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?
I’m really happy that Paizo decided to go with keeping them large. To me one of the main draws of playing a Centaur or Minotaur is that those are a freakin half horse half human with all that comes with it, or big horned bovine humanoid. The size to me was part of the fantasy. The D&D way is just reflavored humans not a new ancestry.
As for balancing, there is the whole “what if another PCs rides the centaur” scenario (which you still have with pony centaurs and small PCs) and the reach and using larger weapons for more damage dice issue. I think the first isn’t an issue at all in PF2e and the second, well, I am curious.
Going about reach and big weapons by just saying “but you don’t have this” would seem weird. Those are generally applicable rules in the game system. But offsetting them with downsides would be tricky as you’d need a lot to make up for those upsides. Then there is grappling larger enemies and immunity to small grapplers but also the whole “I don’t fit through this” issue which is a downside but can halt adventures completely. I hope Paizo find a good solution, I don’t have one.
Riding other players is always a terrible idea, and already possible due to stuff like wild shape (or enlarge I suppose).
I can see the reach issue being a problem, one potential solution they could use is to add it as a level 5 heritage feat. Ruling it as needing practice to use your reach effectively or something.
Honestly, removing the damage dice mechanic from PF1 (and a similar problem in 5e), already solves one of the biggest issues of large creatures.
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.