New Race: Tauren (half-mino)

[SpikeyFreak]

Seem balanced as ECL +0?

Tauren:

• +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom.
• Medium Size.
• Tauren base speed is 30 feet.
• Immune to Maze.
• +2 racial bonus on Search, Spot and Listen checks.
• Gore natural attack: 1d4 damage.
• Natural charge: 1d10 damage.
• At 1st level Taurens get the Scent feat for free.
• Minotaur blood.
• Automatic languages: Common and Giant.
• Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal.

Tauren are the result of humans and minotuars breeding. They stand around 7 feet tall and have a coat of very short fur that varies in color from light brown to almost black. They also have a set of horns much like those of a minotaur, as well as hooves.

--Bull Headed Spikey

 

[BLACKDIRGE]

Hmm.. Why the - 2 to wisdom? Both Minotaurs and Humans have a +0 modifier to Wisdom. Personally I would say +4 str, -2 Int, -2 cha and a +1 ECL for the str bonus, natural attacks and other goodies. Roughly the equivelant to an aasimar or teifling.

Other than that it looks good. In fact I would seriously consider using this in my campaign.

Dirge

 

[SpikeyFreak]

I really want to keep it ECL +0.

I want it to be "more" different than the half-orc. Plus, I know they would be ugly, but they would have a strong presence.

Maybe +2 str, -4 int?

Thx for the input.

--Contemplative Spikey

 

[trentonjoe]

On the Trenotnjoe race calculator it comes up as an ECL 0.


I would suggest some sort of penalty to buying armor. Maybe it costs twice as much because of their oddly shaped bodies?

 

[BLACKDIRGE]

Well its going to be tough to keep a half minotaur at ecl +0, if you use thst standard progression.

A minotaur has 6 hitdice, and ECL of 8 and the following stat bonuses and minuses:

+8 str +4 con -4 int -2 cha

If you breed your minotaur with a human (ecl 0, no stat mods) you should get:

3 hit dice str +4 con +2 int -2

That would still be ecl 3 or 4, which is still no good.

So what you need to do is dilute the minotaur blood further by introducing more human blood. So now we have a quarter minotaur which would look like this.

1 hit die, str +2 -2 int (optional) and all the goodies you described above. Which I think is still a bit much for ECL 0 and should be ECL +1. The above example would still be much different from a half-orc (superior) and would make for one hell of an interesting race.

Dirge.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Just because its a cross between two races doesn't mean that it has to be the exact average of those two races. Orcs have a -2 to charisma, and so do half-orcs.

Think of it like the human has the dominant genes for strength.

I'm really much more concerned with balance than anything because I'm thinking about a campaign world where "bull-headed monsters" are common.

Heck, I may create a race called Taurens, which are basically weaker minotaurs, and have this race called half-taurens.

--Brainstorming Spikey

 

[SpikeyFreak]

On the Trenotnjoe race calculator it comes up as an ECL 0.

Link?

I would suggest some sort of penalty to buying armor. Maybe it costs twice as much because of their oddly shaped bodies?

I think they would be similar enough to other races that they would just need armor at the large end of the medium spectrum. Saying that they have to pay x% extra for armor in the race descrption seems silly to me.

--Double Poster Spikey

 

[trentonjoe]

THe trentonjoe ECL calculator is in my head. Mere computers can't simulate my thought process.

Basically what I do is look at the race and guess. So let's look at your horned men.

What do they get:

+2 to str (pretty good)

immune to maze (I have been playing since 1986 and have seen maze cast exactly 0 times, not a big deal)

elf like skill bonuses

essentially two feats (scent and the horn thing is improved unarmed strike with another name)

minotaur blood ( again big deal)

a cool charge special ability


All that stuff adds up to beign pretty good but not game breakingly unbalancing. IF you feel it is too good, add a negative like an increased cost in armor.


Now, if your world has lots of hoofed humanoids who buy armor form armorsmiths there probably should't be an increased cost for armor. However, if there isn't (like say the forgotten realms or greyhawk) I would think an armorsmith would have to put a little extra time in making them a suit. Hence, mroe money.

Just an idea.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Yeah, those're pretty much my thoughts too.

I'm just trying to come up with a reason to take half-orc instead, and I can't think of one.

Maybe there won't be any.

--Thinking Spikey

 

[trentonjoe]

I ran it through this:

http://www.custoscogitatum.com/racecalc.cfm

it came out as a ECL 0