You know, it was harder to find a good minotaur to build for this Friday than I thought it would be. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
If you prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character.
Let's get into the build for Anoki, the Blood Guard from AFK Arena!
ANOKI, THE BLOOD GUARD
SOURCE AFK Arena
BUILD GOALS
o Anoki is a Strength-based tank hero of the Mauler faction who focuses on control effects
o He resembles a humanoid bull
o He was the son of a great warrior whose footsteps he was trained to follow in until his father was shamed by a great failure and left him
o Savage Stampede is his ultimate ability in which he blows his war horn and summons a stampede of iron-jaws that damage and knock back enemies. Enemies knocked into a wall are damaged and stunned
o With his Raging Stomp, he stomps the ground to damage and then stun nearby enemies
o Through Born to Lead, Anoki manifests an aura that increases attack rating, speed, and the damage reduction of his allies in the area
o At the start of a battle, Anoki uses Horn of War to grant all of his allies a shield. By unlocking Blood Guard’s Honor, he can cast this multiple times throughout the battle
o His signature item is the Blood Guards Warhorn, which can unlock his War Fury skill, increasing his attack rating for each nearby ally and defense rating for each nearby enemy
Build Summation: While defined as a tank, Anoki has very solid support capabilities, able to enhance his teammates and shield them while also growing stronger from their presence. He is able to lockdown enemies and even use his war horn to summon a stampede of beasts.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Slabsoul Minotaur
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Constitution, +Charisma, -Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Cattle Speech
Background: Guard
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Coercion
Class & Subclass: Bard with a Zoophonia Muse
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Nature (trained), Occultism (trained), Performance (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Zoophonic Communication
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – bullhorn, forbidding ward, haunting hymn; 1st – kinetic ram, protection, summon animal
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +3)
While Anoki has less apparent animalistic features than most Maulers, they are still evident and influence the use of the minotaur ancestry. By taking the slabsoul heritage, he gains the Raise Slabs action to hurt nearby creatures and potentially knock them prone, which feels like a good fit to start with for his Raging Stomp. With his ability to summon large stampeding herd beasts, Cattle Speech matches nicely with the lore of some of his abilities. Since his father reared him to be a member of the Blood Guard from a young age, he uses the guard background though his style of control is a bit more focused on lockdown rather than debuffing. To that end, he takes up the bard class with the zoophonia muse, a new muse presented in Howl of the Wild that grants him summon animal as well as the Zoophonic Communication feat. This lets him use Performance to interact with animals though that won’t be a heavy focus of this build.
For his spells, forbidding ward allows him to shore up the defenses of a single ally against a specific enemy, which plays into the damage reduction from his Born to Lead. I like haunting hymn as his damaging cantrip, envisioning as him blowing the blast through his horn, and then bullhorn for obvious and punny reasons. Protection fits the same concept as forbidding ward while kinetic ram can create a 5-foot blast around him that knocks back and potentially knocks enemies prone, akin to his Raging Stomp.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Multifarious Muse – Polymath
o Skill Feat: Tame Animal
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – concordant choir
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Nature (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – summon animal*; 2nd – loose time’s arrow, noise blast*
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Esoteric Polymath
o Skill Feat: Train Animal
o Gear: bullhook, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), flask of fellowship, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4)
o Ancestry Feat: Beast of Burden
o Skill Increase: Performance (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 3rd – haste, paralyze*
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bullhook, bracelet of dashing, flask of fellowship, psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
I intend to explore spell options outside of the occult spell list and to that end, Anoki has to take Multifarious Muse for the polymath muse, which does net him Versatile Performance. This is handy as it allows Anoki to focus on increasing his Performance while still taking Intimidation feats and the like. His next class feat is Esoteric Polymath, potentially allowing him to swap in occult spells, which is a step in gaining the actual feat that he wants. He’ll start with a focus on Nature for his skills, using the likes of Tame Animal and Train Animal representing the herd of animals that he can summon. Bard is going to make him lag behind regardless, but Anoki is a tank and takes Toughness to help fortify that aspect. That horn he carries around is massive and he takes Beast of Burden as his ancestry feat to help him carry that.
