I'm stating up a Minotaur for my next PF session. In the previous session my players passed through a talking door down into a dungeon, and subsequently ran into a minotaur who crashed through the wall attacking them, and that's where we stopped. (If you're one of my players and recognize this scenario, don't read further)
So, what I'm doing is adding Barbarian levels to my minotaur, hoping to add some flavour to him. And so far it's going fine, but there's just one thing I'm a bit confuddled about.
The minotaurs Natural Cunning essentially grants them the same bonus (if not a better one) that Uncanny Dodge does. So I started wondering if the minotaur wouldn't get Improved Uncanny Dodge then, seeing as to how the minotaur already has it, sort of. Even though it 'technically' doesn't have the feat. So I'm thinking of giving it the Improved feat.
What do you guys think?
seems fair to me, I am not sure it matters in your campaign, but do you count the whole 6 minotaur levels towards the improved uncanny dodge ability ?
I think that's totally fair.
Yes, that will count. They have relied heavily on flanking up till now, so I want to keep them on their toes. The rogue can still do sneak damage by feinting though.
What I have done though, is nip and tuck here and there alternating somewhat between the two ways of adding class levels to a monster (stacking or not stacking). I've done so because I want the minotaur to be a better fit for the party, and if I had allowed the minotaurs base attack bonus to stack with the bonus from the barbarian levels he would have a much too high 'to hit' ratio. However, I've chosen to keep the minotaurs 6 HD and added the 2d12 from the class levels to give him some resilience, because I've noticed that my party can dish out quite a bit of damage when they want to.
Also, I wanted the minotaur to 'look' more intimidating, so I decided to slap some armour on him and lower his natural armor bonus a bit.
Here's the stats:
Berserker Minotaur CR 6
XP 2,600
CE Large monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses dark vision 60 ft.; Perception +11
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +3 armor, -1 size, +3 natural)
hp 71
Fort +8 Ref +5 Will +5
Defensive Abilities natural cunning
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee greataxe +8 (1d12+6), gore +4 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks powerful charge (gore +11, 2d6+6)
STATISTICS
Str 23, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +8; CMD 18
Feat Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Imp.Uncanny Dodge, Rage, Fast Movement,
SkillsStandard skills
Languages Giant
Rage Rounds 7
Rage Powers Quick Reflexes (2 AoO/round)
hmm the CR seems to be not worty of CR 6, it is in some respects weaker than a normal minotaur.
the base axe damage should be 3d6, it has a worse attack adjustment, at any which way I look at it, it doesn't fit..
That is not really a problem, players prolly wont notice anything weird, but the CR is wrong in my opinion, this is barely stronger than a CR 4 minotaur CR 5 would fit better.
Yeah, upon further inspection I could tweak some other areas instead making him work a little better.
I've reassigned the ability adjustments and switched some things around. I think it's better now.
Here's my revised minotaur:
Berserker Minotaur
CR 6
XP 2,600
CE Large monstrous humanoid
Init +1; Senses dark vision 60 ft.; Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +3 armor, +5 natural)
hp 75
Fort +8 Ref +5 Will +5
Defensive Abilities natural cunning
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee greataxe +10/+5 (3d6+6), gore +4 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks powerful charge (gore +11, 2d6+6)
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 5, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +8; CMB +8; CMD 18
Feat Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Imp.Uncanny Dodge, Rage,
Fast Movement,
Skills Intimidate +5, Perception +10, Stealth +2, Survival +10;
Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Survival
Languages Giant
Rage Rounds 7
Rage Powers Quick Reflexes (2 AoO/round)
(didn't have it in me to make it bold again, sorry)
This brings up an interesting thought in my mind.
If you want to really change the way the game plays to become faster...
Monster with class levels don't gain the Hit Points from the classes, but they do gain the rest of the abilities. (or perhaps only grant them 1 hp/class level.)
Something I'll have to think about.
This brings up an interesting thought in my mind.
If you want to really change the way the game plays to become faster...
Monster with class levels don't gain the Hit Points from the classes, but they do gain the rest of the abilities. (or perhaps only grant them 1 hp/class level.)
Something I'll have to think about.
What? Where did I say I wanted to up the pace of the game? Or was it merely a tangent of thought?
What? Where did I say I wanted to up the pace of the game? Or was it merely a tangent of thought?This brings up an interesting thought in my mind.
If you want to really change the way the game plays to become faster...
Monster with class levels don't gain the Hit Points from the classes, but they do gain the rest of the abilities. (or perhaps only grant them 1 hp/class level.)
Something I'll have to think about.
tangent.