Racial Ecologies Guide to Minotaur
Publisher: Fat Goblin Games
Pages: 9
Cost: 1.99
Release Date: 02/02/2012
Get It Here: DriveThruRPG.com
This nine page supplement by Fat Goblin Games was designed primarily for the Paizo Pathfinder role playing game system but can be used in earlier D20 RPG games with little to no modification at all. This guide can be used in any fantasy gaming system that allow minotaurs as part of the creature menagerie in that setting as monsters that can be encountered, non-player characters (NPCs), or as a race that can be utilized as a player character (PC).
Reviewer’s Note: For all intents and purposes, I am going to review this product as if the minotaur was being utilized as a race made available to players by a gamemaster.
CONTENTS: This guide covers a lot of ground on the minotaur race. As most creature guides that have been available in the past, this particular one provides to the gamemaster a well defined history on this savage but misunderstood race, a descriptive physiology, a minotaur’s basic vital stats such as basic age, height, weight, and aging effects, racial traits, weapons available for use by minotaurs, special feats for use by minotaurs, and two examples of minotaur NPC’s utilizing the material in this guide. For those interested in playing a minotaur as a PC, there is a paragraph that covers all the racial modifiers to specific statistics such as +2 to Strength, + 2 to Wisdom, -2 to Charisma, minotaurs are Medium in size, Darkvision to 60′, and so on. There is also small mention of Baphomet, the deity of the Minotaurs.
PRACTICAL USE: The gamemaster can use this supplement by allowing players to play the minotaur as a fully fleshed PC and/or use it to create awesome foes for whatever personal use within that campaign. In any case, this supplement provides a lot of great information and brings something new to the table.
POSITIVE NOTES: This guide is well written and very easy to read. The layout is well designed and the artwork is top notch therefore kudos to Rick Hershey for providing GREAT art. The minotaur as a playable character race is well balanced and will fit in very easily into a Pathfinder campaign and/or even other D20 systems with minimal modification. This guide brings one thing for certain to the Pathfinder rpg and that is a playable race not yet covered by any of their main core rulebooks. This is one supplement the reviewer intends to have at his beckon when hosting his rpg sessions at his table. The example of the multi-classed Barbarian/Fighter minotaur NPC was a huge plus.
NEGATIVE NOTES: One thing the reviewer found lacking was the integration of available classes that a minotaur could possibly play. There is no doubt that a minotaur is a savage brute and will be a fighter and perhaps other sub-classes as well as clerics as it was mentioned in the guide, but what else can they be? Is it possible there are arcane minotaurs in existence? What about rogues? Is it possible for a minotaur to be a druid? Due to their feral nature, what about alignment restrictions? Why were minotaurs given a Medium size category instead of Large? Not knowing the intentions of the author as far as these questions being presented, a gamemaster will have to adjudicate these questions posed by players if minotaurs are a playable race in a fantasy game setting.
OVERALL REVIEW: This is an excellent supplement for those who like to introduce creatures of mythological proportions into a fantasy campaign setting.
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