Endzeitgeist
First Post
In this installment of the "In the Company of ..."-series, we'll meet the minotaurs. The pdf clocks in at a meaty 22 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD and 2 pages of ads, leaving 17 pages of content.
Layout follows the RiP-two column-standard, the book is b/w so that out of the way, let's dive in!
The book begins with an aptly-written, very cool IC-introduction to the race that sets the tone for the book in accordance to the old-school-style cover : We get an ancient Greek mythology style origin myth to lead in to the very unique society of the minotaurs: The most interesting part is actually how a clearly lawful evil society has justified its discrimination and systematic murder of their females and a people that delusionally proclaims themselves not raiders and/or rapists of the female slaves they use to mate with. While it is possible for their claim to be true, it is very unlikely and that is what makes the fluff herein so compelling - the moral uncertainty. The society is vividly fleshed out with even a sample insult, customs, nomenclature and the like. (8 pages! - I just loved it!)
We get two racial trait-sets for the minotaurs:
Pure Taurians get +2 to Str, Con and Wis and -2 Dex and Cha, Darkvision 60 ft., always know where North is, +2 to perception and intimidate, immunity to magical confusions, a gnatural 1d4 gore attack and familiarity with Taurian weapons.
Mereitaurs (the impure ones) get +2 Con and Wis and -2 Cha, Darkvision 60 ft., always know where North is, +2 to Craft and Profession checks as well as any research-based Knowledge-checks, are immune to magical confusion effects, familiar with Taurian weapons and finally can choose two of these three: To gain +5 ft. movement, the 1d4-gore attack or +2 to pereption.
We also get 7 alternate racial traits:
-At home in the Wild: +2 to Survival in exchange for the +2 to Perception
-Bestial: Additional +2 to Str for another -2 to Int, this is supposed to bridge the gap towards bestiary minotaurs and not necessarily available for players
-Divine Life: Exchange immunities against confusion effects for a +2 to saves against necromantic effects
-Dwarven Heritage: Proficient in Dwarven weapons instead of Taurian ones.
-Orcish Heritage: Proficient in Orcish weapons instead of Taurian ones.
-Quickfooted (only Mereitaurs): Base speed 40 ft. and +4 to acrobatics when jumping/leaping. Replaces Taurian Heritage.
-Surefooted (only Taurians): +2 to CMD against trip and bull rush, but base speed becomes 25 ft.
We also get Age, height and Weight tables, something unfortunately absent from some other 3pp's race books. I was really excited and loved that the section on Taurian adventurers also talks about the Advanced Players Guide classes in detail. Support goes further, though:
We get a list of favored class options, 2 for the Barbarian, 2 for the Bard, 1 for the Druid, 1 for the Fighter, 2 for the Inquisitor, 1 for the Paladin, 1 for the Ranger, 1 for the Rogue, 2 for the Sorceror.
We also get two Taurian Archetypes: The first one is a rather obvious choice, a barbarian archetype, that focuses on horns. The second one, though, is rather cool and not what you'd necessarily expect: The Disciple of the Red Horn is a Minotaur-monk archetype and rocks. Sorcerors also get a Taurian bloodline that focuses on making you tougher and stronger. Uncommon choices, but I liked them nevertheless.
The crunchy heart of the book, though, is the new racial paragon class, the so-called Rog-Kalem (Scion of the Horn). The class gets d10, 2+ Int skills,proficiency with simple and martial weapons and his gore attack, good Ref and Will saves and a fighter BAB. No good Fort save for a rather melee-centric racial class? Yep, and it makes sense, as the class gets Evasion, grows to size large and gains bonuses to charges, a more powerful gore attack (from 1d4 at 1st level to 3d6 at 20th level) and finally culminates at an outsider-transformation at 20th level. The Rog-Kalem also gets some bonuses to Str and Con, somewhat offsetting the fort-save defficiency. All in all, the Taurians, whether Rog-Kalem or not, make for a surprisingly good and interesting choice for e.g. the monk-class.
We also get 7 new feats:
-Axe Thrower: +10 ft. range with throwing axes and +2 to rolls to confirm criticals
-Bloodlust: Bonuses to make your charge attack more lethal
-Horned Charge: Combines charge with gore attack with bull rush benefits
-Horned Trip: Lets you trip with horn-attacks
-Improved Natural Armor: +1 Natural Armor
-Taurian Follow-through: If you miss in melee, you can incur a -2 penalty to AC to attack a foe adjacent to the one you missed
-Trapworker: +3 to checks to notice taps and +1 to checks to craft or disable them.
