Buffotaur 3.5 race, PEACH

[Kaje]

I slapped together this minotaur-like buffalo race. It's mostly a hybrid of Dragonlance's Minotaur and d20WoW's Tauren. What do you think?

EDITED TO REFLECT CHANGES

Buffotaur Racial Traits
Buffotaurs possess the following racial traits:
• +4 Strength, –4 Dexterity, –2 Wisdom.
Buffotaurs are large and powerful, but not very agile. Buffotaurs have short tempers which can cloud their judgment.
• Medium
• A buffotaur’s base land speed is 30 feet.
• +2 natural armor bonus.
A buffotaur's thick hide provides some protection from attacks.
• Gore: A buffotaur may use his horns as natural weapons to make a gore attack, dealing 1d4 points of damage plus the buffotaur’s Strength modifier. If the buffotaur charges, his gore attack deals 2d4 points of damage, plus 1 1⁄2 times his Strength modifier. A buffotaur 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).
• +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Handle Animal and Survival checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Herd.
• Favored Class: Ranger
• Level Adjustment: +0

[Debihuman]

Why are these smaller than centaurs? I would think they would be Large (and if you still want to give them Powerful Build so they'd gain the advantages of being a Huge creature you could do that).

Debby

[LOTRfan]

I'd opt for the larger size as well. Powerful Build gives it a level adjustment of +1, whereas a large creature with a reach of 5 ft. is still considered LA +0. I like it, though. Do you have any fluff for it?

[Kaje]

Well, mostly they're medium because the two races I was working with (Tauren and Minotaur of Krynn) are both medium, so it made sense. But I suppose I wouldn't have any problem making them large instead. In fact, let's consider that done, though I'm going to leave the OP intact for now.

Some background: I decided to make this as a companion to this 0 LA version of the "Spellslinger" setting's Grey Runner...
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168092

... as I thought it was odd that in this setting the Old World yielded all of the PHB races while the New World has only wolf-people. So I decided to make a bison race as a sort of analogue to the plains Indians.

As for fluff, I don't really have anything written up, but I see them as mostly farmers living in small communities, with chiefs democratically elected by the males in the herd. They are generally peaceful, but have fierce tempers when riled, at which point you better watch out. Barbarians and rangers are common, and most casters will probably be druids, despite the Wis penalty.

[Morph Bark]

I'd opt for the larger size as well. Powerful Build gives it a level adjustment of +1, whereas a large creature with a reach of 5 ft. is still considered LA +0. I like it, though. Do you have any fluff for it?

Are there any official Large races with 5 ft reach that are LA+0?

[OptimumDinosaur]

Why the wisdom penalty?
I'd consider changing to charisma or intelligence if they're supposed to be tribal and druidic and stuff.

[Kaje]

Well, i don't know if they should be particularly wise, and I thought that would reflect their short tempers, with a bit of a tendency for rash behavior. Could change it to charisma though.

Also: should they be large or medium? Either way, powerful build is out.

[LOTRfan]

Are there any official Large races with 5 ft reach that are LA+0?

Well, no, all large creatures I've come across have a reach of 10. I was just bringing that up, because Level Adjustment is not determined by size, but rather reach. I guess it would require some explanation (are their arms short?), but yes, if done and the creature has no racial hit die or special powers, it is LA +0, as defined in Savage Species. Granted, not exactly the best source, but I think the rules for determining LA +0 is pretty good...

[DracoDei]

The suffix -taur actually usually means a quadruped with the torso, arms, and head of a human (perhaps scaled up) in the circles I run in. IE Centaur rather than Minotaur as the default base from which varients are extrapolated. I suspect the same confusion might be affecting the other commenters.

A large quadruped would, indeed, have a 5 foot reach (see HERE). But the 30 base speed would indicate a biped.

In short, are they quadrupeds or bipeds?

[Kaje]

Biped.




jjjjjj

[imp_fireball]

whereas a large creature with a reach of 5 ft. is still considered LA +0. I like it, though. Do you have any fluff for it?

What about 'clumsy build'? All the benefits and negatives of being large (one size larger), a reach of 5ft. and occupies only one space.

Or maybe all the negatives and half the benefits - like +2 size to grapple/bullrush/overrun/etc. Or all the negatives and none of the benefits, leaving room for buffs elsewhere?

Biped.

Yeah, they got short stubby arms. Whiping their ass is a chore.

