Minotaur
- This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Minotaur (monster).
| The Minotaurs are yet another species of hybrids - Human bodies with bovine heads. They delve into the Dungeon because of their instinctive love of twisting passageways.
Minotaurs are extremely good at all forms of physical combat, but are awful at using any type of magic. They can wear all armour except for some headgear. When in close combat, Minotaurs tend to reflexively headbutt those who dare attack them. |
Contents
Innate Abilities
- Horns 2: Minotaurs get a secondary melee attack from their horns, but cannot wear most forms of headgear.
- Minotaurs instinctively counterattack foes in melee with a headbutt whenever (5×STR + 7×DEX > random2(600))
Preferred Backgrounds
Level Bonuses
- +1 strength or dexterity (equal chance) every 4th level.
- 10% more HP than average.
- 20% less MP than average.
- +3 magic resistance per level.
Starting Skills and Equipment
Minotaurs start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:
Difficulty of Play
| Simple • Intermediate • Advanced |
Minotaurs are an easy species to play because of their incredible versatility in melee combat. They are equally excellent in all melee weapons, and nearly as competent at range. They are also very durable, thanks to high HP and a good Armour skill aptitude. Minotaurs are thus a great choice for players who want a powerful "monstrous" species, but don't want to sacrifice weapon versatility or armour as ogres and trolls do.
Skill aptitudes
The higher the value, the better the aptitude.
| Skill | Aptitude | Skill | Aptitude | Skill | Aptitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Miscellaneous | Magic | |||
| Fighting | 2 | Armour | 2 | Spellcasting | -4 |
| Dodging | 1 | ||||
| Maces & Flails | 2 | Shields | 2 | Conjurations | -3 |
| Axes | 2 | Stealth | -1 | Hexes | -4 |
| Polearms | 2 | Summonings | -3 | ||
| Staves | 2 | Invocations | 0 | Necromancy | -3 |
| Unarmed Combat | 1 | Evocations | -1 | Translocations | -3 |
| Throwing | 0 | Shapeshifting | -3 | Alchemy | -3 |
| Fire Magic | -3 | ||||
| Short Blades | 1 | Ice Magic | -3 | ||
| Long Blades | 2 | Air Magic | -3 | ||
| Ranged Weapons | 1 | Experience | -1 | Earth Magic | -2 |
Strategy
Tough, strong, and at home with all weapons, minotaurs are born for melee and ranged-combat backgrounds alike. Being feeble at magic, however, they need to milk the religious side of the game to round themselves out. They particularly excel as Berserkers, as Trog's religion emphasizes all of a Minotaur's strong points, and only trolls suffer less from his ban on magic. Nor do any of his powers actually require the Invocations skill, leaving more experience to devote to combat skills. Among the other religious backgrounds, Death Knights and their undead slaves are another good match for Minotaurs, and Abyssal and Chaos Knights are also melee-oriented to start.
If the starter gods aren't for you, picking Fighter, Gladiator, or Monk provides you with a good start for making the journey to the Temple (or to a lucky early altar). Minotaurs do well under Okawaru (Heroism, Finesse, equipment gifts), Makhleb (demonic summons, recovery from killing, blasts), or the Shining One (powers and defenses useful against demons and undead).