We also get 5 new Taurian weapons, all of which are cool weapon choices and don't feel overpoweredm but have their own distinctive appeal. Finally, we get 3 new items, Dark Chalk (Chalk that can only be seen in Darkvision) as well as two Taurian gas bombs, one potentially lethal and explosive, the other rather a smoke bomb. The new items come with associated costs and craft DCs.
Conclusion:
Of all the excellent racial books RiP has published so far, this one actually stands out due some cutting edge additions I hope will be continued in future installments, namely that several of the cool innovations of the APG have been added to this fie: We get favored class options, the cool new classes are taken into account, alternate racial traits are provided etc. I LOVE that and hope it will be continued. Furthermore, even more than in previous installments, we get a very compelling IC-narrative that introduces us to the race, managing to walk the line between being a cool introduction to a rather LE-society and still managing to make this society seem coherent and understandable in its questionable social conventions. The fluff is plain awesome and succeeds in capturing the spirit and narrative of ancient Greek legends in the creation myth, while also providing a ego-driven, arrogant narrative of the Taurian character. On page 7 is unfortunately one of the few blemishes of the book, when in the section on Alignment and Religion, the IC narrative gets a bit jumbled with 3rd person information. I really love how the very extensive information is given IC and can't stress enough how much this adds to my enjoyment of the pdf. The fact that the crunch of the race does not gravitate to the "savage brute"-archetype and is rather versatile helps even more and while there are some classes Taurians might be more suited for, I felt the race to be sufficiently versatile to be a valid choice for any class. IM going to especially enjoy building Taurian Monks and Rog-Kalems or respective multi-classed combinations of both to make PCs suffer. the b/w-artwork, while simple, manages to underline the classic feeling of the race. So, what's my final verdict? I'd be inclined to detract a star due to the fact that the racial class is a bit more on the conservative side than e.g. in the "Gargoyles"-file and the narration-jumbling in one of the otherwise beautifully-written passage. However, due to the wealth of material provided as well as the APG-support and the wealth of options for the Taurians, I'll settle for 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 - an awesome buy and probably one of the best racial book out there.
Layout follows the RiP-two column-standard, the book is b/w so that out of the way, let's dive in!
The book begins with an aptly-written, very cool IC-introduction to the race that sets the tone for the book in accordance to the old-school-style cover : We get an ancient Greek mythology style origin myth to lead in to the very unique society of the minotaurs: The most interesting part is actually how a clearly lawful evil society has justified its discrimination and systematic murder of their females and a people that delusionally proclaims themselves not raiders and/or rapists of the female slaves they use to mate with. While it is possible for their claim to be true, it is very unlikely and that is what makes the fluff herein so compelling - the moral uncertainty. The society is vividly fleshed out with even a sample insult, customs, nomenclature and the like. (8 pages! - I just loved it!)
We get two racial trait-sets for the minotaurs:
Pure Taurians get +2 to Str, Con and Wis and -2 Dex and Cha, Darkvision 60 ft., always know where North is, +2 to perception and intimidate, immunity to magical confusions, a gnatural 1d4 gore attack and familiarity with Taurian weapons.
Mereitaurs (the impure ones) get +2 Con and Wis and -2 Cha, Darkvision 60 ft., always know where North is, +2 to Craft and Profession checks as well as any research-based Knowledge-checks, are immune to magical confusion effects, familiar with Taurian weapons and finally can choose two of these three: To gain +5 ft. movement, the 1d4-gore attack or +2 to pereption.
We also get 7 alternate racial traits:
-At home in the Wild: +2 to Survival in exchange for the +2 to Perception
-Bestial: Additional +2 to Str for another -2 to Int, this is supposed to bridge the gap towards bestiary minotaurs and not necessarily available for players
-Divine Life: Exchange immunities against confusion effects for a +2 to saves against necromantic effects
-Dwarven Heritage: Proficient in Dwarven weapons instead of Taurian ones.
-Orcish Heritage: Proficient in Orcish weapons instead of Taurian ones.
-Quickfooted (only Mereitaurs): Base speed 40 ft. and +4 to acrobatics when jumping/leaping. Replaces Taurian Heritage.
