Has anyone ever used the half-monster templates from 313? The one in particular I wonder about is the half-minotaur. The template is given only a +1 LA, which seems pretty low to me. Applying the template to a medium creature changes its size to large, granting size bonuses to stats which stack with the bonuses given by the template, resulting in a +12 to strength. Granted, there is an intelligence penalty, but the penalties don't come close to the bonuses IMHO. One of my players is wanting to run a half-minotaur/ half-human barbarian. At first I ok'ed this, but after making up his character I am having second thoughts. I'll let it slide for a while and see how his character plays in relation to the rest of the party, but I think that the LA for the template is broken.
Agreed, half-minotaur is too tough. One guy in my group played for a while half-mino-half-dwarf fighter which was far beyond over-powered (add to large size and huge str the fact that he can wear any armour and still have 30 ft move...he was literally a tank).
I forgave a lot for him since he is not a typical munchkin (though he does enjoy bit of powergaming) and did roleplay the character in entertaining way...well, just imagine what it would be like to be a half-minotaur-half-dwarf? How after your dear dwarf mother has died in childbed and her family takes care of you out of duty for the clan even though it is clear that they hate you and you just want to be loved...and as a defense mechanism you have learned self-degrading slapstick because they don't hurt you when they laugh at you (one rank in perform(comedy)...)
Hugely entertaining character but doesn't change the fact that the template is broken.
On the other hand, I found half-satyr to be rather weak and bland, even though I would be tempted to play one...
|
Dragon tends to be a bit more experimental--so, when a revised or fundamentally similar template comes out later in a more official book, our group tends to use that rule. In this case, I've always figured that the +2 LA for the (extremely similar) half ogre in races of destiny was a good indicator that the half mino should be the same...
Has anyone ever used the half-monster templates from 313? The one in particular I wonder about is the half-minotaur. The template is given only a +1 LA, which seems pretty low to me. Applying the template to a medium creature changes its size to large, granting size bonuses to stats which stack with the bonuses given by the template, resulting in a +12 to strength.
When a template changes a creature's size, you don't apply the modifiers in the back of the MM for size increase. Those are for when the creature's size increases when advancing racial hit dice, or when you just want to have a Huge succubus or Colossal kobold.
I agree with DNJ, the template definitely needs a +2 LA. From the same article one of my players wanted to be a Half-Ogre (before any of us had seen Races of Destiny). I looked through all the monster books to compare the LA (just to be safe) and it looks like the minimum adjustment for the advantages of being large and having a 10 ft. reach is +2. The other abilities are pretty good (which the half-ogre doesn't get), but I don't think they would push it up to +3.
Even though the article states that you should use the table in the MM for changing ability scores due to changing size Thanis is right, aside from the rules, that bonus (+12) to Str is just too insane.
Even though the article states that you should use the table in the MM for changing ability scores due to changing size Thanis is right, aside from the rules, that bonus (+12) to Str is just too insane.
Wow, I didn't think that was actually the case with this template. That's just crazy. I mean, I love the article (good job Wade Nudson!) and the art is great in it (more from Todd Harris please!) but someone wasn't thinking on that particular count.
TK
|
One of my players is wanting to run a half-minotaur/ half-human barbarian. At first I ok'ed this, but after making up his character I am having second thoughts. I'll let it slide for a while and see how his character plays in relation to the rest of the party, but I think that the LA for the template is broken.
I played one, and at +1LA it is on the overpowered side, you can really min-max the str, which really helps to hit and dmg, another thing I enjoyed doing (much to the chagrin of my dm) was taking feats that were available to Large size creatures like Large and in Charge, and Awesome blow. If the character really want to play something with a minotaur feel, I'd suggest the Minotaur of Krynn from the Dragonlance campaign setting, they are like a better version of an orc.