Tauren

The Tauren are a race of minotaur-like, cow-headed humanoids. Their large size and fierce demeanor belies their generally calm nature.

Tauren as Players

 * +2 STR, -2 DEX, -2 CHA. Tauren are powerful creatures but their large build hinders them, and their animalistic nature makes it hard for them to relate to outsiders.


 * Size medium. Tauren receive no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.


 * A Tauren's base land speed is 30 feet.


 * Powerful build: Whenever it is beneficial to the Tauren, he is treated as size Large. Thus, for example, for purposes of grappling or weapon size, a Tauren is treated as Large, but not for attack roll penalties. A Tauren's reach remains 5'.


 * +2 racial bonus to Herbalism checks.
 * +2 racial bonus to Survival when using it to track quarry.


 * Spell-like ability: stomp 1/day. Caster level is equal to 1/2 the Tauren's character level. The save DC is Strength-based.


 * Automatic languages: Common, Tauric. Bonus languages: Varies by campaign.


 * Level Adjust: +1


 * Favored class: Ranger

Appearance
Tauren stand upwards of eight feet tall when fully extended, and have hooved feet and three-fingered hands with hard, thick nails. Bull horns grow out of the heads of males and females alike. Their bodies are covered with fine fur, that varies in color from white to ruddy to black. Their bodies are heavily muscled, and they bear tails with tufts of longer hair at the hip.

Male tauren are capable of growing facial hair, but not all choose to.

Behavior
Your typical tauren is a calm, quiet observer of the world. They are slow to anger and are prone to keeping their heads even in the most tense situations. They are peacemakers, though once they are on the warpath, their wrath can be terrifying.

While they are highly proficient with herbs and gathering, tauren are not strict herbivores, and have a well-developed sense of smell. The hunter tradition is strong among them.

Development Notes
Yes, these are designed to serve as the tauren from Warcraft. No, I'm not sorry about this. I really, really want them to not have a level adjust, but I'm pretty sure Powerful Build is worth that on its own. It's probably borderline, at a +1 they're still much weaker than a Planetouched, but goliaths are +1 also, so who knows? Hopefully one day I'll get to playtest and find out.