Hi, I'm very new in the DnD and I haven't played any campaigns yet. I'm trying to create my first character and after looking through my brother's dnd books, I thought maybe a centaur would be cool. I don't know much about how to play as one and how the campaign would work with one. Is it a good choice, I haven't really seen people play as one, I don't even know if they are playable.
Any advice would be appreciated! sorry if I make things confusing
Centaurs are a playable race and they appear in a few different books. There are a few different versions of the Centaur, depending on which books you have access to, but the general playstyle of them is the same regardless.
The playable version of the Centaur is a Fey and they're Medium Sized... still bigger than the average person, but not the size of a proper horse (which is considered large). However, Centaurs can carry as much equipment as a Large creature. By default they don't require specialty armor or equipment or anything... you just have to remember that your character doesn't have normal feet, so they can't equip boots.
Centaurs usually do well as Melee combatants, because they have a unique ability to make a bonus action attack with their hooves after running at least 30 feet. Centaurs have a higher than normal movement speed (40 feet), so they get a solid number of opportunities to run across a battlefield, hit someone with their hooves, and then take the attack action to deal more damage. If you combine this with a class that also increases your movement speed (such as a monk or Barbarian) you can really zip around the battlefield and unleash a lot of extra attacks.
The main downside to Centaurs is that they have serious difficulty climbing. Other creatures can generally climb at half their regular speed, but a Centaur can only climb at 1/5 their top speed. So a Centaur climbing up a steep hill can only cover 8 feet of movement per turn.
Hi, I'm very new in the DnD and I haven't played any campaigns yet. I'm trying to create my first character and after looking through my brother's dnd books, I thought maybe a centaur would be cool. I don't know much about how to play as one and how the campaign would work with one. Is it a good choice, I haven't really seen people play as one, I don't even know if they are playable.
Any advice would be appreciated! sorry if I make things confusing
They are a perfectly valid race. They do tend to be better for classes that want speed and melee just because of their faster speed. I wouldn’t worry too much about the rest.
you can play a centaur exactly how you’d play anything else. Just have fun with thinking a story for it
The biggest thing that nitpickers and memers complain about or make fun of concerning centaurs as a playable race is that they aren't mechanically large size like a real horse. The reasons for this being the case (or not the case) boil down to game balance and narrative convenience as most people who haven't actually been around horses don't understand how big they really are (and even more people don't properly grasp what "large" means in rules terms) and how would be enormously difficult and annoying it would be to just properly describe and accommodate them moving sharing any interior space made with medium sized humanoids in mind. So don't even go down that road, it's pointless and will only result in irritation and annoyance for everybody involved including yourself. Your centaur is medium sized so you are the size of a [relatively] "small pony," not a huge-ass heavy warhorse, but you're still notably bigger than a typical human because the size categories have a fair bit of wiggle room built in.
You can still roleplay it as being uncomfortable and a bit awkward getting around in cramped quarters, be that in a dungeon, a tavern or an inn, etc. As noted the only mechanical penalty being half pony imparts is spending an extra 4 feet of movement per one foot of climbing (specifically when such climbing requires both hands and legs) so you probably won't like ladders but interestingly enough stairs should be just fine. You also, again as noted above, can make a bonus unarmed strike with hooves after charging 30+ feet in a round; this isn't really good enough to inform a class choice by itself but if you're planning to go for a melee combat focused build anyways you might as well consider options to make the most of this such as the Mobility feat. You also have that increased carrying capacity to allow you to haul around more gear, loot, etc which is very nice if your DM is a stickler about encumbrance rules. Otherwise it's really just a matter of (like a lot of things in D&D) talking with your DM to make sure that centaurs as a playable race fit into their world/game and asking about any relevant considerations to make your character fit with the setting and game in general, which you should really already be doing anyways regardless of your race/class selection.
Oh, speaking of the Mobile feat, that reminds me of a tactic that gets used by a player in a game I'm DM'ing, who is playing as a Centaur.
They're playing as a barbarian, which gives an additional +10 to movement speed, so paired with the Mobile feat that means they have 60 feet of movement and if they attack an opponent that opponent can't target them with an opportunity attack. This has led to them, when there's room... hitting an enemy twice, then running away 30 feet, then running straight back to kick them in the face with their hooves. As long as they've got the room for it, it's a free extra attack every round... only a d6 of damage, but they add their rage damage on top.
... only a d6 of damage, but they add their rage damage on top.