-Surefooted (only Taurians): +2 to CMD against trip and bull rush, but base speed becomes 25 ft.
We also get Age, height and Weight tables, something unfortunately absent from some other 3pp's race books. I was really excited and loved that the section on Taurian adventurers also talks about the Advanced Players Guide classes in detail. Support goes further, though:
We get a list of favored class options, 2 for the Barbarian, 2 for the Bard, 1 for the Druid, 1 for the Fighter, 2 for the Inquisitor, 1 for the Paladin, 1 for the Ranger, 1 for the Rogue, 2 for the Sorceror.
We also get two Taurian Archetypes: The first one is a rather obvious choice, a barbarian archetype, that focuses on horns. The second one, though, is rather cool and not what you'd necessarily expect: The Disciple of the Red Horn is a Minotaur-monk archetype and rocks. Sorcerors also get a Taurian bloodline that focuses on making you tougher and stronger. Uncommon choices, but I liked them nevertheless.
The crunchy heart of the book, though, is the new racial paragon class, the so-called Rog-Kalem (Scion of the Horn). The class gets d10, 2+ Int skills,proficiency with simple and martial weapons and his gore attack, good Ref and Will saves and a fighter BAB. No good Fort save for a rather melee-centric racial class? Yep, and it makes sense, as the class gets Evasion, grows to size large and gains bonuses to charges, a more powerful gore attack (from 1d4 at 1st level to 3d6 at 20th level) and finally culminates at an outsider-transformation at 20th level. The Rog-Kalem also gets some bonuses to Str and Con, somewhat offsetting the fort-save defficiency. All in all, the Taurians, whether Rog-Kalem or not, make for a surprisingly good and interesting choice for e.g. the monk-class.
We also get 7 new feats:
-Axe Thrower: +10 ft. range with throwing axes and +2 to rolls to confirm criticals
-Bloodlust: Bonuses to make your charge attack more lethal
-Horned Charge: Combines charge with gore attack with bull rush benefits
-Horned Trip: Lets you trip with horn-attacks
-Improved Natural Armor: +1 Natural Armor
-Taurian Follow-through: If you miss in melee, you can incur a -2 penalty to AC to attack a foe adjacent to the one you missed
-Trapworker: +3 to checks to notice taps and +1 to checks to craft or disable them.
We also get 5 new Taurian weapons, all of which are cool weapon choices and don't feel overpoweredm but have their own distinctive appeal. Finally, we get 3 new items, Dark Chalk (Chalk that can only be seen in Darkvision) as well as two Taurian gas bombs, one potentially lethal and explosive, the other rather a smoke bomb. The new items come with associated costs and craft DCs.
Conclusion:
Of all the excellent racial books RiP has published so far, this one actually stands out due some cutting edge additions I hope will be continued in future installments, namely that several of the cool innovations of the APG have been added to this fie: We get favored class options, the cool new classes are taken into account, alternate racial traits are provided etc. I LOVE that and hope it will be continued. Furthermore, even more than in previous installments, we get a very compelling IC-narrative that introduces us to the race, managing to walk the line between being a cool introduction to a rather LE-society and still managing to make this society seem coherent and understandable in its questionable social conventions. The fluff is plain awesome and succeeds in capturing the spirit and narrative of ancient Greek legends in the creation myth, while also providing a ego-driven, arrogant narrative of the Taurian character. On page 7 is unfortunately one of the few blemishes of the book, when in the section on Alignment and Religion, the IC narrative gets a bit jumbled with 3rd person information. I really love how the very extensive information is given IC and can't stress enough how much this adds to my enjoyment of the pdf. The fact that the crunch of the race does not gravitate to the "savage brute"-archetype and is rather versatile helps even more and while there are some classes Taurians might be more suited for, I felt the race to be sufficiently versatile to be a valid choice for any class. IM going to especially enjoy building Taurian Monks and Rog-Kalems or respective multi-classed combinations of both to make PCs suffer. the b/w-artwork, while simple, manages to underline the classic feeling of the race. So, what's my final verdict? I'd be inclined to detract a star due to the fact that the racial class is a bit more on the conservative side than e.g. in the "Gargoyles"-file and the narration-jumbling in one of the otherwise beautifully-written passage. However, due to the wealth of material provided as well as the APG-support and the wealth of options for the Taurians, I'll settle for 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 - an awesome buy and probably one of the best racial book out there.