He'll signature summon animal, which may help play into the stampede that he summons and can take noise blast as well to give him another damaging ability that can hit in an area and has the chance to stun an enemy, again referencing his Raging Stomp. He has loose time’s arrow or haste to grant the quickened status, based on the enhanced attack speed granted by his Born to Lead. Paralyze is then a more direct way of stunning people as seen in a few of his abilities.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Rallying Anthem
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Spell Repertoire: 3rd – protection
o Gear: +1 studded leather, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bagpipes of turmoil, bullhook, flask of fellowship, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Nature (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – concordant choir*
o Gear: primeval mistletoe, +1 studded leather, folding drums, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bullhook, bracelet of dashing
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Call and Response
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Gear: boots of bounding, hauling weapon rune, primeval mistletoe, +1 studded leather, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bagpipes of turmoil
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Friendly Fling
o Skill Increase: Performance (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – repelling pulse*, synaptic pulse
o Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, boots of bounding, fearless sash, primeval mistletoe, folding drums, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4.5)
o Class Feat: Zoophonic Composition
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – speak with stones
o Gear: horn of blasting, +1 resilient hodag leather, greater bagpipes of turmoil, boots of bounding, primeval mistletoe, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Rallying Anthem gives Anoki a new focus spell that he can use to bolster the defenses of his spell – and more specifically, grant physical resistance to these allies. This directly resembles the damage reduction of his Born to Lead, an otherwise ability that would be difficult to replicate. Another difficult aspect is that Anoki’s allies make him stronger while his enemies increase his defense. The latter is not something I’ve been able to figure out but the Call and Response feat allows an ally to help sustain his focus spells, which is somewhat close to them supporting him. Zoophonic Composition gives him a free action to Sustain a summoned animal after he’s cast a composition spell. It’s weird that this is only once per day, but some action compression can be handy for a bard. Due to Versatile Performance, he can use the Intimidation feats such as Intimidating Glare, Terrifying Resistance, and Battle Cry, the last of which felt thematically appropriate for a character armed with a war horn. The minotaur ancestry gives Anoki the Friendly Fling ancestry feat, which is similar to the barbarian’s Friendly Toss aside from taking a small little bit of piercing damage. This lets Anoki deliver his allies into combat after empowering them to take down enemies.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 6th – wall of force
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), wondrous figurine (ruby hippotamus), horn of blasting, +1 resilient hodag leather, boots of bounding, fearless sash
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Quickened Casting
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Gear: +2 resilient hodag leather, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), warcaller’s chime of dread, horn of blasting, thundering weapon rune, greater bagpipes of turmoil
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Goring Charge
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – haste, telekinetic bombardment*
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient hodag leather, greater hauling weapon rune, warcaller’s chime of dread, horn of blasting, wondrous figurine (ruby hippotamus)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Musical Summons
o Skill Feat: Terrified Retreat
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – prismatic armor
o Gear: horn of the sun aurochs, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major bagpipes of turmoil, +2 resilient hodag leather, dinosaur boots, warcaller’s chime of dread
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +4.5, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +5)
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Nature (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient hodag leather, horn of the sun aurochs, wondrous figurine (marble elephant), handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), bravery baldric (stoneskin), greater hauling weapon rune
I’ve mentioned that, with the bard especially, action compression is pretty important, which leads to Anoki taking Quickened Casting during this block to be able to throw spells out there even faster. This is especially helpful with his summon animal spells, which are three-action effects. Unfortunately, this is limited to once per day, but Anoki can also take Musical Summons so that any time, as three actions, he can both cast summon animal and still throw out a one-action composition spell. He delves deeper into intimidation feats with Intimidating Prowess and Terrified Retreat though he’ll still use Performance to qualify and benefit from them. Incredible Initiative is important for bards, letting them lay out the buffs of their courageous or rallying anthems or locking down enemies. Fleet will be important to maneuvering around the battlefield – not having to spend two actions to move thirty feet could be huge. He also takes up Goring Charge, which is just a very cool feat that lets him charge into battle with a horns Strike that deals persistent bleed damage and that is always handy.
