By Alan McCoy from Dungeons & Dragons: Fundamentals
How to build challenging encounters against Minotaur
Note: This has been prepared utilizing only the 5E Core Rules. The Minotaur can be found in the Monster Manual page 223.
As one of the monsters of classic Greek myth, you would expect the Minotaur to be a real challenge, and that any battle with one would be an epic challenge that would leave behind an epic tale. It is true that the Minotaur when used IN CONTEXT and IN THE PROPER LOCATION is a powerful and epic foe. If used as an independent monster however, it is a great disappointment.
A Minotaur is a Large Monstrosity, described by mythology as being a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man. These creatures inhabit labyrinthine dungeons, twisted mazes, primeval woods or the maze-like streets of a ruined city. The Minotaur is not a natural creature, it is created by transforming a human into the bull-like monstrosity.
A Minotaur is associated with the Cults of the Horned King (feel free to invent a cult that suits your needs). The cult will appear to be druidic and might even have a few corrupted druids as members. These cults all seem to involve apparently religious rituals that require initiates to undergo a ceremony that requires them to enter a special sanctum wearing an animal mask.
Inductees are often given rigorous examinations to ensure that they have the appropriate temperament and mindset to dedicate themselves to the cult wholeheartedly. Those that pass all the tests and meet all the demands may find themselves inducted into the cult. Those that fail in any way, or perhaps simply because of the whim of those conducting the examination, will find themselves given to the Minotaur in sacrifice.
A Sacrifice to the Cult of the Horned King can take one of two forms, first and most likely, they are stalked, hunted and eventually killed and eaten by the Minotaur. The second fate is less likely, but perhaps even more terrible, the “Inductee” will be transformed into a Minotaur.
The Minotaur is described as a creature driven by blood-lust and love or carnage. The fur of the Minotaur is stained with the blood of their kills and the scent of blood. Their roar has been described as a savage battle-cry that inspires fear. They are described as creatures of rage, killing machines that care little for anything once the blood rage is upon them.
The most important thing to consider about a Minotaur is that they are a created being that exists as a minion to a Cult. They are typically used in religious rituals or to dispose of intruders or the unfaithful. An encounter with a Minotaur is never just with a Minotaur, it is with the Minotaur and his supporting Cult.
The Cult usually prepares a special hunting preserve, the “MAZE” that the Minotaur hunts its game in. As the Cult considers the Minotaur a very special part of its religion and sacred rites, it will do it’s best to properly protect their Minotaur from strongly armed and well-prepared foes. Because the savagery of the Minotaur is sacred, any assistance given by the cult will consist in weakening the group by depriving them of armor or magical protections, rendering weaponry unusable or limiting the senses of the group. To interfere with the combat itself would be unthinkable.
Essentially the cult will run interference for the Minotaur, with fog clouds to obscure vision, prestidigitation to make compasses or other direction determining devices unusable. While extreme, I can imagine the cult releasing some Rust Monsters to play havoc with the group’s weapons and armor.
The strength of the supporting cult will be a deciding factor in the overall difficulty of the Encounter with the Minotaur.
Step 1) Let’s Review what we know about the Minotaur:
A Minotaur is exceptionally strong, extremely tough and stubborn. They have near average dexterity and charisma. The ritual of transformation destroys much of the intellect, leaving them with scrambled wits, but they are capable of a rare coherent thought.
The Minotaur has a natural walking speed of 40.
The Minotaur has Darkvision 60-foot, and a passive perception of 17.
Minotaur lose whatever languages they once spoke in the transformation, they can only speak Abyssal, which is the language spoken by the Cult that made them.
Minotaur know the layout of their “Maze” perfectly and know the way from place to place within it without fail. This includes knowledge of any shifting walls or secret passages that might be manipulated by the cult.
If a Minotaur has at least a ten-foot run towards its opponent and hits with its GORE attack, the attack does an additional 2d8 damage from the CHARGE. This is in addition to the 2d8+4 the Gore has already done. Note: if this attack was a CRITICAL HIT both the Gore damage dice, and the Charge damage dice are doubled.
Step 2) Determine the probable Strategy.
The strategy of a Minotaur is effectively determined by the Cult that supports it. As they want the characters to die for their transgressions, or maybe just for amusement, they will do whatever they can to weaken the party prior to the encounter.
The suggestion of a Rust Monster is one option, but if the RP considerations are considered, then forcing the encounter on the group when they are either without armor, or with limited armor and weaponry is an ideal situation.
“You must face the might of Ku-Ru-Ku, before we see if you are worthy” and facing him of course means no metal armor and limited weaponry.
Step 3) Determine Tactics
Remember, when you are facing the Minotaur; you are really facing the Cult and the Minotaur. Much will depend on the resources you make available to the cult.
Completely Mundane: Darkness combined with very smoky torches that give off a smoke that obscures vision at the very least and might create a condition like drunkenness. Forcing the Characters to fight the Minotaur with the Poisoned Condition in play, perhaps requiring a Constitution Save for Concentration. Some walls in the Minotaur’s Lair will conceal access or secret passages.
With Magic, much more is possible, I leave that up to your imagination.
The Minotaur and the Cult will attempt to isolate and separate the Party members so that it can make a charge attack at individuals or pairs instead of groups. The charge will always be the lead attack, with the great ax coming into play only if it is forced to stop and fight.
Step 4) DM Tips and Observations
To simulate the confusion of a Minotaur’s lair, I suggest that you limit visibility by creating a fog bank or brightly burning torches followed by areas of no light. The transitions will ruin night vision for those lacking Darkvision and will even significantly disturb those that have Darkvision. I suggest limiting total visibility to no more than twenty feet.
The Minotaur’s greatest attack, the Charge, as it currently exists, is usable only once. After charging ONCE, the Minotaur is within range and subject to attacks of opportunity if it should attempt to break contact with the group. As we all know, being subjected to many attacks of opportunity and a very high likelihood of death.
Instead, I propose that you require at least a 10 foot start, and a 40-foot total move. This allows the Minotaur to charge attack a single opponent, potentially knocking them down and pushing them away in the process, but then allowing it break contact and continue forward without subjecting it to attacks of opportunity.
The Minotaur is essentially a re-skinned Barbarian. At the very least it deserves the Damage Resistance enjoyed by the Barbarian during RAGE, I would be very tempted to simply create a 9th level Barbarian with a 20 Strength and 20 Constitution, Path of the Berserker, and utilize that as a Minotaur instead of using the book stat-block.