Per RAW it's a d4 + Strength mod. Assuming a strength based melee build the mod will generally be a big portion of the damage but it still adds up, particularly with rage.
It's worth noting that a centaur's hooves are natural weapons that also specifically can be used as unarmed strikes, so a Monk's increased Unarmed Strike damage may apply to that extra attack on a charge depending how your DM rules it. The rules are a bit unspecific from a rules lawyer perspective because the Charge ability says you make the extra attack "with your hooves" and doesn't specify that the attack is an Unarmed Strike or a Natural Weapon Attack (capitalizations for emphasis as the rules are different). The Hooves racial feature states that they are Natural Weapons that can be used to make Unarmed Strikes but doesn't specify that all such attacks are automatically Unarmed Strikes and therefor applicable to the monk's Martial Arts ability which increases Unarmed Strike damage. Personally I would allow the extra damage to apply but some DMs may rule otherwise.
Oh, we're using the updated version of the Centaur from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, which upgrades basically all the natural weapons to a d6 of damage.
Ah, so one of the tweaks was to make natural weapons actually useful compared to a dagger. Because otherwise the only time you'd actually get any use out of the "racial feature" outside of a special attack like a centaur's charge or the minotaur's one was typically if everybody has their weapons taken away. Because everybody has a freaking dagger anyway.
Depends on how you wanna play them. Personally, if we're just going with aesthetics, I feel like they're best off as polearm fighters (halberds specifically), due to the centaur's size and proportions. It'd be ridiculous to attempt to fully armor that much inhuman mass, since even most historical forms of barding left a decent amount of the horse's legs completely exposed. As such, it'd be more practical to move in and out of combat, while using polearms to fight at a reasonable distance, while keeping enemies out of the reach of your legs. Another note of importance is how much power you can put behind that polearm, since you have both the body of both a man and a horse behind your blows. With enough force, you can probably fold someone in full plate, if not cut straight through them, with how much force you can slam that halberd into their torso.
Now, class-wise, I'd recommend Totem Barbarian for this, specifically for the Elk totem, at least for levels 3 and 6. Elk really, really helps with the whole hit-and-run tactic of charging through your enemies, while smacking them left, right, and center over and over again. After all, moving at least 30 feet and smacking someone with a weapon is exactly what Elk helps out. Fighter's also a good class, as it lets you perform multiple attacks as often as you can swing a Halberd, and Action Surge helps facilitate any aspect of your mobility/smackability you want. The Mobile feat makes sure that anyone you attempt to smack won't be able to smack you back with an Opportunity Attack, and if you add on Sentinel, you can keep others from running away from you in turn.
Oh, and don't forget that, as someone who's part horse, you can bring one of your allies along for the ride. As such, the most optimal move is to have a buddy on your back, who can preferably cast spells. After all, you've invested all your stats into your strength, speed an durability. Someone's gotta take care of the smarts aspect, and it's always smarter to party in pairs, if not multiple pairs, is it not?
Currently playing as a Lvl 5 Centaur Rune Knight (fighter subclass) and started with a maul (2h 2d6 damage) and dual weapon fighting style because bonus action attack with hooves gets my Str bonuses. At Lvl 3 Rune Knight got me Giant's Might and the Fire and Stone Giant runes. Lvl 4 took Strike of the Giants (Hill Strike). Yes, climbing is a problem but a potion of climbing or a friendly Wizard or Sorcerer with Spider Climb or Levitation helps. Level 6 will probably take an ASI though both Vigour of the Hill Giant or another Strike of the Giants for Fire, Cloud or Storm Strike are tempting. The character is currently looking for an Eldritch Claw tattoo needle
I don't think you actually need the Two-Weapon Fighting Style to make your bonus action hoof attack with your STR bonus... The hoof attack isn't actually "Two-Weapon Fighting", which is a distinct ability limited to attacks using light weapons. As long as you move 30 feet to activate the Charge feature, you can make the bonus action hoof attack at full strength with or without the fighting style.
Now, class-wise, I'd recommend Totem Barbarian for this, specifically for the Elk totem, at least for levels 3 and 6. Elk really, really helps with the whole hit-and-run tactic of charging through your enemies, while smacking them left, right, and center over and over again. After all, moving at least 30 feet and smacking someone with a weapon is exactly what Elk helps out. Fighter's also a good class, as it lets you perform multiple attacks as often as you can swing a Halberd, and Action Surge helps facilitate any aspect of your mobility/smackability you want. The Mobile feat makes sure that anyone you attempt to smack won't be able to smack you back with an Opportunity Attack, and if you add on Sentinel, you can keep others from running away from you in turn.
