+2 strength +2 constitution -2 charisma
Minotaurs are powerfully built, and highly self-centered.
Speed: 30 ft.
Size: Medium
mostly
Special Senses: Lowlight Vision
The best mazes tend to be somewhat dimly lit.
Natural Cunning: Minotaurs posses an uncanny sense of direction. This renders them immune to Maze spells and effects, in addition a minotaur never becomes lost, it can always find its way back to any place it has been without needing to make a check to find or remember the way as long as the minotaur can physically reach the place.
Predatory Alertness: Minotaurs receive a +2 racial bonus to the perception and survival skills.
Hard Head: Minotaurs get +2 racial bonus on their Combat maneuver defense against the overrun and bull rush maneuvers.
Mobile Rush: Minotaurs gain a +2 dodge bonus on AC against attacks of opportunity.
Horns: A minotaur possesses a pair of wicked horns, this is a natural gore attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage. This can be used as a primary or secondary natural attack.
Ok basically I'm not happy with the Pathfinder monsters as PCs rules (it's no bloody fun to abuse a system that's too obviously messed up), so I worked up a minotaur write up that should work as a PC race. Now I'm gonna try some weird stuff with a racial paragon prestige class type thing, but I wanna make sure the basic write up is fine before I start that.
Design notes:
Size,
I figured large would be problematic for a PC race, especially since i don't want a minotaur caster to be a complete waste of time. Since large or even largish abilities favored weapon classes and in some cases hurt casters I decided to hold off on that part.
Ability Scores,
I wanted something balanced for a PC but still roughly in line with minotaur lore. Strength was obvious, for a while I considered wisdom instead of Con, but I decided to go with a stat the monster minotaur buffed, especially since I went with a cha penalty instead of an int loss. Now I know the monster minotaur takes a bigger hit to int than it does cha, but generally when a minotaur character is introduced beyond being just another monster they tend to be pretty damned clever, furthermore the obsession with mazes and puzzles never really felt right on a creature taking a minus 4 to int.
Hard Head and Mobile Rush,
These abilities are added on because 1.) otherwise the race would be kind dull mechanically, and 2.) because I wanted some of the abilities to appeal to characters other than melee charges.
Speed
... Ok you got me, that was purely because I think it would be cool. Taken out for balance purposes.
All the missing stuff,
You'll notice several things like the lack of monstrous humanoid typing, lowlight instead of dark vision, and the incomplete natural cunning, that render this race weaker than a traditional minotaur. That's kinda the whole point. I tweaked or removed several abilities in order to make room for my ideas, and to bring the general power level down a notch.
Minotaurs are powerfully built, and highly self-centered.
Speed: 30 ft.
Size: Medium
mostly
Special Senses: Lowlight Vision
The best mazes tend to be somewhat dimly lit.
Natural Cunning: Minotaurs posses an uncanny sense of direction. This renders them immune to Maze spells and effects, in addition a minotaur never becomes lost, it can always find its way back to any place it has been without needing to make a check to find or remember the way as long as the minotaur can physically reach the place.
Predatory Alertness: Minotaurs receive a +2 racial bonus to the perception and survival skills.
Hard Head: Minotaurs get +2 racial bonus on their Combat maneuver defense against the overrun and bull rush maneuvers.
Mobile Rush: Minotaurs gain a +2 dodge bonus on AC against attacks of opportunity.
Horns: A minotaur possesses a pair of wicked horns, this is a natural gore attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage. This can be used as a primary or secondary natural attack.
Ok basically I'm not happy with the Pathfinder monsters as PCs rules (it's no bloody fun to abuse a system that's too obviously messed up), so I worked up a minotaur write up that should work as a PC race. Now I'm gonna try some weird stuff with a racial paragon prestige class type thing, but I wanna make sure the basic write up is fine before I start that.
Design notes:
Size,
I figured large would be problematic for a PC race, especially since i don't want a minotaur caster to be a complete waste of time. Since large or even largish abilities favored weapon classes and in some cases hurt casters I decided to hold off on that part.
Ability Scores,
I wanted something balanced for a PC but still roughly in line with minotaur lore. Strength was obvious, for a while I considered wisdom instead of Con, but I decided to go with a stat the monster minotaur buffed, especially since I went with a cha penalty instead of an int loss. Now I know the monster minotaur takes a bigger hit to int than it does cha, but generally when a minotaur character is introduced beyond being just another monster they tend to be pretty damned clever, furthermore the obsession with mazes and puzzles never really felt right on a creature taking a minus 4 to int.
Hard Head and Mobile Rush,
These abilities are added on because 1.) otherwise the race would be kind dull mechanically, and 2.) because I wanted some of the abilities to appeal to characters other than melee charges.
Speed
... Ok you got me, that was purely because I think it would be cool. Taken out for balance purposes.
All the missing stuff,
You'll notice several things like the lack of monstrous humanoid typing, lowlight instead of dark vision, and the incomplete natural cunning, that render this race weaker than a traditional minotaur. That's kinda the whole point. I tweaked or removed several abilities in order to make room for my ideas, and to bring the general power level down a notch.
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