I've been throwing around an idea for a character recently. Specifically I had this idea for an extremely aggressive and competitive centaur who participates in horse races. I finally decided to try writing it down and seeing what I could come up with. I've seen a few people posting ideas for characters on here and wondered if maybe it would be worth doing the same, maybe seeing if I could get some good advice on how to develop this character more.

I have some partial ideas for a backstory, but I'm not sure exactly what class she would fit. Fighter might work with at least part of her character but I'm not completely sure. In any case here is what I have so far:

Name: Mira

Race: Centaur

Background:

Mira once lived a happy life in a forest, where she lived in decent-sized clan, but that changed with the arrival of two large armies, and the realization that their home had become a battleground in some war. To the east, there were goblins. To the west, there were hogoblins. The Centaurs were not on either side, and could barely distinguish the two factions. They did not know exactly why the two armies were fighting, or why their war had taken them to this forest, but it was clear they were both out for blood and neither side seemed to take the local population into account.

Thus began a period of brutal warfare as the Centaurs desperately tried to protect their home. They fought against both armies, striking indiscriminately against both wherever they could be found. But defending the forest proved easier said than done. Both factions were cutting down trees to supply their forces with wood, and had a tendency to start fires that only got worse as more trees were cut down.

At first, the Centaurs managed to strike a harsh blow, but they did not count on the stubbornness of their enemies. Instead of retreating, both the goblins and hobgoblins began to see the Centaurs as a common enemy. Whatever they’d been fighting over before was forgotten as they started working together to drive out the centaur population. Their combined forces proved ruthless, and easily overpowered many of their best warriors.

As the destruction became worse, many of the remaining centaurs started to realize they had to escape. Mira was almost captured by goblins, but escaped by luck and fled. Only a handful of scattered centaurs got out of the forest, and they were scattered all over the place.

So Mira wandered, not knowing where to go or what she needed to do with herself. She finally stumbled into a human village, tired and hungry. The presence of a centaur confused many of the locals, who had never seen someone like her before. Finding work proved difficult, but she did what she could, sometimes having to work a little harder to feed her massive appetite.

Fortunately, there were a few areas around town that Mira became good at. She became a hit at the underground fight club, where her hooves made short work of a few previous champion holders. Her aggression got the attention of an influential noble who offered her a slightly different job—taking part in a race.

The offer started to make more sense when she arrived on the track, and found herself surrounded by horses. While there was a small part of her who resented her body being put on display, she also quickly found herself getting a thrill out of running. Mira easily beat several experienced riders and managed to win race after race, becoming a local celebrity. Next thing she knew she was travelling between towns to compete in races and fights, each time lining the pockets of some very delighted gamblers, and making a decent amount of money herself.

Of course, with fame came other problems. Keeping herself well-fed was tricky, and Mira started to develop a habit of drinking. She’d regularly take part in drinking contests, where she had an easy advantage. “Outdrink the horse lady” became a popular challenge when Mira was in town.

Have you considered using barbarian? It'll give you a speed boost at level 5 and you can flavour the rage as Mira drinking some sort of alcohol to enter the rage and being a notoriously angry drunk.

Oh, that's actually a good idea. I'd been wondering about Monk due to its emphasis on body movement but it seemed too graceful for a character who I imagined being a lot rougher. Barbarian actually makes a lot of sense for a centaur!

Just having a peruse of Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot and there is another option you might consider. If you go Ranger, then Tasha's has the optional ability to swap out the Natural Explorer ability and take somehitng called Deft Explorer. If your DM would allow it then this would give you an extra skill and at level 6 some bonus movement as well as a swimming and climbing speed and you could also use the favoured enemy ability to refelct your hatred of Goblins and hobgolblins. I think the Ranger subclasses are a bit more versatile than the Barbarian but that is just my personal preference. One Ranger ability that might also be worth querying with your DM would be combining Deft Explorer with the level 8 ability of Land Stride and see if this would counteract the penalty to the centaur equine build where you have to use 4ft of extra movement to move 1ft when a climb requires both hands and feet.