Oh, and don't forget that, as someone who's part horse, you can bring one of your allies along for the ride. As such, the most optimal move is to have a buddy on your back, who can preferably cast spells. After all, you've invested all your stats into your strength, speed an durability. Someone's gotta take care of the smarts aspect, and it's always smarter to party in pairs, if not multiple pairs, is it not?
Nice to see someone really making use of the Elk option in Totem Barbarians.
Also, yes, having a Small sized ally get bonus mobility is pretty darn nice. That PC can even have them wield a Lance.
I'll add my voice to the chorus of "It's fine to play one", though I'll tack on for funsies that you should feel free to play the kind of character that you want, whether that's a Ranger, a monk, A fighter, cleric, bard or rogue.
The one thing I might suggest, is seeing what setting your GM is planning to run his campaign in because while broadly speaking Centaurs tend to have common traits the specifics of centaurs from say... Krynn (AKA dragonlance) are going to be a different bag of oats from ones from Theros (AKA Greek mythology world); you might get some inspiration from reading up on them.
The playable version of the Centaur is a Fey and they're Medium Sized... still bigger than the average person, but not the size of a proper horse (which is considered large). However, Centaurs can carry as much equipment as a Large creature. By default they don't require specialty armor or equipment or anything... you just have to remember that your character doesn't have normal feet, so they can't equip boots.
Got to address this even though it's a two year old comment.
This is untrue, there's nothing in the centaur's description that prevents it from wearing any magic items that can be worn by any other player character. Since a single pair of magic boots can be worn by any other player character whether they're a goblin or a firbolg, there's no reason that centaurs should be singled out as notable to wear them. Just say that when they're attuned to a centaur they turn into anklets or horseshoes and you're fine.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Hi, I'm very new in the DnD and I haven't played any campaigns yet. I'm trying to create my first character and after looking through my brother's dnd books, I thought maybe a centaur would be cool. I don't know much about how to play as one and how the campaign would work with one. Is it a good choice, I haven't really seen people play as one, I don't even know if they are playable.
Any advice would be appreciated! sorry if I make things confusing
Best way to learn is to read up on Greek Mythology. Centaurs were wise and so skillful that the gods often sent younger gods to be trained by them. Ala Hercules.
Also there was a high level adventure from Basic D&D where the players got to meet Centaurs and I think that they played moderate role in the adventure: Vengeance of Alphaks. It was pretty cool and featured a couple of Immortals.
Hi, I'm very new in the DnD and I haven't played any campaigns yet. I'm trying to create my first character and after looking through my brother's dnd books, I thought maybe a centaur would be cool. I don't know much about how to play as one and how the campaign would work with one. Is it a good choice, I haven't really seen people play as one, I don't even know if they are playable.
Any advice would be appreciated! sorry if I make things confusing
Best way to learn is to read up on Greek Mythology. Centaurs were wise and so skillful that the gods often sent younger gods to be trained by them. Ala Hercules.
Also there was a high level adventure from Basic D&D where the players got to meet Centaurs and I think that they played moderate role in the adventure: Vengeance of Alphaks. It was pretty cool and featured a couple of Immortals.
Heracles was not a god at the time. He was sent to learn under Chiron by his human parents, and Chiron was noted for being particularly wise and scholarly due to being the foster child of Apollo, whereas most centaurs were brutish thugs who cared only for fighting and drinking.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
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Hi, I'm very new in the DnD and I haven't played any campaigns yet. I'm trying to create my first character and after looking through my brother's dnd books, I thought maybe a centaur would be cool. I don't know much about how to play as one and how the campaign would work with one. Is it a good choice, I haven't really seen people play as one, I don't even know if they are playable.
Any advice would be appreciated! sorry if I make things confusing
Centaurs are a playable race and they appear in a few different books. There are a few different versions of the Centaur, depending on which books you have access to, but the general playstyle of them is the same regardless.
The playable version of the Centaur is a Fey and they're Medium Sized... still bigger than the average person, but not the size of a proper horse (which is considered large). However, Centaurs can carry as much equipment as a Large creature. By default they don't require specialty armor or equipment or anything... you just have to remember that your character doesn't have normal feet, so they can't equip boots.
