ForceUser
Explorer
I really dig the tauren from Warcraft III, so I wanted to include them in my campaign. I used the minotaur stats from the 3.5 Dragonlance Campaign Setting, slightly tweaked, and the culture of the tauren from Warcraft, slightly tweaked. The result is my own homebrew Greco-Native American-inspired anthromorphic bovine race. Enjoy. 
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TAUREN
Tall and powerfully built, the tauren are the smaller and less-aggressive cousins of minotaurs. Whereas their savage relatives haunt ancient ruins full of treasure and serve evil powers, the tauren are a peace-loving race of wandering herders and hunter-gatherers who keep their traditions alive through a rich oral history. Tauren live in small tribes of no more than forty individuals, governed by a chieftain and a council of elders. All tauren are taught from a young age to have great respect for the elderly because of their experience and wisdom, and especially for females, who traditionally determine who each new chieftain shall be. Very rarely, a female will be born with the powers of a seer, and she is always whisked away to a secret place to be raised as an Oracle. The Oracles guide the tauren tribes in important matters that affect the race as a whole.
The tauren hail from the arid badlands of southern Westernesse. One must travel far across the deserts of Kesh, the Azzando Mountains, and the Mournland to arrive in Eriador from Westernesse. As a result, the people of Eriador are largely unaware of the existence of the tauren, and the few that have journeyed to Eriador are almost always mistaken for minotaurs or demons. Most of the few tauren who have landed in Eriador have done so by way of the slave galleys of the Tiamni Imperium, whose empresses rule the tropical continent of Xen’Drik with an iron grip. The Tiamni periodically raid tauren tribes for slaves; they value the strength and fearsomeness of the males, and rumor has it that the Empress seeks to capture and control an Oracle for her own devices. There are even horrifying rumors of breeding programs and magical experiments performed upon the tauren slaves—these rumors often circulate from the hushed voices of those who have escaped.
The life of a tauren in Eriador is harsh and dangerous. He must evade fearful humans and overzealous monster-slayers, and almost always lives on the fringes of society as a fugitive. Many tauren, gentle creatures at heart, simply wish to live in peace, or to find a way to return to their faraway homeland.
TAUREN RACIAL TRAITS
• +4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Tauren are fearsome-looking and powerful, but not very agile, and their insight into the world derives more from their close relationship with the land than any formal education.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, tauren have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Tauren base land speed is 30 feet.
• Natural Armor: Tauren have exceptionally tough hides, which provide them a +2 natural armor bonus to AC.
• Natural Attack: A male tauren may use his horns as natural weapons to make a gore attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage (plus the tauren’s Strength modifier). If the tauren charges, his gore attack deals 2d6 points of damage, plus 1 ½ times his Strength modifier. A tauren can attack with a weapon at his normal attack bonus and make a gore attack as a secondary attack (-5 penalty on the attack roll, and half Strength bonus on the damage roll). Female tauren have vestigial horns, and do not gain a gore attack.
• +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Profession (herbalist), and Survival checks. All tauren have some basic knowledge of herbal remedies as well as well-honed survival instincts. Furthermore, most tauren, though slow to anger, are terrifying when provoked.
• Scent: A tauren may take the Scent feat at 1st level if he chooses. A tauren may not take the Scent feat after 1st level. Some tauren have a highly attuned sense of smell, some do not.
• Second Sight: Occasionally, a female tauren child is born with the powers of a seer, able to glimpse into the future, read the past, and feel the presence of spirits around her. Such females are called Oracles, and hold esteemed places and heavy responsibilities in tauren society. A female tauren may take the Second Sight feat at 1st level if she chooses. She may not take the feat after 1st level; she’s either born a seer, or she is not.
• Automatic Languages: Regional human language (usually Eloi, Genovan, or Sturmmen) and Tauren. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gurgumund, Orc, Primal, and regional human language (Arbonnesse, Eloi, Genovan, Sturmmen, Tiamni, Ulvmann, Vangal, and Vistani).