I haven't had a chance to go through Tasha's Cauldron, at least not in its entirety. But that is a curious detail. I could see the connection between centaur and ranger, so it might be worth looking into. Though I may need to look at money if I have to buy that subclass. Probably doable, just not sure if I can do it right away.

I've actually done a couple of rewrites of my backstory to add a bit more detail. I've tried to get more into her psychology and some of the problems Mira had to deal with during her life, as well as detailing a bit more about how she was affected by the war and how it played into her other issues.

Mira was born to a very welcoming clan that lived in a large forest where they were isolated from much of the surrounding world. The occasional traveller arrived with bits and pieces of information, and the clan made a firm point of showing kindness and hospitality to anyone who passed through. The centaurs could be formidable warriors, and they practiced rigorously, but they were adamant about only using violence as an extreme last resort. Most hoped they would never have to take up arms outside of practice.

For much of her childhood, Mira lived a happy life. Her clan was her family. They taught her how to hunt and forage, how to survive in the wilderness, and how to fight- even though in those days it seemed the fighting skills were only needed for self-defence against predators. She learned to enjoy the forest, to appreciate its assortment of amazing creatures, and never felt any real need to leave. Especially when she heard stories of cruelty outside the woods, but in there it was safe. Or so they thought.

One day, Mira was gathering food when she noticed a team of goblin scouts at the bottom of a hill. A few days later another centaur reported the appearance of hobgoblins to the west. The news of the visitors caused some tension among the Centaurs, who debated whether to interact with them. But as the days progressed sightings of both goblins and hobgoblins became more frequent, and more distressing was the news that they were armed. Many of them were wearing uniforms, and some of the centaurs reported seeing catapults and siege engines. Others reported seeing the construction of fortifications. Trees were being cut down by both factions at increasing rates to help build their weapons and forts.

It did not take long to realize what was happening. Somewhere, somehow, a war had broken out between the goblins and hobgoblins. And for some reason, this forest had become a battleground. Nobody knew exactly why they were fighting, but the two sides were clearly out for each other’s blood. Some members of the clan attempted to reason with one side or the other, hoping they could negotiate a truce or be persuaded to leave. Those attempts only ended in mass slaughter.

And then the fighting began. Bloody skirmishes in which the goblin and hobgoblin armies would slaughter each other in massive numbers, leaving piles of bodies in their wake. Their ruthlessness was taking its toll on the forest. Fires became more common as more trees were cut down. To the centaurs there was no good side- just two equally terrible armies, neither of whom seemed to take the local population into account.

At best, they were indifferent to the centaurs and had no concern for any who ended up as collateral damage. At worst they were entertaining themselves by actively hunting and capturing centaurs. Mira saw a lot of her family taken this way. Nobody was sure exactly what happened to the captured centaurs, though a few rumors persisted. Some said that it was as a source of meat. Others thought the prisoners were taken as slaves either to further serve the armies’ interests or sold for quick cash. But sometimes, a centaur was captured just so their captors could enjoy a little impromptu torture. For every centaur who fell, or was captured, Mira could only feel a growing anger.

But either way it was clear that, if their home was to be saved, the centaurs had to fight back. Mira eagerly volunteered to take up arms against them, channeling her rage into prowess on the battlefield. The centaurs proved themselves a formidable opponent. With the hobgoblins and goblins regularly wiping each other out, it was easy to pick off the survivors.

The Centaurs began killing both races on mass, but Mira… she was known for her own brand of brutality. She quickly lost track of just how many fell to her, and she spent every waking minute finding new ways to kill her enemies. But still, all three sides proved resilient, and unwilling to surrender. The fight dragged on for a few years, with carnage on all sides and heavy casualties. For every centaur that fell, Mira’s rage only seemed to get worse. She got more vicious, and became more terrifying to the other sides.

Somewhere in that time, she started to lose sight of why she was even fighting at all. A desire to protect her people and homeland started to degrade into a love for slaughtering goblins and hobgoblins. She loved killing them, lived for the slaughter, and her bloodlust only seemed to get stronger with each centaur casualty.

