Beastfolk, Grand Turos (3.5e Race)

Grand Turos

Ancient sages say that the Grand Turos are what the Minotaurs once were, before they descended into barbaric savagery. Strong warriors and instinctively well organized, the Grand Turos are natural builders of empires and mighty war machines. They serve equally well as farmers, engineers and great tacticians, using their impressive strength and orderly ways to overcome almost any problem.

Personality

The Grand Turos are reliable and stalwart to a degree that even a dwarf must respect. They tend to be surly and sullen, and often seem unfriendly. This is because a Grand Turos is thinking, preferring to consider things before he next acts, which acts as an excellent check on the prodigious and incredibly destructive tempers of this mighty species. Grand Turos are also an exceedingly proud people, considering themselves destined for great things, as evident by the “grand” appellation they insist be put in their racial name, as well as their insistence upon capitalization of the first letters of their racial name. Thankfully this racial pride is not usually manifested by excessive boasting or putting down of other races – it is just what a Grand Turos accepts as fact, and expects that others will, too, once they have been around the race long enough to learn the truth.

Physical Description

If the raw, barbaric savagery of a Minotaur could be taken and civilized, one would get a good idea of what the Grand Turos look like. Grand Turos take great pride in their appearance as a rule, and so are usually impeccable in grooming their short-furred hides, which come in as many color variations as can be expected of bovines. The Grand Turos have many of the traits of cattle in a humanoid form, with large, powerfully-built bodies, and often with a slight hump to their backs, but they have a keen glint of intelligence in their eyes as well that offsets their bestial appearances. This race ranges between six and a half feet tall to around ten feet tall at their most massive, with weights running between two-hundred pounds to a good half ton or more.

Relations

The Grand Turos are surprisingly tolerant of other races, provided those races are willing to obey the rules and not start trouble. They are naturally suspicious of the carnivorous Beastfolk, especially Wolfen and Wild Catfolk, but have no problems with city catfolk. Grand Turos do not trust races they regard as shifty, and that includes the Elapi, the Foxkin and the Halflings, but they are very fond of the Equitra and the Danali, and regard the hardworking Dwarves with the greatest respect.

Alignment

Most Grand Turos tend towards Lawful Neutral, upholding the honor of their people and their nations to the best of their abilities, and doing their part to keep their people strong. Any Lawful alignment is socially acceptable, so long as one is dutiful towards the community as a whole, and so the Lawful Evil and Lawful Good rub shoulders and battle on the frontlines against common foes on a regular basis. Honor is more important than ethics to the Grand Turos as a people, though individuals may have their own preferences and opinions on this.

Lands

Grand Turos have adapted well to city life, though they prefer to build out instead of up. While there are great and powerful Grand Turos cities, the majority of the race lives in semi-nomadic tribes ranging in size from a few dozen to around a hundred that make their living through seasonal farming and subsistence hunting and gathering during lean times.

Religion

Grand Turos are great proponents of organized religion, especially those that worship lawful deities. However, oddly enough to those who do not understand them, the worship of Heironeous and Hextor is often practiced side by side, along with devotion to Wee Jas and St. Cuthbert. However, they also have their own deities, chiefmost among them being the Celestial Bull and the World Cow. The Celestial Bull is a Lawful Neutral deity with the Law, Strength and War spheres and the greataxe as a favored weapon and the World Cow is a Neutral Good Deity with the Community, Healing and Protection spheres and the sickle as a favored weapon.

Language

All Grand Turos speak a refined dialect of Giant as their native tongue, though they often take pains to learn other languages so as to maintain order with other races who may live among them and to better combat those races they dislike. Grand Turos start with Common and Giant, and have Dwarven, Feline, Gnoll, Goblin, Halfling, Ibixian, Orcish, and Wolfen as bonus languages.

Names

As befits such a straightforward, orderly people, the names of the Grand Turos tend to also be simple and straightforward, with a title that is usually a job description as the forename, followed by a simple, sometimes guttural one- or two-syllable use name, though female names are often a little more flowery, and may have three or more syllables, which the Grand Turos regard as a sign of respect for the strength of womanhood in their society. For males, Smith Rok, Warrior Murrah, Guardian Grimm and Tanner Gulla are typical, while with females Archer Shulia, Healer Conalla, Weaver Loba and Outcast Shebal are quite common.

Adventurers

Most Grand Turos prefer to stay among their own kind and assist the building up of their people’s power base than go adventuring, endangering themselves and others for the sake of petty wealth and glory and fame. However, Grand Turos paladins (of which there are a decent number) are quite eager to go forth and battle the forces of chaos and evil in the world, and there are many tales in Grand Turos history and lore that often inspire younger, more impulsive members of the community to go out into the wide world and gain experience. This is discouraged, but not forbidden, and Grand Turos society gains many strong leaders from those who come back from their adventuring days laden with treasures of experience as well as wealth.

Racial Traits

• +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom
• Monstrous Humanoid
• Medium-size
• Grand Turos base land speed is 30 feet:
• Auroch Spirit: The Grand Turos can choose to be Large-size as a first level Feat; this can only be taken at first level. This functions as the Gigantism Feat found in the “Feats of the Beastfolk” document.
• Keen Scent: Grand Turos with a Wisdom of 11+ may take Scent as a racial Feat.
• Natural Armor: The thick hides of the Grand Turos give them a +1 natural AC bonus.
• Natural Attack: Gore (1d4 piercing damage), x2 if used in a charge.
• Unerring Direction: Because of the unique construction of their brains, Grand Turos instinctively always know which direction is north.
• Load-Bearing Frame: Grand Turos calculate their carrying capacity as if they had 5 bonus points of Strength.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Giant. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Feline, Gnoll, Goblin, Halfling, Ibixian, Orcish, Wolfen.
• Favored Class: Fighter or Marshall.
• Level Adjustment: 0

Vital Statistics

Table: Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
years	+2d12	+6d12	+10d12

Table: Aging Effects

Middle Age1	Old2	Venerable3	Maximum Age
years	years	years	+ years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.
Female	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.

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