The suffix -taur actually usually means a quadruped with the torso, arms, and head of a human (perhaps scaled up) in the circles I run in. IE Centaur rather than Minotaur as the default base from which varients are extrapolated. I suspect the same confusion might be affecting the other commenters.

And yet minotaurs are biped. Wait, mino is one right?

But 'tauren' is sort of a slurring in a sense.

and most casters will probably be druids, despite the Wis penalty.

Or whatever the equivalent of shaman in wow is. Granted, WoW shaman are probably clerics with the nature domain.

[Debihuman]

You should probably note in the first entry that these creatures are bipeds. It does make a difference in how much they can carry.

Debby

[imp_fireball]

You should probably note in the first entry that these creatures are bipeds. It does make a difference in how much they can carry.

Debby

Also opposing combat maneuvers like trip, overrun, bull rush... list goes on.

Gore: A buffotaur may use his horns as natural weapons to make a gore attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage plus the buffotaur’s Strength modifier. If the buffotaur charges, his gore attack deals 2d6 points of damage, plus 1 1⁄2 times his Strength modifier. A buffotaur 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).

Better to just say that they have one gore as a natural weapon. People generally know how natural weapons rules apply.

Also, change damage from 1d6 to 1d4 - pretty minor; otherwise, that's almost like wielding two greatswords if they combine it with pounce and a high attack modifier.

Alternately, you could just make it unarmed damage, but lethal. Provokes an attack of opportunity unless it's made on a charge.

Buffalo aren't very hostile, so their gore might not be all that dangerous compared to a minotaur's more powerful neck and larger horns - still hurts and can kill though (reflected by lethal damage).

[Kaje]

The first sentence says "minotaur-like"...

[Debihuman]

Are these Monstrous Humanoids? They would get those features and traits as well.

Monstrous Humanoid Type

Monstrous humanoids are similar to humanoids, but with monstrous or animalistic features. They often have magical abilities as well.

Features

A monstrous humanoid has the following features.

* 8-sided Hit Dice.
* Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter).
* Good Reflex and Will saves.
* Skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.

Traits

A monstrous humanoid possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
* Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Monstrous humanoids not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Monstrous humanoids are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
* Monstrous humanoids eat, sleep, and breathe.

"Herd" is not a standard language in D&D. D&D minotaurs speak Giant.

Debby

[Tael]

STR +4, Large, +2 Nat armor, Gore attack and some skill bonuses? This is LA +1, not LA 0. If it is LA +0, it is literally one of the powerful base races in existence.

[Kaje]

Ok, back down to medium. See, this is why I ask.

And no, none of that monstrous humanoid stuff.

[Debihuman]

Then perhaps you should rethink using minotaur as a basis.

[Kaje]

DragonLance's Minotaur is not a monstrous humanoid.

[Admiral Squish]

Arright, Here's how I did tauren in another thread, perhaps it will help you.

• +4 str, +2 con, +2 wis, -2 dex, -2 Cha
• Monstrous Humanoid: Tauren are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
• Medium Size: As medium creatures, tauren have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Tauren base land speed is 30 feet
• Low-light vision: Tauren can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Powerful Build: The physical stature of tauren lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a tauren is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the tauren is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A tauren is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A tauren can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
• War Stomp: As a standard action at will, a tauren can stomp the earth, sending his foes toppling. All creatures within 15 feet must make a reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 tauren's HD + str mod) or fall prone. A tauren can use this ability 1/encounter.
• Tauren have a +2 racial bonus to knowledge (nature) checks.
• Automatic languages: Orcish, Taurahae. Bonus Languages: Auran, Aquan, Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Ignan, Terran.
• Favored Class: Barbarian
• LA: +1

[Debihuman]

Ahh, I just got a chance to see how the DragonLance minotaurs differ from normal minotaurs. I think you need a little fluff to describe how these look as Humanoids. I was under the mis-impression as to what these were. Buffotaur sounds like a human head and torso on a buffalo (like a centaur). Hence my initial confusion, further complicated by my lack of knowledge on the DragonLance minotaurs. Sorry about the mix up.

I'm not really crazy about the name for the race for the above reason. However, looking over your revised stats, they look fine to me.

Debby

[imp_fireball]

Are these Monstrous Humanoids? They would get those features and traits as well.

I wouldn't make that so since it could elevate it that much closer to LA +1.

[Latronis]

It already is LA1