Included among the Titans for being an ancient primordial power of the earlier generations of gods, Pontos represents the sea itself and fish and other animals that live therein. He is not a god of water, nor is he the ruler of the sea; he is the sea itself. He is an aloof deity, but worshiped equally among followers of the Titans and the Olympians.
Pontos (PDF Version)
(The Living Sea, the Father of Fishes)
Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Water, N
Portfolio: Oceans, seas, fish, sea animals
Aliases: Pontus
Domain Name: Elemental Plane of Water/Icthyossa
Superior: None
Allies: Aigaios (dead), Eadro, Eurybia, Istishia, Keto, Nereus, Okeanos, Persana, Phorkys, Poseidon, Tethys, Thalassa, Thaumas
Foes: None
Symbol: A bearded male head with crab claws and antennae sprouting from the temples
Wor. Align.: Any
Pontos (PON-tos or PON-tus) is a primordial power born long before the Titans or Olympians came into being. He is seen as the living embodiment of the sea itself, representing its uncaring dangers but also the rich bounties it can bring to those who live on its shores. He is also said to be the father of most sea life, and as such is known as the Father of Fishes.
Pontos belongs to the generation of gods prior to the birth of the Titans, most commonly said to have been born to Gaia alone. Some texts claim Ouranos was his father, others portray them as brothers, while still others claim the mysterious son of Nyx named Aither fathered the Living Sea. Regardless, he set himself apart from much of his kin early on, having little interest in their squabbles and relations. Despite his remoteness, he is still typically considered part of the Titan pantheon out of convenience, although he has as many followers among those who worship the Olympians.
When Eros came among the gods for the first time, Pontos was affected like many others of this ancient generation of powers. He married Thalassa, a fey aquatic daughter born to Hemera, herself child of the dark and disturbing pair of Erebos and Nyx. Like Pontos, Thalassa’s father is sometimes said to be the mysterious Aither, a fact that scholars occasionally claim caused the confusion over the Living Sea’s parentage. Together the pair are said to have brought forth all of the fishes, cuttlefish, and other sea animals found throughout the many worlds of the Prime Material Plane. Pontos’s other children, however, have a confusing heritage as competing narratives propose either Ge or Thalassa as their mother, and there is little agreement among scholars on the matter.
The divine children of Pontos are numbered anywhere from five to ten in the mythologies of both Titans and Olympians. Eldest of them all is wise Nereus, who even as a newborn was an old man, and father of the race of nereids common on the Elemental Plane of Water. After his birth came Thaumas, keeper of the wonders of the sea and father of Iris and Arke when he married the Okeanide Elektra. Pontos’s next pair of children did not live up to the expectations set by Nereus and Thaumas, however. Phorkys and Keto they were named and their marriage begat many terrible and monstrous creatures, contrasting sharply with the nereid descendants of Nereus. Next came flint-hearted Eurybia, beloved of the Titan Kreios; she left her father’s side to stand with her husband’s kin in their struggles against Ouranos and the Olympians.
These five form the most agreed-upon set of Pontos’s children, but other mythologies attribute to the Living Sea additional children, separated into a single child and a cluster of four; all are said to be children of Thalassa as well. That single son is Aigaios, a thundering sea-storm power who joined the Titanomachy on the side of the Titans. He was a raging beast who charged Zeus during the battle, only to be struck dead by a thunderbolt. Pontos had warned his son about the dangers of joining with the Titans, it is said and bears no ill-will towards the Olympians for what they had to do.
The final group of children sometimes attributed to Pontos were named Lykos, Damnameneus (sometimes shortened to Demonax or Damon), Megalesios, and Ormenos. These four, together with their children, became known as the Telkhines, and were the first mortal race to worship the gods of the Titan and Olympian pantheons. They produced many wonders, for they were skilled in both magic and metalwork, but eventually their hubris and exploration of dark and evil magic brought them destruction at the hands of Zeus and his kin. Those who did not fall to evil can still be found assisting Hephaestos in his work, while it is said that remnants of the dark and twisted kind still lurk in hidden places throughout the planes.
Unlike most of the other gods of his generation, Pontos has strong relations with other gods beyond his own pantheon. He is on excellent terms with Persana and Eadro, as well as the Water Lord Istishia. This is in part due to his long habitation in the Elemental Plane of Water, but also because Pontos has a greater affinity towards those creatures that live beneath the sea rather than those who live on the coasts. His relatively small human church is balanced by much stronger worship among mermen, locathah, tritons, and other aquatic races.