There’s nothing super useful from amongst his spells – he has some defensive options and some AoE damage options, but the most important pick-up is a 7th-rank haste so that he can quicken his entire team, letting them make greater use of things such as courageous anthem.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Vigorous Anthem
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: fossil fragment (triceratops frill), +2 greater resilient hodag leather, greater primeval mistletoe, horn of the sun aurochs, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major bagpipes of turmoil
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Begin Stampede
o Skill Increase: Performance (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 9th – heroism
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), fossil fragment (triceratops frill), greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient hodag leather, horn of the sun aurochs, wondrous figurine (marble elephant)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Impossible Polymath
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Gear: troubadour’s cap, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater dinosaur boots, fossil fragment (triceratops frill), +2 greater resilient hodag leather, greater primeval mistletoe
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 10th – indestructibility
o Gear: +3 greater resilient hodag leather, troubadour’s cap, fossil fragment (tyrannosaur tooth), handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), fossil fragment (triceratops frill), greater thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +5, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Head of the Night Parade
o Skill Feat: Bonded Animal
o Skill Increase: Religion (trained)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient hodag leather, mask of allure, fossil fragment (tyrannosaur tooth), greater dinosaur boots, fiddle of the maestro
On the topic of courageous anthem, Anoki takes up Vigorous Anthem, a spellshaping feat that allows him to grant temporary Hit Points when he casts his focus cantrip. This is a fantastic way to represent his Horn of War ability and the shield that it grants. With his Esoteric Polymath, he can take up Impossible Polymath for his next class feat, which will let him add spells from other traditions to his repertoire. This is important for granting him the summon stampede primal spell to represent the stampede that he summons through his Savage Stampede ability. He tries to capture the more debilitating effects of it through Head of the Night Parade, letting Anoki call forth animals and beasts to plague his foes. This may be a bit of a stretch, so you could always take another capstone feat that fits your playstyle or something like Discordant Voice to give some more damage to his allies’ attacks. As big as Anoki is, he works with large creatures, which lends to the use of Titan Wrestler and Bonded Animal while legendary Performance allows him to take Scare to Death. He’ll use Begin Stampede as his ancestry feat, allowing him to hasten his teammates into battle and just seems like a fantastically fun feat.
I already mentioned summon stampede, but a 9th-rank heroism can be handy to provide a much greater bonus to his allies.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: While it isn’t perfect, I would go for a Beastmaster or Mammoth Lord Dedication for Anoki, granting him a single companion rather than a full herd, but one that can be focused on and enhanced. In particular, using the latter to gain Staggering Blow is highly representative of the way Savage Stampede knocks enemies back and slows them. Additionally, while not quite indicative of any of his abilities, Mammoth Lord is the only way he’d be able to get a rideable mount through the Gigantic Megafauna Companion.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Anoki, the Blood Guard is a slabsoul minotaur bard, in a bit of a twist, who has the guard background given his training from a young age to fill such a role. He focuses on Strength as much as he can and takes up feats such as Toughness, Fast Recovery, and Diehard to become as much of a tank as he can. He first starts to explore his ability to summon a stampede through the summon animal spell granted by his zoophonia muse but by using Multifarious Muse to also gain a polymath muse, he can use Impossible Polymath to slot in the summon stampede primal spell. While lacking some of the knockback effect, this better fits the general concept of his Savage Stampede ability. To cover Raging Stomp, he uses the Raise Slab of his heritage and spells that have an emanation that knock enemies around, such as repelling pulse, telekinetic bombardment, which also comes with enemies being knocked prone or stunned, and concordant choir. The bard’s courageous anthem is a fantastic start to representing Anoki’s Born to Lead while the damage reduction from it comes from another composition cantrip – rallying anthem. The enhanced attack speed can come from a simple casting of the haste spell, especially the heightened version of it. Another enhancement of his courageous anthem comes in the form of Vigorous Anthem, granting temporary Hit Points to his teammates akin to the shield from his Horn of War. It is harder to replicate his War Fury skill but Call and Response lets him use allies to extend the duration of his composition cantrips, which does match with the concept at least slightly. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a way to capture the enhanced defense rating of this ability. This comes together to make Anoki a burly bard who enhances his allies through his composition cantrips, ranging from empowering their attacks to bolstering their defenses. He can rely on them thanks to his Call and Response, locks down enemies through spells such as paralyze and his numerous AoE spells, and then even calls forth fearsome fauna with summon animal and summon stampede.
This bullish bard blasts and bludgeons baddies before blowing a ballad that bolsters bandmates and brings about a bevy of boisterous beasts.
Let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
As I've said, I'm going on vacation starting this weekend, so I'll see you all with a new monster when I get back.
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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