Minotaurs
Minotaurs are 8 foot tall humanoids that combine the body of a human with the head of a bull. In many folk tales, minotaurs are feared and seen as savage monsters that eat children and kidnap women to provide them with an offspring. This is however far from the truth. Although they are savage and far from refined, they do have somewhat civilized form of society. Minotaurs live in clans, much like the human or brute barbarian tribes. They mostly live in the Nortern Mountains that stand at the edge of the Rock Desert. These clans are the building blocks of minotaur society. Each minotaur clan represents the whole family of minotaurs throughout AranoX. Each clan therefore safeguards the precious core of minotaur history and honor. Any just minotaur would die for his clan. Each clan has a clan elder and a shaman or two, these are always minotaurs. Minotaurs are always male, any child born from the union of a minotaur and a human is either a minotaur or a human female. Women are considered as inferior and they don't have many rights but they are treated with respect. There doesn't really exist such a thing as marriage and having more than one wife is allowed.

Minotaurs adhere strictly to the rule of might: Might makes right. They believe that any problems they have can be solved with strength, cunning, and skill. The rule of might finds clear expression in the arena, where all minotaur legal cases are settled. If a defendant can keep himself alive in the arena against the champions of the minotaurs, he has proven himself innocent.

Minotaurs also believe very strongly in competition. Competition allows one to measure oneself against other minotaurs and against lesser beings.

Honor is the most important thing a minotaur can have, it defines his prestige, his status. Since there isn't much honor in killing children and kidnapping women, that doesn't really happen. When one encounters a minotaur, it would be helpful to keep this in mind. A promise made by a minotaur, (no matter how savage he looks) will always be kept, no matter how painful the consequences might be. Only in cases where the security of the entire race hangs in the balance will a typical minotaur even consider breaking his word. Naturally, minotaurs do not lightly pledge such oaths. There even are a few stories of a famous minotaur paladin, named Torax who was well-known and loved for his honor and nobility. He has become a legend among his kind and many minotaurs claim to be a descendant of him.

So why the stories of the psychotic minotaurs? Don't they have at least a bit of truth in them? Well, they do. Sometimes it happens that a minotaur commits an act so vile that he puts shame on his clan and looses his honor. The minotaur is then exiled from the mountains, to find a slow death in the wastelands. Although minotaurs are big and strong, they have one problem with surviving on their own: they're herd creatures and being alone is not really good for them. Slowly driven insane by their solitude, these exiled minotaurs go on a killing rampage and mostly find their death at the end of someone's weapon. So there is some truth in the stories, but this certainly isn't the way minotaurs are. So unless there is one running loose, let stories remain stories.


Big and bullheaded.


Minotaur
  • Str +6, Con +4, Int -4, Cha -4. Minotaurs are really, really strong, but they're kind of hardheaded and dense. They are often insufferably arrogant, and they can easily alienate other races. Because they believe all non-minotaurs to be weak and inferior, they often underestimate the abilities of their foes.
  • Type: Monstrous Humanoid. Minotaurs have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
  • Size: Large. As large creatures, minotaurs suffer a -1 to hit and AC, and a -4 penalty to all hide checks.
  • Natural Armor: Minotaurs have a thick hide, giving them a +5 bonus to their Armor Class.
  • Natural Weapons: Minotaurs have horns with which they can make a gore attack at -5 to attack and 1/2 Str to damage. These horns do 2d6 damage.
  • Charge: If a minotaur uses his horns in a charge attack, he may add 1.5 times his Str to damage instead of 1/2 times his Str.
  • Natural Cunning (Ex): Although minotaurs are not especially intelligent, they possess innate cunning and logical ability. This makes them immune to maze spells, prevents them from ever becoming lost, and enables them to track enemies. Further, they are never caught flat-footed.
  • Scent: Minotaurs have the scent special ability
  • Skills: Minotaurs receive a +4 racial bonus to Search, Spot, and Listen checks.
  • Level adjustment +3.