Minotaurs are stout-hearted and stalwart. Selecting the ideal background can imbue their adventures with depth and authenticity.
Delve into this guide as we unveil the five most captivating backgrounds tailored to suit the robust nature of Minotaur characters in D&D 5e.
Contents
What Are Backgrounds in D&D 5e?
Backgrounds are more than simple stat boosts in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They reveal where your character came from, why you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.
Before choosing your Background, ask yourself a few questions:
- What was I before I became an adventurer?
- Why did I stop doing what my Background explains and become an adventurer?
- Where did I get the money to buy my starting equipment?
- Where did I learn the skills used in my class?
- What’s different about me compared to others with the same Background?
Best Backgrounds for Minotaurs
5. Urban Bounty Hunter
Skill Proficiencies – Choose two among Stealth, Persuasion, Insight, and Deception
Tool Proficiencies – Choose two among one type of gaming set, Thieves’ tools, and one musical instrument
Languages – None
Equipment – A set of clothes appropriate to your bounty hunting duties and a pouch with 20GP
Why the Urban Bounty Hunter?
Urban Bounty Hunters have the Ear to the Ground feature, meaning they have frequent contact with those in their target’s segment of society.
No matter who they are, you have contact with them, and you get this information by visiting a special someone in every city you visit.
Minotaurs can use their powerful size and beastly athleticism to snuff out any target that comes across their path, making them expert Bounty Hunters, even in urban environments.
Note: Just don’t get stuck since they are quite bulky!
4. Gladiator
Skill Proficiencies – Performance, Acrobatics
Tool Proficiencies – Single type of musical instrument (or an inexpensive, unusual weapon like a net or trident), Disguise kit
Languages – None
Equipment – One musical instrument you choose (or unusual weapon), a costume, the favor of an admirer (trinket, love letter, or lock of hair), and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Gladiator?
Gladiators can obtain free lodging and food by using their fighting skills to challenge and take on other fighters in taverns, arenas, or pit fighting clubs.
Minotaurs don’t have the same charisma as other entertainers, but they possess superhuman strength, making them best suited for combat to the death, like in colosseums or fighting arenas.
3. Acolyte
Skill Proficiencies – Religion, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – One holy symbol (gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a set of common clothes, a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Acolyte?
Acolytes receive the Shelter of the Faithful feature, granting you access to resources of temples and sanctuaries sharing your faith.
This allows you to receive free healing, food, and stay, though you’ll have to compensate them for any materials used in spells.
Minotaurs are masters of combat, worshipping gods of war, yet their ability to do good or evil lies in their own hands.
2. Soldier
Skill Proficiencies – Intimidation, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies – Vehicles (land), One type of gaming set
Languages – None
Equipment – A trophy you took from a fallen enemy (a piece of a banner, dagger, or broken blade), a set of common clothes, a deck of cards or a set of bone dice, an insignia of rank, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Soldier?
Soldiers receive the Military Rank feature, allowing you to exert your rank and impose authority over soldiers lower than you.
This authority can grant you and your party access to fortresses, encampments, simple equipment, and horses.
Because Minotaurs possess such extraordinary strength and durability, many armies don’t think twice about recruiting them for various campaigns.
1. Outlander
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies – One type of musical instrument
Languages – One you choose
Equipment – A trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler’s clothes, a hunting trap, a staff, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Outlander?
Outlanders have the Wanderer feature, giving them an excellent memory for geography and maps. Allowing them to always recall the general layout of settlements, terrain, and features around them.
They can also find fresh water and food for themselves and up to five others every day if the land offers water, small game, berries, and other things.
Minotaurs come from lands not as inhabited as the civilized realms. They had to survive the wild and become masters of understanding and using the wilderness to their advantage, never going without food or drink.
Final Thoughts
Exploring the optimal backgrounds for Minotaurs in D&D 5e reveals a rich tapestry of options ripe for storytelling.
Each background offers a unique lens through which to view the towering figures of Minotaur lore, whether it’s the rugged resilience of the Outlander, the brute force of a Soldier, or the entertaining combat of a Gladiator.