• Favored Class: Barbarian (male), or Spirit Shaman (female). A multiclass tauren’s barbarian or spirit shaman class does not count when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing (see XP for multiclass characters, page 60 of the Player’s Handbook).
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TAUREN
Tall and powerfully built, the tauren are the smaller and less-aggressive cousins of minotaurs. Whereas their savage relatives haunt ancient ruins full of treasure and serve evil powers, the tauren are a peace-loving race of wandering herders and hunter-gatherers who keep their traditions alive through a rich oral history. Tauren live in small tribes of no more than forty individuals, governed by a chieftain and a council of elders. All tauren are taught from a young age to have great respect for the elderly because of their experience and wisdom, and especially for females, who traditionally determine who each new chieftain shall be. Very rarely, a female will be born with the powers of a seer, and she is always whisked away to a secret place to be raised as an Oracle. The Oracles guide the tauren tribes in important matters that affect the race as a whole.
The tauren hail from the arid badlands of southern Westernesse. One must travel far across the deserts of Kesh, the Azzando Mountains, and the Mournland to arrive in Eriador from Westernesse. As a result, the people of Eriador are largely unaware of the existence of the tauren, and the few that have journeyed to Eriador are almost always mistaken for minotaurs or demons. Most of the few tauren who have landed in Eriador have done so by way of the slave galleys of the Tiamni Imperium, whose empresses rule the tropical continent of Xen’Drik with an iron grip. The Tiamni periodically raid tauren tribes for slaves; they value the strength and fearsomeness of the males, and rumor has it that the Empress seeks to capture and control an Oracle for her own devices. There are even horrifying rumors of breeding programs and magical experiments performed upon the tauren slaves—these rumors often circulate from the hushed voices of those who have escaped.
The life of a tauren in Eriador is harsh and dangerous. He must evade fearful humans and overzealous monster-slayers, and almost always lives on the fringes of society as a fugitive. Many tauren, gentle creatures at heart, simply wish to live in peace, or to find a way to return to their faraway homeland.
TAUREN RACIAL TRAITS
• +4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Tauren are fearsome-looking and powerful, but not very agile, and their insight into the world derives more from their close relationship with the land than any formal education.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, tauren have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Tauren base land speed is 30 feet.
• Natural Armor: Tauren have exceptionally tough hides, which provide them a +2 natural armor bonus to AC.
• Natural Attack: A male tauren may use his horns as natural weapons to make a gore attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage (plus the tauren’s Strength modifier). If the tauren charges, his gore attack deals 2d6 points of damage, plus 1 ½ times his Strength modifier. A tauren can attack with a weapon at his normal attack bonus and make a gore attack as a secondary attack (-5 penalty on the attack roll, and half Strength bonus on the damage roll). Female tauren have vestigial horns, and do not gain a gore attack.
• +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Profession (herbalist), and Survival checks. All tauren have some basic knowledge of herbal remedies as well as well-honed survival instincts. Furthermore, most tauren, though slow to anger, are terrifying when provoked.
• Scent: A tauren may take the Scent feat at 1st level if he chooses. A tauren may not take the Scent feat after 1st level. Some tauren have a highly attuned sense of smell, some do not.
• Second Sight: Occasionally, a female tauren child is born with the powers of a seer, able to glimpse into the future, read the past, and feel the presence of spirits around her. Such females are called Oracles, and hold esteemed places and heavy responsibilities in tauren society. A female tauren may take the Second Sight feat at 1st level if she chooses. She may not take the feat after 1st level; she’s either born a seer, or she is not.
• Automatic Languages: Regional human language (usually Eloi, Genovan, or Sturmmen) and Tauren. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gurgumund, Orc, Primal, and regional human language (Arbonnesse, Eloi, Genovan, Sturmmen, Tiamni, Ulvmann, Vangal, and Vistani).
• Favored Class: Barbarian (male), or Spirit Shaman (female). A multiclass tauren’s barbarian or spirit shaman class does not count when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing (see XP for multiclass characters, page 60 of the Player’s Handbook).
