Wandering Monsters: Hellenic Half-Humans

More Greek monsters, this time the centaur, satyr, harpy, and minotaur.

Unlike last week’s selection I have actually used the harpy a couple times, minotaurs quite a bit, and in an old 3rd Edition campaign two players rolled up a pair of satyr drunken master monks.

Centaur
The physical description is fine–not that I assumed it would not be–but given both their mythological and fey roots, I am surprised that their personality is described as “generally mild-tempered”, and that they “enjoy the studies of philosophy and arts”.

The only example that I could find of a particularly wise centaur was Chiron, who was not even directly related to other centaurs. They are otherwise described as a fairly chaotic bunch, on par with satyrs, which I think better fits their fey origin anyway. It is not that I am opposed to the idea of benevolent centaur teachers (which could make for an interesting NPC), but I think it does not suit their race as a whole.

Also, why do they not attack with their hooves? Not only has the hoof attack been part of them since at least 2nd Edition, but I can easily imagine one pinning a creature under its hoof and then, assuming it is not dead already, finishing the job with a sword or arrow to the face.

Satyr
The description for satyrs is almost spot on (despite more accurately depicting fauns, which 2nd Edition mentions as an alternate name for them).

My only criticism is that I would make them capable of weaving magic into music without the need for enchanted pipes, giving them a natural knack for whatever amounts to bardic magic. Keep magical pipes, just as an interesting item and not a necessity. Like angels, I would also prefer that their magic is not directly mimicked by spells (though a set of thematic spells could also be cool).

As for female satyrs, well, in Roman myth the gods Faunus and Fauna were male and female goat-people respectively, and satyresses were also apparently a thing, but it is not like I expect Dungeons & Dragons–which has stuck with male-only satyrs with the appearance and pan pipes of a faun for quite some time–to adhere closely to real-world mythology.

I want them to come up with interesting, hopefully compelling flavor material, and I can see an argument for both sides.

Harpy
I am curious as to why, given that originally harpies seemed to have the bodies of beautiful woman, that Dungeons & Dragon‘s makes them ugly. From what I gathered harpies do not even have a luring song; that feature belongs to another bird-woman hybrid, the siren (also the basis for the Russian sirin), which came in a variety of depictions depending on the bird-to-woman ratio, but was still described as beautiful.

As with the satyr, I am not expecting Dungeons & Dragons to stick to the mythology, but instead use it as a basis for creating awesome stuff. Personally I think that the appearance of the original siren is more interesting, though the more divinely oriented sirins, which had bodies of owls and sung songs of future joys to saints, could make for an interesting counterpart to the “classic” evil and hideous harpy.

Minotaur
Why not have minotaurs be a race created by Baphomet, with the really big ones those he has specially blessed/cursed? Why not have ogres be the Large, savage ones, with humans accounting for the Medium-sized, more civilized crowd? It sounds better than them size-dropping like Mario just because they got smarter.

Dragon’s Eye View & Wandering Monsters: Minotaurs

The minotaur is a very iconic monster, both in Greek mythology and Dungeons & Dragons, though before 4th Edition I do not recall much general flavor about them. In 2nd Edition’s favor I have not played it in basically forever, and an Ecology article withstanding 3rd Edition did not go much beyond mentioning that they were “often found in underground labyrinths”. Regardless I have pretty much always looked at the D&D incarnation as being a true-breeding race (though before 4th Edition almost exclusively as a monster).

Note: I am only vaguely aware of the yikaria, partly because of a Dungeon adventure, and partly because I swear they were in Forgotten Realms. I really have nothing to say about them, except that I remember them kind of looking neat and could control genies…I think.

Even so the flavor of cultists blessed/cursed by Baphomet is pretty cool, despite its departure from what I have always known. It is a different–and more importantly interesting–take on things, and helps differentiate them from other Large-sized monsters in the game (besides having a gore attack). However I wonder how this will affect players who want to roll up a minotaur? If nothing else the flavor gives you something to work with, which is always nice, though if all minotaurs are the product of demon lord-worshippers then it might start to reek of rebellious drow.

Flavor aside there is still the issue of size. With the possible exception of re-sizing armor and other trinkets, I do not recall it being much of a problem in 2nd Edition. In 3rd Edition? There were several advantages, namely reach–especially since attacks of opportunity were not restricted to adjacent enemies–and increased weapon damage. Depending on how much size matters hopefully we get a Medium-sized option; I could see Large minotaurs being more monstrous, while Medium ones being more civilized and human-like.

Speaking of appearance, I am mostly torn about the feet. I prefer them with fur and tails, and the whole changed-cultist angle justifies the breasts, but ultimately these are cosmetic things and are not a huge deal. The feet? Those could raise some questions. While feet can look goofy, it makes it easy for a minotaur to handle boots and such. Hooves on the other hand make them appear more monstrous (which is good if that is your angle), but can potentially limit such things depending on your DM. Plus, in an edition where magic items can be harder to find and potentially harder to make, this could be more problematic if they are going to be usable as characters. Of course if magic items are also not assumed then it could just be a wash.
I like them both, and I think there is room for Large, monstrous minotaurs and Medium-size, more human-like ones in the same default/implied/generic setting. If I had to choose, I would err on the side of giving DMs more options to throw at their players. Plus minotaurs, what with their natural cunning, are made for random dungeon encounters.

Minotaur Warlord/Artificer

I tried tinkering with Character Builder a bit, but in the end I think that a minotaur serving as a front-line soldier during the Last War (I would totally play this guy in an Eberron campaign) made more sense than an artificer. I’m not saying it couldnt work, but I felt that it was cooler to have a minotaur charging into the fray instead of hanging back pegging creatures with a repeating crossbow.
The ability scores and racial features work with this a lot better, and I can always lump on artificer stuff through Multiclass feats or even using Hybrid rules. In the end this character works out well and is very functional, even when using artificer spells at later levels.

Tuska, level 1
Minotaur, Warlord
Commanding Presence: Tactical Presence

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 13, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 13.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 11, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 13.

AC: 17 Fort: 15 Reflex: 14 Will: 12
HP: 25 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 6

TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate +6, Heal +4, Athletics +8, Endurance +7, Arcana +8

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Bluff +1, Diplomacy +1, Dungeoneering -1, History +3, Insight -1, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion +3, Stealth -1, Streetwise +1, Thievery -1

FEATS
Level 1: Student of Artifice

POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Inevitable Wave (swapped out for Magic Weapon as a houserule)
Warlord at-will 1: Opening Shove
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord’s Favor
Warlord daily 1: Lead the Attack

ITEMS
Khopesh, Light Shield, Hide Armor, Adventurer’s Kit