Pontos rarely dispatches avatars to the Prime except to observe. He is greatly interested in the goings-on around his followers but rarely interferes unless he detects the direct hand of another power that wishes them ill-will. He typically only acts to stymie the efforts of those powers rather than to take them on directly and holds no grudges against those powers that quickly back down. In all things, he tries to keep his presence a secret from mortals.
Pontos’s Avatar (Cleric 36, Water Elementalist 30, Fighter 20)
Pontos appears as a solemn, muscular old man with bluish-grey hair and lobster claws and antennae sprouting from his temples. His eyes are grey and his skin tanned and ruddy as if long exposed to the sun. His chest is always bare while his waist and legs are usually covered by a sea-blue robe. He sometimes appears in water with the lower half of a fish. Over the course of one round, Pontos can easily alter his height between that of a normal human and his full stature. He draws his spells from all schools and spheres save elemental fire and favors those of elemental water and conjuration/summoning.
AC −3; MV 12, Sw 36; HP 209; THAC0 −2; #AT 2
Dmg 7d6+14 (water-weapon +4, +10 Str)
MR 60%; SZ M–G (6 feet tall to 80 feet tall)
Str 22, Dex 19, Con 23, Int 21, Wis 22, Cha 22
Spells P: 14/14/14/14/12/10/10, W: 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/7/7*
Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4
* Numbers assume one extra water elemental spell per spell level.
Special Att/Def: Pontos neither likes nor dislikes combat, being willing to engage in melee whenever he considers it necessary or prudent, but he does not look for it. In battle he uses the power of water to form solid weapons of any form, typically a mace or oar, striking as a +4 magical weapon. Even creatures immune to water attacks or take reduced damage from any weapon type suffer full damage from this water-weapon, and magic resistance doesn’t apply.
The Living Sea can summon up to 80 hit dice of normal, giant, or monstrous fish of semi-intelligence or lower once per day that serve him completely for up to 12 hours. He can conjure a water elemental (as the spell) with maximum hit points once per day, can cast waterspout and whirlpool once per day each and wall of water 3 times per day.
Pontos can only be struck by +2 or better weapons, and is immune to all water-based attacks, charms, and size alteration magic. Free-willed water elementals will not attack the Living Sea, nor will natural, giant, or monstrous fish of semi-intelligence or less.
Other Manifestations
The Father of Fishes favors observation over direct intervention in the lives of his followers. When he does choose to act, he tends to use subtle manifestations to aid or save a follower. For example, he may alter currents to guide a boat or ship to a specific destination or to help them avoid danger. He has also guided large predatory animals such as sharks to attack smaller predators that threaten a follower in or under the sea.
Pontos is served by aballins, crabmen, dolphins, giant nautiluses, giant squid, golden ammonites, mermen, nereids, normal and giant fish, mollusks, and shellfish of all sorts, sea lions, selkies, sirines, tritons, water elementals, water mephits, and whales. He has not been known to express his pleasure or displeasure in any specific ways, although his followers consider the health of the sea near them to be such a sign.
The Church
Clergy: Clerics, druids
Clergy’s Align.: NG, N, NE
Turn Undead: C: Yes, D: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: No, D: No
All clerics and druids of Pontos receive religion (Titans) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Every member of the priesthood is required to take the swimming nonweapon proficiency upon joining the clergy.
The Pontic church does not interact with those of the other deities in either the Titan or Olympian pantheon very much. They sometimes have rivalries with priesthoods of Okeanos or Poseidon, but these rarely become heated. Pontos’s priesthood is mostly interested in ensuring seas, oceans, and other large bodies of water are respected, both for the bounty they can bring as well as their inherent dangers. As such, they mostly leave other clergies alone and don’t involve themselves unless the health of local waterways are in danger of disruption. Some of Pontos’s temples are entirely aquatic, either built by undersea races or claimed from those that have sunk beneath the waves. Land-bound temples of the Living Sea may not even be aware of their brethren living just off the coast from them, but this is uncommon.
Temples dedicated to Pontos and used by humans are always coastal and rarely located within or near large ports. They favor locales that offer spectacular views of the sea and are somewhat isolated from other people, although still near enough for regular visitors. They are built in the same style as other temples dedicated to the Titans, featuring heavy fish and sea life motifs. The metopes and friezes display every known natural form of sea life in the local waters, as well as water activities including swimming, fishing, and boating. Dark blues and bluish greys are the predominant colors within the temple, and the cultic statues are often decorated with lapis lazuli and mother of pearl. Undersea temples that are not sunken reclamations are usually built in the same way, although the artwork decorating the walls replaces the surface water activities with ones more relevant to their aquatic inhabitants.