Centaurs usually do well as Melee combatants, because they have a unique ability to make a bonus action attack with their hooves after running at least 30 feet. Centaurs have a higher than normal movement speed (40 feet), so they get a solid number of opportunities to run across a battlefield, hit someone with their hooves, and then take the attack action to deal more damage. If you combine this with a class that also increases your movement speed (such as a monk or Barbarian) you can really zip around the battlefield and unleash a lot of extra attacks.
The main downside to Centaurs is that they have serious difficulty climbing. Other creatures can generally climb at half their regular speed, but a Centaur can only climb at 1/5 their top speed. So a Centaur climbing up a steep hill can only cover 8 feet of movement per turn.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
They are a perfectly valid race. They do tend to be better for classes that want speed and melee just because of their faster speed. I wouldn’t worry too much about the rest.
you can play a centaur exactly how you’d play anything else. Just have fun with thinking a story for it
The biggest thing that nitpickers and memers complain about or make fun of concerning centaurs as a playable race is that they aren't mechanically large size like a real horse. The reasons for this being the case (or not the case) boil down to game balance and narrative convenience as most people who haven't actually been around horses don't understand how big they really are (and even more people don't properly grasp what "large" means in rules terms) and how would be enormously difficult and annoying it would be to just properly describe and accommodate them moving sharing any interior space made with medium sized humanoids in mind. So don't even go down that road, it's pointless and will only result in irritation and annoyance for everybody involved including yourself. Your centaur is medium sized so you are the size of a [relatively] "small pony," not a huge-ass heavy warhorse, but you're still notably bigger than a typical human because the size categories have a fair bit of wiggle room built in.
You can still roleplay it as being uncomfortable and a bit awkward getting around in cramped quarters, be that in a dungeon, a tavern or an inn, etc. As noted the only mechanical penalty being half pony imparts is spending an extra 4 feet of movement per one foot of climbing (specifically when such climbing requires both hands and legs) so you probably won't like ladders but interestingly enough stairs should be just fine. You also, again as noted above, can make a bonus unarmed strike with hooves after charging 30+ feet in a round; this isn't really good enough to inform a class choice by itself but if you're planning to go for a melee combat focused build anyways you might as well consider options to make the most of this such as the Mobility feat. You also have that increased carrying capacity to allow you to haul around more gear, loot, etc which is very nice if your DM is a stickler about encumbrance rules. Otherwise it's really just a matter of (like a lot of things in D&D) talking with your DM to make sure that centaurs as a playable race fit into their world/game and asking about any relevant considerations to make your character fit with the setting and game in general, which you should really already be doing anyways regardless of your race/class selection.
Oh, speaking of the Mobile feat, that reminds me of a tactic that gets used by a player in a game I'm DM'ing, who is playing as a Centaur.
They're playing as a barbarian, which gives an additional +10 to movement speed, so paired with the Mobile feat that means they have 60 feet of movement and if they attack an opponent that opponent can't target them with an opportunity attack. This has led to them, when there's room... hitting an enemy twice, then running away 30 feet, then running straight back to kick them in the face with their hooves. As long as they've got the room for it, it's a free extra attack every round... only a d6 of damage, but they add their rage damage on top.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Per RAW it's a d4 + Strength mod. Assuming a strength based melee build the mod will generally be a big portion of the damage but it still adds up, particularly with rage.
It's worth noting that a centaur's hooves are natural weapons that also specifically can be used as unarmed strikes, so a Monk's increased Unarmed Strike damage may apply to that extra attack on a charge depending how your DM rules it. The rules are a bit unspecific from a rules lawyer perspective because the Charge ability says you make the extra attack "with your hooves" and doesn't specify that the attack is an Unarmed Strike or a Natural Weapon Attack (capitalizations for emphasis as the rules are different). The Hooves racial feature states that they are Natural Weapons that can be used to make Unarmed Strikes but doesn't specify that all such attacks are automatically Unarmed Strikes and therefor applicable to the monk's Martial Arts ability which increases Unarmed Strike damage. Personally I would allow the extra damage to apply but some DMs may rule otherwise.
Oh, we're using the updated version of the Centaur from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, which upgrades basically all the natural weapons to a d6 of damage.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Ah, so one of the tweaks was to make natural weapons actually useful compared to a dagger. Because otherwise the only time you'd actually get any use out of the "racial feature" outside of a special attack like a centaur's charge or the minotaur's one was typically if everybody has their weapons taken away. Because everybody has a freaking dagger anyway.
