and wider Italy, or use the Cleric and Cleric Domains pages for player-facing worship.
Historical Sources and Rules Compatibility
- Ovid, Metamorphoses XIV — Pomona’s devotion to fruit trees, gardens and cultivated countryside.
Historical cult material is separated from campaign invention. Mechanics and relics are original game material.
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.