Justin Achilli

With a DC 20 Nature check, you can discover that D&D minotaurs often belong to the cult of Baphomet, “the demon lord known as the Horned King.” Okay, sure — makes sense. Minotaurs worship a demon that looks like them.

Wait... Baphomet? Like, the same Baphomet the Knights Templar supposedly worshipped in the 13th century? The goat-headed, cross-legged demon illustrated by Eliphas Levi? Presumably, the minotaurs’ “Baphomet” is the one suggested by Herodotus, an Egyptian ram-god. I understand we’re looking for synergy here, but there’s something not quite right about this. In fact, many modern scholars believe the name “Baphomet” is a flawed French translation of the prophet Muhammad’s name.

In a roundabout way, this also reminds of the old GURPS Fantasy setting of Yrth, which posited that a magical storm plucked a Crusades-era sampling of the world into its own reality. One of the playable races, the lizard-men, were predominantly Islamic.

I’m not suggesting any religious agenda here. I just thought it was one of those odd bits of quasi-historicity that leaks into the tabletop hobby. For the record, I also found it odd that “Minotaurs like mazes” is a DC 25 Nature check. I thought everyone knew about minotaurs and mazes, but apparently it’s a better kept secret than the minotaurs’ Muslim theology.

As an aside, I love the treatment of the minotaur in Fellini’s Satyricon. The idea that he’s not really a half-bull half-man but actually a man wearing the trappings of a bull is a brilliant twist. Sure, it’s probably closer to what classical civilizations actually convinced themselves they saw, like “centaurs,” but it’s a refreshing change from genre fiction in which bull-men are undoubtedly actual bull-men.