Depends on how you wanna play them. Personally, if we're just going with aesthetics, I feel like they're best off as polearm fighters (halberds specifically), due to the centaur's size and proportions. It'd be ridiculous to attempt to fully armor that much inhuman mass, since even most historical forms of barding left a decent amount of the horse's legs completely exposed. As such, it'd be more practical to move in and out of combat, while using polearms to fight at a reasonable distance, while keeping enemies out of the reach of your legs. Another note of importance is how much power you can put behind that polearm, since you have both the body of both a man and a horse behind your blows. With enough force, you can probably fold someone in full plate, if not cut straight through them, with how much force you can slam that halberd into their torso.
Now, class-wise, I'd recommend Totem Barbarian for this, specifically for the Elk totem, at least for levels 3 and 6. Elk really, really helps with the whole hit-and-run tactic of charging through your enemies, while smacking them left, right, and center over and over again. After all, moving at least 30 feet and smacking someone with a weapon is exactly what Elk helps out. Fighter's also a good class, as it lets you perform multiple attacks as often as you can swing a Halberd, and Action Surge helps facilitate any aspect of your mobility/smackability you want. The Mobile feat makes sure that anyone you attempt to smack won't be able to smack you back with an Opportunity Attack, and if you add on Sentinel, you can keep others from running away from you in turn.
Oh, and don't forget that, as someone who's part horse, you can bring one of your allies along for the ride. As such, the most optimal move is to have a buddy on your back, who can preferably cast spells. After all, you've invested all your stats into your strength, speed an durability. Someone's gotta take care of the smarts aspect, and it's always smarter to party in pairs, if not multiple pairs, is it not?
Currently playing as a Lvl 5 Centaur Rune Knight (fighter subclass) and started with a maul (2h 2d6 damage) and dual weapon fighting style because bonus action attack with hooves gets my Str bonuses. At Lvl 3 Rune Knight got me Giant's Might and the Fire and Stone Giant runes. Lvl 4 took Strike of the Giants (Hill Strike). Yes, climbing is a problem but a potion of climbing or a friendly Wizard or Sorcerer with Spider Climb or Levitation helps. Level 6 will probably take an ASI though both Vigour of the Hill Giant or another Strike of the Giants for Fire, Cloud or Storm Strike are tempting. The character is currently looking for an Eldritch Claw tattoo needle
I don't think you actually need the Two-Weapon Fighting Style to make your bonus action hoof attack with your STR bonus... The hoof attack isn't actually "Two-Weapon Fighting", which is a distinct ability limited to attacks using light weapons. As long as you move 30 feet to activate the Charge feature, you can make the bonus action hoof attack at full strength with or without the fighting style.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Nice to see someone really making use of the Elk option in Totem Barbarians.
Also, yes, having a Small sized ally get bonus mobility is pretty darn nice. That PC can even have them wield a Lance.
I'll add my voice to the chorus of "It's fine to play one", though I'll tack on for funsies that you should feel free to play the kind of character that you want, whether that's a Ranger, a monk, A fighter, cleric, bard or rogue.
The one thing I might suggest, is seeing what setting your GM is planning to run his campaign in because while broadly speaking Centaurs tend to have common traits the specifics of centaurs from say... Krynn (AKA dragonlance) are going to be a different bag of oats from ones from Theros (AKA Greek mythology world); you might get some inspiration from reading up on them.
Got to address this even though it's a two year old comment.
This is untrue, there's nothing in the centaur's description that prevents it from wearing any magic items that can be worn by any other player character. Since a single pair of magic boots can be worn by any other player character whether they're a goblin or a firbolg, there's no reason that centaurs should be singled out as notable to wear them. Just say that when they're attuned to a centaur they turn into anklets or horseshoes and you're fine.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Best way to learn is to read up on Greek Mythology. Centaurs were wise and so skillful that the gods often sent younger gods to be trained by them. Ala Hercules.
Also there was a high level adventure from Basic D&D where the players got to meet Centaurs and I think that they played moderate role in the adventure: Vengeance of Alphaks. It was pretty cool and featured a couple of Immortals.
Heracles was not a god at the time. He was sent to learn under Chiron by his human parents, and Chiron was noted for being particularly wise and scholarly due to being the foster child of Apollo, whereas most centaurs were brutish thugs who cared only for fighting and drinking.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.