Hi everyone! I have been contemplating playing a minotaur barbarian within the aforementioned setting, but I'm uncertain which backgrounds would be suitable and how to rp one in FR, considering their general depiction as brutish monsters tied to Baphomet and the differences between Toril Minotaurs and Ravnica ones.
Any suggestions or ideas would be very much appreciated
Some of the Ravnica rules make sense for a FR minotaur. The racial ability bonuses (+2 STR, +1 CON) absolutely make sense for both settings. I would argue that perhaps only Intimidation rather than either Intimidation or Persuasion makes sense for a racial skill proficiency in the FR setting, and Abyssal rather than Minotaur language may also make sense from a proficiency standpoint. Alternatively, if you consider the MM entry relevant for making characters of this race, you could make it a choice between Intimidation or Perception, saying that they're natural hunters, and Intimidation is just what the more socially inclined ones do when they corner their quarry. For flavor text on alignment, maybe mention the influence of Baphomet and for that reason, FR minotaurs tend to be CE, although exceptions exist. You can either keep the suggested names in GGtR or come up with your own list to suggest. Obviously the mention of guilds in the GGtR description is irrelevant in the FR. For combat abilities, I suppose that the goring rush and hammering horns bonus actions might be a bit overpowered (your call) but maybe keeping the horn attack for unarmed combat would be appropriate. Of course, maybe the bonus combat actions make sense for your campaign, so it's ultimately up to you to determine how to balance it.
That might be. It would probably be okay to replace one of the two special attacks with it and leave the other one. Alternatively, you could keep both special attacks if you can't think of a good way to balance the racial bonuses without them. It's just that most racial bonuses are things like skill proficiencies and maybe a cantrip or some kind of non-attack bonus action, like the wood elf's mask of the wild, which is why I suggested replacing the bonus action attacks in the first place. I suppose that it is tricky to balance something like this. After all, the Ravnica minotaur basically has just those special actions and the ability bonuses. Darkvision would be acceptable thematically, because minotaurs stalk mazes and dungeons. It just isn't enough if you remove even just one of his special attacks. Maybe some sort of saving throw advantage or some sort of resistance would be enough to even it out if you removed one of the special attacks. I just can't think of what would make sense thematically. Alternatively, something like Dwarven toughness, but with Minotaur flavor text would be appropriate. So you'd be removing one of the bonus attacks, but giving Minotaur toughness (or advantage on X saving throws or Y resistance) and darkvision 60' in its place. I'm not sure how balanced it would be as I'm really just spitballing here. Plus, extra attacks are always useful, as are extra hp, but neither advantage on a particular type of save nor a particular type of resistance are general, so those options may not be as balanced.
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Hi everyone! I have been contemplating playing a minotaur barbarian within the aforementioned setting, but I'm uncertain which backgrounds would be suitable and how to rp one in FR, considering their general depiction as brutish monsters tied to Baphomet and the differences between Toril Minotaurs and Ravnica ones.
Any suggestions or ideas would be very much appreciated
Some of the Ravnica rules make sense for a FR minotaur. The racial ability bonuses (+2 STR, +1 CON) absolutely make sense for both settings. I would argue that perhaps only Intimidation rather than either Intimidation or Persuasion makes sense for a racial skill proficiency in the FR setting, and Abyssal rather than Minotaur language may also make sense from a proficiency standpoint. Alternatively, if you consider the MM entry relevant for making characters of this race, you could make it a choice between Intimidation or Perception, saying that they're natural hunters, and Intimidation is just what the more socially inclined ones do when they corner their quarry. For flavor text on alignment, maybe mention the influence of Baphomet and for that reason, FR minotaurs tend to be CE, although exceptions exist. You can either keep the suggested names in GGtR or come up with your own list to suggest. Obviously the mention of guilds in the GGtR description is irrelevant in the FR. For combat abilities, I suppose that the goring rush and hammering horns bonus actions might be a bit overpowered (your call) but maybe keeping the horn attack for unarmed combat would be appropriate. Of course, maybe the bonus combat actions make sense for your campaign, so it's ultimately up to you to determine how to balance it.
Thanks for the advice!
Would it be acceptable if I added Darkvision to the official minotaur to tie it more to Faerun?
That might be. It would probably be okay to replace one of the two special attacks with it and leave the other one. Alternatively, you could keep both special attacks if you can't think of a good way to balance the racial bonuses without them. It's just that most racial bonuses are things like skill proficiencies and maybe a cantrip or some kind of non-attack bonus action, like the wood elf's mask of the wild, which is why I suggested replacing the bonus action attacks in the first place. I suppose that it is tricky to balance something like this. After all, the Ravnica minotaur basically has just those special actions and the ability bonuses. Darkvision would be acceptable thematically, because minotaurs stalk mazes and dungeons. It just isn't enough if you remove even just one of his special attacks. Maybe some sort of saving throw advantage or some sort of resistance would be enough to even it out if you removed one of the special attacks. I just can't think of what would make sense thematically. Alternatively, something like Dwarven toughness, but with Minotaur flavor text would be appropriate. So you'd be removing one of the bonus attacks, but giving Minotaur toughness (or advantage on X saving throws or Y resistance) and darkvision 60' in its place. I'm not sure how balanced it would be as I'm really just spitballing here. Plus, extra attacks are always useful, as are extra hp, but neither advantage on a particular type of save nor a particular type of resistance are general, so those options may not be as balanced.