Homebrew Centaur Species Details

Wilderness Nomads

Centaur tribes range across lands with mild to hot climates, where a centaur requires only light furs or oiled skins to deal with inclement weather. They are hunter-gatherers and rarely build shelters or even use tents.

Centaur migrations span continents and take decades to repeat, so that a centaur tribe might not retread the same path for generations. These long-ranging patterns can lead to conflict when centaurs encounter settlements of other creatures built along their traditional routes.

Centaur Names

A Centaur goes by a primal, spiritual, or noble name, often loaned from an elven or human language.

Playing a Centaur

Centaurs are strong, fast, and wise. Their bodies can be just as much a blessing as a curse - granting speed, carrying capacity, and the possibility for others to catch a ride. Meanwhile their weight and quadruped form can make them troubling targets for certain beneficial adventuring spells, like Disguise Self and Tenser's Floating Disk. They may be effectively mounted at all times, for free, though they do not come with the option to dismount!

Design Notes

The race is meant to capture the essence of the fantasy of centaurs, while meanwhile staying true to the monster manual and certain conventions for playable races. Ability scores are distributed as +2/+1 as per most races. Their size is medium rather than large but uses the Powerful Build racial trait just as Goliaths and Firbolgs. Their speed is 50 to match the monster race, and where the majority of their designspace resides. Them knowing sylvan gives some more exotic roleplaying opportunities, as well as their natural weapons, and the built in weapon training would let a non-martial class fit that sort of fantasy - a centaur life domain cleric wielding a longbow, for instance.

Centaur Traits

Centaurs are strong, fast, and wise, with a heavy build.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age

Centaurs reach adulthood in their mid teens and live less than a century.

Alignment

Centaurs are typically neutral good. As reclusive wanderers and omen-readers of the wild, centaurs avoid conflict but fight fiercely when pressed. They roam the vast wilderness, keeping far from borders, laws, and the company of other creatures. Despite their reclusive nature, centaurs trade with elves and with the caravans of other benevolent humanoids they meet during their wanderings.

Size

Centaurs are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 1,400 and 2,100 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 50 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Sylvan, Elvish, and Common.

Quadruped

You have Disadvantage on Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks made to climb. Your form requires you to use Barding armor, which is more expensive (Player's Hanbook pg. 155).

Natural Cavalry

You may serve as a mount for a single creature your size or smaller, when you do so you always act independently of your rider. You also count as mounted at all times for the purposes of equipment.

Centaur Weapon Training

You have proficiency with javelins, spears, pikes, longbows, and shields.

Charge

If you move at least 30 feet in a straight line towards a target, the first melee weapon attack using strength you make against that target has advantage.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Hooves

Your hooves are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.