The word centaur conjures up different images. Noble warriors that combine the stalwart nature of a loyal steed with the braveness of its fearsome rider. Of healers, scholars, sages, and astronomers. Of violent barbarians more beast than man. Or of drunken, ribald louts who are more at home in the fey wilderness with satyrs than they are among “civilized” people. In truth, there is no one way to describe centaurs, as they are a highly varied people.
A centaur has the body of a small horse, but a human-like head and torso that emerges from the horse’s withers. Their ears are slightly pointed and much more mobile than those of a human, and their faces are often quite equine in appearance. Their hair often matches their tail color and continues down their backs as a short mane. Their powerful lower body makes them unflagging runners, and most centaurs love racing and feeling the wind in their mane and tail, their hooves pounding the earth below. Few centaurs enjoy having a sedentary life.
While the half-horse centaur is the most well known type, to the point of producing the default image of the heritage, there are actually several centaur species. Those who insist on scholarly language call the half horse centaur the hippocentaur. Their closest kin are the onocentaurs (half-donkey), the zebrataur (half zebra), and moularicentaur (mule-bodied). In addition, there are related species that have the lower bodies of non-equine ungulates. Among these are the criotaur (half-sheep or half-goat), bucentaur (half cattle), and elaphocentaur (half-deer or half-antelope).
Despite attempts by sages to pigeonhole centaurs with taxonomic nomenclature, centaurs generally don’t care. They most just call themselves centaur, no matter their lower body, and if they need to specify, they go by half-horse or half-goat. However, they are always very careful to make sure people know that it’s only their lower halves that are animalistic. They are very adamant that other people realize that they are indeed people, not animals, and loathe it when non centaurs believe that they think like animals, are related to animals, or have an innate ability to talk to animals of “their kind.”
Characters with the centaur heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another.
Age. Centaurs mature slightly earlier than humans do, reaching maturity in their mid-teens. While they age at about the same rate as humans and have similar lifespans, they reach old age earlier, usually in their sixties or seventies. Their minds tend to remain sharp while their body suffers the pangs of age earlier than with humans.
Size. Most centaurs stand between 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall (1.2 to 1.4 meters) at the withers, and as tall as 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall (2 to 2.1 meters) at the tops of their heads. They usually weigh between 700 and 900 pounds (317 to 408 kg). Some are smaller, but rarely by much. Your size is Medium. However, some centaurs have the Large Size gift, detailed below.
Speed. Your walking speed is 40 feet.
Monstrous Ancestry. You have the Monstrosity creature type in addition to the Humanoid type.
Ungulate Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push or drag (but not how much you can lift). You can also carry an additional two Bulky items. While you can carry other creatures on your back, up to what your Strength score allows you to carry, you can’t ride on other creatures unless they are outfitted with a howdah or similar object, and you can only ride on vehicles that are at least one size larger than you.
Hooves. Your hooves are natural melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your hooves, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier instead of the normal damage for an unarmed strike.
There are so numerous myths about centaurs, and each of them has a grain of truth to them, as shown by the innate abilities many centaurs have. In addition to the traits found in your centaur heritage, select one of the following centaur gifts.
Whenever a centaur runs, their heartbeat and the heartbeat of the world thrum in unison. Some centaurs feel this heartbeat at all times, and they become in tune with the ebb and flow of life. For many of these centaurs, this feeling grants them an almost instinctual knowledge of life and people’s health. Centaurs with this gift have the following features:
Life’s Caretakers. You have an intrinsic understanding of life. You are proficient with the herbalism kit, and in your choice of either Medicine or Nature.
Nature’s Divinity. You learn one cantrip from either the cleric or druid spell list. At 3rd level, you learn your choice of either cure wounds or healing word and can cast it as a 1st-level spell once between long rests. At 5th level, you can cast it as a 2nd-level spell. Your spellcasting ability for this trait is Wisdom.
Centaurs have incredible stamina and are able to work tirelessly long past the time that other people are desperate for rest. Some centaurs are even tougher than others. Centaurs with this gift have the following features:
Tireless. You have advantage on saving throws made to resist taking fatigue or strife. Additionally, engaging in strenuous activity doesn’t interrupt your long rest.
Workhorse. You gain an expertise die in Athletics checks you make. If you fail a Strength ability check or saving throw, you may reroll it and choose which result you want to use. Once you have done so, you can’t do so again until you complete a short or long rest.
