Mess with the bull and you get the horns. Mess with the horse and you get... I'm not sure what. A quick review of the newly released Centaur and Minotaur player races from Unearthed Arcana.
My ever growing folder of PDFs for Unearthed Arcana just got a little fatter this week. Fans of playing as monster races rejoice, for Wizards of the Coast may have answered your prayers with the latest release of Unearthed Arcana with rules to play as a Centaur or (updated) Minotaur. I must say the idea of it has me excited, for I am always a fan of more player options. Both monsters are classics, sharing origins in Greek mythology, so it would be appropriate to allow players to play as them... You could say it behooves Wizards to give us these options... hehe get it?
The hype I have seen for these races, even after a day, is most certainly more than most Unearthed Arcana releases get. If you have not seen the article in Unearthed Arcana, the race stats can be found here: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA-Centaur.pdf.
Let's get the review portion out of the way first, and then we will get into implementing these hybrids into your games.
CENTAUR
Centaurs have certainly received more of the hype and excitement than their bovine brethren here. This is probably because we already got a minotaur, but not a centaur in this edition. Unlike a lot of people, I am a bit iffy with their addition, considering that their body shape presents a lot of problems/awkwardness. Let's take a look.
Firstly, the flavor text we are given for Centaur gives us enough of an idea that they are a race born of nature and that thrives in it, and a devotion to their clans. Besides a look into some customs, basic beliefs, and a base for their appearance, there is a lot of room to work with centaur lore for players. Enough to give them ideas, but not too much that it is stifling, which is nice.
The base stats for the centaur are good to me. The ability score increases make sense to me. Increases to strength fits the horse-half of our equestrian hybrid, and the wisdom adds to that since that they have an interconnected-ness to the natural world. I wish we were given a little more information on the age of centaurs. They mature and grow at a similar rate to humans, but how long do they live? Neutral makes sense for their alignment. Making centaurs a little faster than their fellow none-equestrian legged friends was the proper move here.
The racial features for the centaur are what make me turn my head a little. The charge feature is nice. A free crit-damage on an attack once per rest? Sign me up! Although I can see the logic in it, making hooves their own melee weapon was a bit much.
Wizards is trying to avoid confusion with player races of sizes that are not small or medium, and it is a good move to me. It is to avoid the confusion and rules bogging that older editions have, but they have began a trend: giving races that would be large have large carry capacity but make their size medium. This was first seen with the Goliath, so I call this goliathing. (I'm expecting to see goliathing for a few more races that we may get) The centaur is even said to "tower over other humanoids." To me, centaurs are NOT medium creatures, and towering would imply that. They take up the size of two full grown men length and height. The goliath, while questionable as medium, was passable as that size. Centaurs, for me, not so much.
Continuing with Equine Build (there is a lot to it), the additional climb rules are a sensible decision roleplaying-wise, but I feel was a minor setback to try and balance all the goodies that centaurs got. Depending on where the campaign takes your centaur, this might not crop up ever. Also, it is a bit clunky and adds a lot of necessary math in my opinion. Why not just give disadvantage on climbing checks? The idea of the advantage/disadvantage system was to do away with this clunky cruch. That would be more of a set back in my opinion. Finally, being able to give your party members a ride is the feature we all need, and makes for great buddy action sequences.
Giving Survival as a proficiency is a bit of a cherry on the top to the cake that already has lots of icing, but I get it. They live in the wilderness as nomads, and are worldly.
Hybrid nature is such a neat feature that I really enjoy. It really adds to the flavor and can have mechanical effects that swing either way for the centaur (and the minotaur that shares this feature). It also allows them to maintain that creature type which may be important to some. Sylvan as an additional language really helps to sell the "fey" or "nature-bonded" idea of the centaur.
All in all, the centaur is a strange race in a party full of bipedal adventurers, and the idea of it is still something that I'm iffy on. They get a lot of good features, and I feel before going official with them, Wizards will need to look at some balancing. They get a lot of features that makes them certainly feel like a centaur, but they seem strong and chock full of goodies. If you want to try them, be ready to keep track of a lot of different things and the weird climbing math. I wouldn't say flat out "no" to a player who came to me wishing to play a centaur, but I'd certainly think about it.
MINOTAUR
Minotaurs already have had a ride on the player character rodeo back in 2015 when Wizards gave us one of the first Unearthed Arcanas, giving us a chance to play as Krynn minotaurs in "Waterborne." Let's see what Wizards got for us this time.
I was a bit let down that we weren't given additional/new lore on the minotaurs, but the Waterborne supplement did have a fair amount. Even if they just reprinted it in this one, it would've looked nice.