Novices in the service of the Father of Fishes are known as Fingerlings. Full priests of the Living Sea are known as Pelagrians. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by the Pontic priesthood are Shrimp, Sardine, Crab, Surmullet, Lobster, Ray, Tuna, and Sturgeon. High ranking priests have unique individual titles. Specialty priests are sea druids. The clergy of the Father of Fishes has a small number of non-human aquatic or semi-aquatic races (locathah, mermen, sea elves, sirines, tritons, etc.; 4%) alongside the majority of humans (96%). Separate and independent clergies of Pontos can be found among those same aquatic races, but they rarely have contact with the human clergy and are not considered part of the religious structure or hierarchy. Sea druids (56%) slightly outnumber clerics (44%) among Pontos’s clergy, and males (61%) are found in greater numbers than females (39%) within the priesthood.
Dogma: Exalt in the power and majesty of the sea. Receive the gifts of the sea but protect them from exploitation. Stand in awe of the dangers found within and along the sea and educate others on those dangers.
Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of the Living Sea spend their time near large bodies of water. Many spend their days boating, sailing, or fishing, while others monitor the apparent health of the seacoast. If members of the clergy live near a town or village, they also teach members of the community how to swim and fish, while monitoring fish stocks and catch health.
Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The church of Pontos holds their ceremonies on the days of the highest tides of the year, called spring tides. These do not take place only in the season of spring, they are called thus because the water is said to “spring” up the shore. These ceremonies are called the Megareinoi (singular: Megareinos), and during these events the priests of a given temple thank Pontos for the blessings of the sea and sacrifice various seafood dishes and valuables by putting them in small model sailing ships and sending them off from the seashore. Aquatic temples usually drop their sacrifices into deep trenches and pits or bury them beneath the seafloor.
Major Centers of Worship: On the world of Thesalys in Greatspace resides a very old temple dedicated to Pontos, located on the shore of the inland sea of the western continent called Mesogeios. This temple, known as the Hydroeum, is located on a spit of land extending into the sea on a high cliff, with tunnels that lead down to a narrow beach. Unbeknownst to the sparse population around the complex, the Hydroeum has a sister temple offshore in a deep rift inhabited by merfolk and triton worshippers of the Living Sea. While independent of each other, they’ve known about each other for over a millennium and work closely together to protect the sea around them.
Affiliated Orders: The church of Pontos sponsors no martial or monastic orders, but many fishermen guilds pay tribute to the Living Sea and gain patronage from his temples.
Priestly Vestments: Members of Pontos’s clergy wear a peplos of blue, with the shade indicating rank within the temple hierarchy, from pale blue to deep blue for the senior priests. The peplos is fringed with embroidered wave patterns in seafoam or stormy grey thread. The holy symbol used by the church is a carved emblem of a bearded male face with crab-claw horns or a perfectly formed natural seashell.
Adventuring Garb: The clergy of the Living Sea don’t travel far from their temples, although there are a few with wanderlust who spend their early years exploring coastlines and the sea. When traveling, they favor light armor that wouldn’t weigh them down if they fall into water or need to wade through water. Their weapon preferences tend towards those that would aid in travel or fishing. Their dress tends to be that of fishermen or sailors, and they may easily be mistaken for members of those professions if they do not advertise their priestly vocation.
Specialty Priests (Sea Druids)
Requirements: Wisdom 12, Charisma 15
Prime Req.: Wisdom, Charisma
Alignment: N
Weapons: Dagger, dart, harpoon, knife, net, spear, staff, trident
Armor: Leather, padded, or hide armor, no shield
Major Spheres: All, animal, elemental (air, earth, water), healing, plant, travelers, weather
Minor Spheres: Divination, sun
Magical Items: Same as druids, plus any aquatic items
Req. Profs: Swimming
Bonus Profs: Modern languages (pick one from: dolphin, dragon turtle, koalinth, locathah, merman, morkoth, sahuagin, sea elvish, sea sprite, triton, wereshark, whale)
The abilities and restrictions of sea druids, aside from the changes noted above and below, are detailed in full in the entry for druids in the Player’s Handbook.
