Homebrew Borealis Centaur Species Details

In the cold north, where “open plain” is sheer underrating, centaurs nevertheless retain a love of wide spaces and the freedom to travel. As much as they can, centaurs run — in wide plazas, spacious parks, and expanses of rubble and ruin. They race the wind, hooves thundering and tails streaming behind them.

Nature’s Cavalry

Borealis Centaurs have the upper bodies, down to the waist, of muscular humans, displaying all the human variety of skin tones and features. Their ears are slightly pointed, but their faces are wider and squarer than those of elves. Below the waist, they have the bodies of horses reindeers or elks, with a similar range of coloration — from various shades of chestnut or bay to dappled . Most centaurs style their hair and their tails in a similar way. 

The upper bodies of centaurs are comparable to human torsos in size, and their lower bodies average about 4 feet tall at the withers. Though they are smaller than a human rider mounted on a horse, they fill similar roles as cavalry warriors, messengers, outriders, and scouts.

Affinity for Nature

Centaurs have an affinity for the natural world. Every Herd has at least one Shaman.

Centaurs celebrate life and growth, and the birth of a foal is always cause for festivities. At the same time, they revere the traditions of the past, and among them there are voices of memory and history, preserving old ways and keeping alive the legends of ancestral heroes. They feel a close kinship with wild animals, perhaps because of their own horse-like bodies, and delight in the feeling of running alongside herds and packs of other beasts.

Clans and Community

Centaurs sense the interconnectedness of the natural world. Therefore, they celebrate family and community as microcosms of this larger connection. Their shamans provide the link between the ancestral spirits and the herd, guiding them through harsh winters and short summers. Many shamans go on pilgrimage through the realms at least once in their lives.

 

Borealis Centaur Traits

Your centaur character has the following racial traits. These traits are also suitable for the centaurs of other worlds where there are centaurs of fey origin. These centaurs are smaller than the non-fey centaurs that roam in some realms.

Ability Score Increase

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

Age

Centaurs mature and age at about the same rate as humans.

Alignment

Centaurs are inclined toward neutrality. Those who join the Selesnya are more often neutral good, while those who join the Gruul are typically chaotic neutral.

Size

Centaurs stand between 7and 8 feet tall, with their equine bodies reaching about 5 feet at the withers. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 40 feet. You ignore difficult terrain caused by snow and ice. 

Fey

Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.

Charge

If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with a bonus action, making one attack against the target with your hooves.

Hooves

Your hooves are natural melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Equine Build

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

In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you because of your equine legs. When you make such a climb, each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra foot.

Survivor

You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature, or Survival.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan. Sylvan is widely spoken in the Selesnya Conclave, for it is rich in vocabulary to describe natural phenomena and spiritual forces.