Paizo has confirmed that the Centaur and Minotaur ancestries in the upcoming Howl of the Wild book will be large size by default, with a heritage each that make them medium.
Now thematically, I think that makes sense, 5e’s ponytaurs always seemed like a cop-out. However mechanically, large size has the benifits that it allows you to reach more squares, even without additional reach, and makes it impossible for small creatures to grapple you. So I’m wondering if that’s powerful enough to require some kind of downside to balance it out.
What do ya’ll think?
Centaurs may not have reach, if they’re classed as Large (Long) instead of Large (Tall). There’s a chart in the Size, Space and Reach rules that lays out the difference. The Centaur in the Bestiary works that way. The Minotaur ought to get 10 feet of base reach with melee weapons, though.
Also, larger weapons don’t inherently use larger damage dice in second edition. A Tiny greatsword does 1d12 damage, the same as a Huge greatsword. It’s possible that Large creatures will get a permanent Clumsy 1 in exchange for a flat +2 damage the same way that Enlarge does, though. That’s how they worked the feat-based size increase for Lizardmen. It’s also possible they’ll just get racial +2 Strength and -2 Dexterity or something instead.
Good points! Especially the long versus tall classifications. Long would make sense for the centaur. Also I must have mixed up my editions with the weapons.
A minotaur like that sounds like great fun to play as, but also very much shoehorning the race in to martial and easily outperforming other ancestries there.
So I wonder what the cons are going to be.