- Sea druids are generally humans or half-elves, but members of aquatic races such as locathah, mermen, nixies, sea elves, sirines, and tritons are also called to Pontos’s service.
- Sea druids are allowed to multiclass, if multiclass druid combinations are normally allowed by race.
- Sea druids receive a +2 bonus to all saving throws vs. electrical attacks.
- Sea druids learn the languages of aquatic creatures (dolphin, dragon turtle, koalinth, locathah, merman, morkoth, sahuagin, sea elvish, sea sprite, triton, wereshark, whale, etc.), gaining one extra proficiency slot for this purpose every three levels (at 3rd, 6th, etc.).
- At 3rd level, sea druids can pass through aquatic or coastal vegetation without leaving a trail and at full movement rate.
- At 3rd level, sea druids can identify aquatic and coastal plants, animals, and untainted fresh and salt water with perfect accuracy.
- At 5th level, sea druids can breathe water at will if they cannot already do so naturally.
- At 7th level, sea druids are immune to charm spells cast by aquatic creatures such as kelpies, nixies, and sirines.
- At 7th level, sea druids can shapechange into a normal (not giant) reptile, fish, or mammal up to three times per day. The sea druid can use each animal form (reptile, fish, or mammal) only once per day and can choose from only those animals that make their normal habitat beneath the surface of the ocean. Mammal forms allowed include dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea otters, and other small mammals.
Pontic Spells
2nd Level
Charm Fish (Pr 2; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere: Animal
Range: 60 yds.
Components: V, S
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: 1 or more fish in a 20-ft. radius
Saving Throw: Neg.
This spell is similar to a charm person spell, but it only affects fish, normal, giant, or monstrous. The spell affects 2d4 Hit Dice or levels of fish, although it only affects one creature of 4 or more Hit Dice or levels, regardless of the number rolled. Fish that can be affected include normal fish such as barracuda, eels, and sharks; giant fish like giant catfish, giant pikes, and giant piranhas; as well as humanoid and monstrous fish like ixitxachitl, kuo-toa, locathah, and vurgens. Any magical resistance applies, of course.
All possible subjects receive saving throws vs. spell, adjusted for Wisdom. Any damage inflicted by the caster or his allies in the round of casting grants the wounded fish another saving throw at a bonus of +1 per point of damage received. Any affected fish regards the spellcaster as friendly, an ally or companion to be treated well or guarded from harm. If communication is possible, the charmed fish follows reasonable requests, instructions, or orders most faithfully (see the suggestion spell). If communication is not possible, the creature does not harm the caster, but others in the vicinity may be subject to its intentions, hostile or otherwise. Any overtly hostile act by the caster breaks the spell, or at the very least allows a new saving throw against the charm. Affected fish eventually come out from under the influence of the spell. This is a function of the fish’s level (i.e., its Hit Dice).
Monster Level % Chance Per Week
or Hit Dice of Breaking Spell
1st or up to 2 5%
2nd or up to 3+2 10%
3rd or up to 4+4 15%
4th or up to 6 25%
5th or up to 7+2 35%
6th or up to 8+4 45%
7th or up to 10 60%
8th or up to 12 75%
9th or over 12 90%
The exact day of the week and time of day is secretly determined by the DM.
Deep Eyes (Pr 2; Divination)
Sphere: Animal
Range: Touch
Components: V
Duration: 4 rds. + 1 rd./level
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Neg.
A creature receiving this spell enjoys increased visual range underwater. The recipient can see underwater twice as well as he normally could. Modifiers for water clarity and surface conditions apply, but the individual’s depth modifier doubles.
The two bonuses are cumulative. For example, a submerged surface dweller can normally see movement in clear water on a Clear day at a maximum distance of 100 yards, provided he dives no deeper than 50 feet. A recipient of this spell, however, can see movement at a maximum distance of 200 yards at depths of 100 feet or less. See Of Ships and the Sea, Chapter 5, for details on underwater vision.
3rd Level
Buoyancy (Pr 3; Alteration)
Sphere: Elemental Water
Range: 150 yds.
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hr. + 1 turn/level
Casting Time: 7
Area of Effect: 1 creature/level
Saving Throw: Neg.
This spell causes affected creatures to float to the surface of the water as if they were buoyant. Even the most heavily armored knight can thus be suspended on the surface. Similarly, underwater creatures can be forced to surface in this way. The spell does not affect creatures more than twice the size of the average man. It affects only living things. Unwilling creatures can save vs. spell to avoid the effect.