What the centaurs did not count on was being victims of their own success. Their retaliation was so strong that both the hobgoblins and goblins began to recognize they had a common enemy. Whatever they’d been fighting about before was suddenly forgotten as they became united by one thing—a shared hatred of centaurs. The result was a few more months  of even more bloodshed and cruelty on both sides. Until finally, their enemies were slain. What was left of the goblins and hobgoblins retreated for reasons unknown, and the forest once again belonged to the centaurs.

It was a hollow victory. The forest had been destroyed in all the fighting. Between the logging, the fires, and accidental damage caused by the war, it was barely a shadow of what it had once been. And the clan itself was in pieces. What remained of the centaurs were scattered and divided. Without an enemy to fight, they began to turn on each other. What had once been a single unified family was now breaking up into smaller clans and battling each other for control of the forest. Former brothers and sisters were killing each other with the same level of viciousness that they had shown against their previous enemies.

And for Mira, she was overwhelmed by the change in tone. She realized she’d lost herself in the war, and without an enemy to fight she was lost as a person. Seeing her clan turning on each other and perpetuating a cycle of violence only made her feel worse. This was not what she had fought so long for. She realized that what she once had could never be reclaimed, so she left. Mira did not know what to do with herself, but she knew she no longer had a place here.

For the first time in her life, Mira left the forest and ran. She just kept running, not looking back. After a few days of aimless wandering she stumbled into a small village whose residents were initially unsure what to think of a centaur’s presence. That was until Mira realized she had a few unique talents she could offer for coin. Her strong body could easily carry heavy loads, making her an excellent courier. Mira developed a reputation for being trusted with large packages, and some people were willing to pay extra for her to carry contraband.

This was good since centaurs have a huge appetite, and the money helped her to satiate it. That was about the time she started drinking. Mira could easily down strong ales, and sometimes got drunk. But her ability did get the attention of some gamblers, who started placing bets on what she could handle. Challenging Mira to drink the strongest ales, whiskeys, and meads became a common activity. Some of the gamblers had fun trying to find drinks they thought would be too much for her.

And with that reputation also came drinking contests. Quite a few people were interested in drinking against Mira. Challenging the “horse lady” to a drinking contest was a common occurrence whenever she was in town. And many were willing to put money on it. Money she could make whenever she successfully outdrank an opponent.

Of course, it also led to a problem with alcoholism and a tendency to often be found drunk when not working. She was constantly haunted by the memories of her past life and wanted to forget all the cruelty she had seen and done. So many people she had killed, or watched die. Drinking seemed to be the only comfort she had.

Eventually, the contests got her attention from the organizer of an underground fighting ring, who thought that a centaur could make a great new opponent to attract audiences and get them betting. This proved correct, as Mira was able to take out her frustrations on her opponents-easily pulverising them and becoming well-known in the local fighting circuit as an undefeated champion.

As she climbed the ranks she also got attention from another businessman with a new proposition. He was curious about the physical prowess of a centaur, and wanted Mira to challenge his best stallions in a race. On the track she proved exceptional. Even when she didn’t win, Mira was able to quickly win over a crowd of dedicated fans who would always cheer for her. And it certainly brought in the big bucks as more people were paying to see if a centaur really could beat their favorite horses.

Between the drinking contests, fighting, and racing, Mira has a decent flow of income but she still has a lot of issues of her own. She still has no real idea what she wants to do with her life, often distracting herself with thrill-seeking, competitions, and alcohol. Years of built-up anger and frustration have given her a fiery temper making her easily provoked, and difficulty with general social interaction.

Her drinking is still a problem. Getting drunk can cause her to become more aggressive and sometimes more violent than normal, but it can also be really hard to move a centaur when she is snoring on the tavern floor after clearing several barrels of ale.

Despite her aggressive and rough personality towards most people, Mira does get along well with horses. She often shows them a lot more affection than she would towards others, and sometimes confides in them. Of course, it also comes with the flip side that she can be quite nasty to anyone she sees mistreating a horse.