RULES FOR LIONTAURS


(Please also read the Rules for ALL Taur PCs)

LIONTAURS

  • +2 Dex
  • -2 Con
  • +1 Natural Armor Class Bonus
  • Racial feat: Toughness
  • Natural Attacks: two paws for 1d4 damage (slashing, crit 20, x2)
  • Low light vision
  • +1 racial bonus on Jump skill checks
  • +1 racial bonus on Move Silently skill checks
  • Large in size (see below)
  • Speed: 40 feet
  • Favored Class: Ranger
  • Free Languages: Liontaur, Tauric (pre-Sundering language) Common must be bought with Int slots or skill points.
  • Illiterate: All Liontaurs start the game illiterate and must spend two skill ranks to learn to read and write.
  • Waterphobic: Liontaurs suffer a -2 penalty on Swim checks.
  • Liontaurs cannot wear horseshoes nor boots. They may not wear pants.
  • See this page for height, weight, and age.

LARGE SIZE

  • AC: -1
  • To Hit: -1
  • Hide: -4
  • Special attacks and intimidate checks: a size bonus is generally given.
  • Carrying Capacity is tripled for liontaurs
  • Liontaurs have a 5-foot natural reach and occupy a 10x10 space.
  • Armor for liontaurs weighs double and costs four times normal (costs for magic enhancements are not doubled)
  • Weapons for liontaurs are large. If a liontaur uses a weapon sized for a medium creature, the taur suffers a -2 penalty using the weapon. Weight and price for large-size versions of weapons is double normal. Damage for large-size versions is greater (see PHB).

LIONTAURS IN COMBAT

Liontaurs use the same rules as all D&D creatures for natural attacks and attacks with manufactured weapons. As a standard attack, liontaurs can make one paw attack or one weapon attack. As a full round attack, liontaurs can make usual weapon attacks and two secondary paw attacks at -5 to hit. Liontaurs can take the Multiattack feat to reduce this secondary attack penalty from -5 to -2. Liontaurs can also take a unique Liontaur Charge feat:

Liontaur Charge [Racial]
Benefit: Once per encounter, you may end a charge with a full attack, instead of a standard attack. A fighter may select Liontaur Charge as one of his fighter bonus feats.

LIONTAUR INFO AND ROLEPLAYING NOTES

Liontaurs originated on the mainland, but over 400 years ago a small number of them set off, believing prophesies that the Gods were going to destroy much of the mainland. A small group of refugees made it to an island to the west of the centaurs and the minotaurs. They have been there ever since, but these island liontaurs are still small in number, and they have to struggle to survive. Liontaurs trade with both centaurs and minotaurs.

They don't grow or manufacture Purple or Blue Wine, but they have a fondness for it and a greater-than-other-humanoids tolerance for these potent potables (as do minotaurs and centaurs.) Some liontaurs are fond of tobacco and long-stemmed pipes.

They never use the Ride skill because there is no domesticated animal large enough for them to ride. They generally feel that it is beneath themselves to serve as mounts for other races.

Liontaurs were always a proud people, and these island-dwelling liontaurs are even prouder, like small people everywhere who have had to fight against great hardship just to survive. Liontaurs see themselves as naturally superior to other folk, but the best of them are noble and gracious to lesser races, not haughty or boastful.

Liontaurs honor Domi as the lord of the hunt. They call him Tomi, because in some liontaur dialects the "d" sound is missing. In their own language, liontaurs call themselves "wemics."

Liontaurs are not natural island-dwellers -- they love wide open plains and vast savannah. One reason that the liontaur population remains low is because their island just can't support very many creatures with liontaur bulk and meat requirements. And there is another hazard on the island of the liontaurs, more deadly than overpopulation and scant resources. Hellhounds have ripped through the liontaur population, and many have died.

But some liontaurs have overcome the feline aversion to water -- they have carved out niches as sailors and merchants. These coastal liontaurs dwell near the only harbor on Liontaur Island, where hell hounds seldom are seen. They have more contact and trade with other Taurs and with Humans. These are more "civilized."

PERSONALITY:

Liontaurs are predators. They specialize in selecting and hunting prey. Some liontaurs, having adapted to their new island home, have become skilled traders. They have put their hunting instincts to good use, outsmarting marks and pouncing on bargains. They wait patiently for the right moment, then move swiftly for the metaphorical kill.

Other liontaurs have remained hunters in the true sense, tracking prints, finding trails, lying in wait, and then rushing to the kill. These tend to live in the small inland interior of the island, and they look down on their more civilized kin.

Here is a story about a meeting of two liontaurs.