Minotaurs got the classic melee/brute/tank character set up with the increases to strength and constitution. They're gonna make good fighters, barbarians, or anything else you want to be tough and can take a hit. Minotaurs leaning toward lawful was certainly interesting, considering they are monsters in most settings, but I suppose this is more the Krynn minotaurs coming out to play. Size and speed are pretty average for any race. The base stats are good, but I did notice that the age for minotaurs was missing. It isn't detrimental, but I wonder how it made its way past QC.
The horns as a weapon certainly make sense here, and fit a lot more than the hoof weapons the centaurs get. Horns are kind of what set minotaurs apart from most other player races, but what really makes them cool is the Goring Rush. This certainly feels like a charging minotaur ability, and allows a nice little bit of possible damage off a dash, which is nice if you are a tank closing the gap.
Hammering horns is pretty cool and flavorful, but from what I read, it seems like you can use it after you hit with ANY melee attack. I'm not sure if this is intended, but it does seem a bit odd to me. You don't get bonus melee damage or a bonus attack, but you can push the enemy 5 feet away from you. I guess this is useful to get an attacker off a squishy? I feel this ability needs the most review and work out of all the features the minotaur gets. It isn't super effective, and if you were to have this do damage AND push, perhaps add distance to the push or prone and then require a rest between using it again. As it stands, it seems minimal as an ability.
Intimidate as a free skill is a nice add on and fits the flavor of a minotaur. It helps make up for the underwhelming hammering horns.
I already discussed my feelings on the hybrid feature. I feel it fit the centaur very well, and it does fit the minotaur, but I feel the if the minotaur didn't have it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. The bonus language of minotaur feels very limited in its uses or applications unless minotaurs are a major species of the world (so if you're playing in Dragonlance.
The one feature I miss that I don't understand its absence is the Labyrinthine Recall, which basically allowed a minotaur to always retrace its steps. If it was too good, I would've just made it advantage on a check to retrace steps. It was a nice callback to the original Greek myth that really made the minotaur feel unique as a race. Here, they feel like another brute race, especially like a half-orc, but replace all the goodies with horns. They are definitely less powerful than centaurs and if anything could perhaps use a slight buff. I would allow a minotaur party member if it fit the lore of the story.
IMPLEMENTING THE NEW RACES
The nice thing with these races being options for players is that it really makes the world builder in me think "where do these two races fit into my worlds?" It makes all the world building questions for the other player races get asked. As a player, you should talk with your DM about the culture of the races. Feel free to add in your ideas as well because, as a DM, I love it when players get involved in the lore building process.
I'm already getting thoughts for centaurs and minotaurs in the Gaslight Fantasy setting i have been building called Evaryn. Centaurs would be from the southern landmass called Dragonsand where they live nomadic lives crossing the savannas and deserts in roving clans. They would have a tribal society with ancestor worship for certain, and would have great respect for the land, often in good graces with the dryads of the land. Minotaurs on the other hand are industrialists at heart and have taken the industrial revolution in full stride. The minotaur tribes have begun to form into separate nations in the Ashlands to the west and in the north. They rely on the new technology to keep up with the other nations and races.
Centaurs really ask for a good feywild adventure, and a minotaur is a good way to get your party to get some glances from villagers as they shut and lock their doors. You as a player will need to be ready to explain why your monster race is joining the group of adventurers. Other things to consider would be how does your character react to human/elf/dwarf/halfling/etc society? What gods do they worship? What cultural differences make it difficult for them to fit in? Are they proud of their heritage? Were they even raised or born within their own kinds society? These questions along with the regular ones you may answer for building your character might help develop it.
A centaur ranger or druid would fit the mold well for the race, along with an oath of ancients paladin. A minotaur fighter, barbarian, or any melee class who bull rushes everyone and saves the party squishies would be pretty cool and fun. A centaur rogue would certainly feel... awkward. Both classes have features that lend themselves well to more melee character builds.
These races can also be given different appearances as well. I am considering the antlered centaur commonly seen in other games, such as Warcraft, for the Centaurs of Evaryn. As the DM, consider adding these variations to set your centaurs or minotaurs apart, and if your player approaches you with one, try and work into your world if you can.
Of course these materials are play test, and if you are a player, you should always consult with your DM and fellow players before bringing any Unearthed Arcana materials to the table. As a DM, feel free to discuss with your players and adjust the races as need be to balance and fit your game.
All in all, I'm happy Wizards is trying to implement these classic monstrous races. There are some issues of balance, the centaur feels saturated, and the minotuar feels underwhelming and missing the Labyrinthine Recall makes it stand out less. I'm sure with some tweaking, they will be in tip top shape. They deserve the excitement they've gotten so far, but they are far from perfect. If I have a chance to play as/with either race in a game, I will certainly post an updated review.
Of course, I would like to know your thoughts on all this hoovelah. Feel free to contact me on here or DM me on twitter or tweet @Mr_Puddins to talk about this. I would love to have a discussion about it and the possibilities of the races in your game.
Until then, happy gaming!
-Puddins
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