A popular centaur legend says that the first of their kind—who taught centaurs the art of archery—was immortalized in the heavens as a constellation. Many centaurs therefore have a strong belief in astrology and allow the stars to guide them. Centaurs with this gift have the following features:
Astronomers. You can cast the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, then once each day, as long as you can see the stars, you can cast augury without expending a spell slot or requiring any material components. Your spellcasting attribute is Intelligence.
Child of the Star-Archer. The stars have blessed you with certain skills. You are proficient in long bows and short bows, and in navigator’s tools.
Star-Sight. You gain darkvision to 60 feet. you can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
When you reach 10th level, you are an exemplar of centaur-kind, and you gain one paragon gift from the following list:
Brute. Your hooves are like battering rams, your muscles are like iron, and your hide is like steel. Your hooves inflict 2d4 damage instead of 1d4, and your hooves count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. Additionally, your armor class increases by 1.
Racehorse. When you take the Dash action, you may move an additional 10 feet. When you take the Sprint action, you may move an additional 20 feet. Additionally, when you take one of these actions, you don’t provoke opportunity attacks.
Centaurs gather in great herds that thunder across the plains, steppes, and prairies, or in forests or up mountains for those who are half-deer or half-goat. They are a very social people and dislike being alone for too long. While they often live close to other heritages, as they get along quite well with humanoids, they rarely live with them—if only because humanoid villages, towns, and cities are rarely built to accommodate a centaur’s size and shape.
Since they are generally uninterested in climbing any more than they have to, centaur settlements are built out and not up; their homes are large and sprawling and their villages and towns take up wide swathes of land. Centaurs have little problem with having to run long distances.
While you can choose any culture for your centaur character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: caravanner, nomad, packmate, settler.
Because of a centaur’s build, certain game aspects need specific mention:
Barding. The Narrator will have to decide if centaurs have to buy barding in order to wear armor, or if they can wear regular armor. If centaurs have to wear barding, then they can add their Dexterity modifier to their AC if the base armor allows for that modifier to be used, even though horse barding doesn’t normally allow for that. For example, leather brigandine barding normally grants a flat AC 13, but since leather brigandine armor for humanoids grants AC 13 + the wearer’s Dexterity modifier, leather brigandine barding would allow for the centaur’s Dexterity to modify it.
Barding typically weighs twice as much as regular armor and costs four times as much.
Maneuvers. Since centaurs can’t ride mounts, they don’t benefit from many maneuvers of the Spirited Steed tradition. The Narrator may decide that certain maneuvers can be used by a centaur anyway. The following maneuvers should be considered as potentially allowable for centaur PCs: Lancer Strike, Mounted Charge, Riding Leap, Rearing Menace, Trample, Saddled Blows, Prodigious Leap, and Devastating Charge.
The Fey have great herds of centaurs roaming through them. These centaurs often have a more delicate, fairy-like appearance, are often half-deer instead of half-horse, and their lower bodies frequently come in a rainbow of colors. With the Narrator’s approval, a character can also have the Fey Origins trait in addition to their normal heritage traits and gifts.
Fey Origin. Your creature types are your choice of either Fey and Humanoid or Fey and Monstrosity, rather than Humanoid and Monstrosity. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and on spells and effects that would read your thoughts or alter your dreams or your memories.
With many centaurs (especially those whose lower bodies are based on beasts of burden), their animal halves are shorter than normal animals at the withers, making the centaur roughly the same height as a very tall human. Some centaurs are much larger and tower over many other creatures. This is especially true for centaurs with the lower halves of cattle or draft horses. With the Narrator’s approval, a character can also have the gift Large-Sized in addition to their other heritage gift.
Large-Sized. You are Large, not Medium. You stand as tall as 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall at the withers, can reach 8 1/2 feet tall (2.5 meters) at the top of your head and are about 7 to 8 feet long (2.1 to 2.4 meters) from waist to tail. You weigh around 1,400 pounds (640 kg).
Broad Backed. Your carrying capacity and the amount you can push or drag increases by 150 pounds.
Giant Blows. When you score a critical hit with your natural weapon, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice an additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit. You can also use oversized weapons, such as those created for Huge or larger creatures, without penalty.
Unwieldy Size. Because of your Large size, you suffer from several restrictions: