Centaur
by Prince Phantom
Any race with a non-standard body type is worth a deep look, as they potentially have the ability to do things no other race can. The poster child for this rule is the Centaur. Half horse, half man, all muscle, and very unique in just about every way. Being a horse has plenty of upsides and downsides, so let’s dive into this very complex option.
Centaur Features
Creature Type: Fey: Being a Fey actually has a few mechanical benefits and detriments. You are immune to spells like Charm Person and Hold Person, along with many other miscellaneous monster abilities that only target humanoids. However, there are also certain spells that you can’t benefit from like Protection from Evil and Good, and you are susceptible to similar spells. Also, if you write in your backstory that you are native to the Feywild, watch out for Banishment. I’d say this is more of a good thing than a bad thing, but just be careful when selecting and casting buff spells.
Speed: 40ft: This is one of the big selling points of the Centaur. Besides the old Aarakocra’s 50ft fly speed (which is a legacy race that probably shouldn’t be allowed at tables anymore for many reasons), this is the highest movement speed provided by any race. Yes, Tabaxi can double their speed nearly at will, but this is the highest base speed. The question becomes what to do with this high speed, as while it’s definitely an advantage on its own, there’s build around potential here that I would be foolish to ignore. Grapple and drag builds immediately come to mind (and actually work really well with the other abilities of this race), as we can drag a creature 20ft instead of the usual 15ft. That 5ft may not sound like a ton, but that’s an extra 2d4 damage from Spike Growth, or potentially the last bit you need to force your target into the area of a spell. Builds looking to get in and out of combat like Monks or melee Rogues will also appreciate this a ton. I think the grapple build idea is the way to go considering these next few features though.
Hooves: This is the standard d6 unarmed attack that many races get, though notably we can make this attack even while our hands are full. This is normally a niche bonus to races with natural weapons, but if we are wanting to play a grapple build, this is actually amazing. We can have both hands grappling and dragging enemies through a Spike Growth for example, and still be making attacks with our hooves. This is a rare example of this style of feature being very impactful to a build.
Charge: Synergizing nicely with our 40ft speed and definitely pushing us to either be a Strength build or a Monk, this is a rare example of a race providing a consistent and reliable bonus action attack. Granted, it might be tough to get this to happen every round, but if you can get this to trigger at least half the time I feel like you’re doing very well. You can even argue that this allows you to skip taking a feat like Polearm Master, even though you can’t apply Great Weapon Master to hoof attacks. You’ll deal less damage definitely, but it allows you to take other feats if you’d like, such as Mobile to increase our movement speed even further, allowing us to drag enemies further as well.
Natural Affinity: This is a pretty lame selection of skills, and I’d probably go with Survival and Nature (for harvesting poisons). Still, I’m not going to complain about free skills.
Equine Build: Okay, I’ve danced around it as long as I can. We’re a horse. That fact comes with both benefits and disadvantages, and it’s important to consider both before selecting this race. The downsides are clear, some forms of difficult terrain and pretty much all climbing costs us 4x the movement instead of 2x. Depending on your DM, this could be very bad. If your DM is the type to use difficult terrain that would definitely be tough for a horse to navigate, this could come up a lot. I would either incorporate into my own build or ask my party to prepare countermeasures for these downsides. There are a few class and subclass abilities that allow you to ignore some difficult terrain, and any method of flight will skirt this issue entirely. There are also some unspoken disadvantages that you may want to consider asking your DM about before you pick this. For example, will armor cost more for you than normal? Thankfully magic items are not an issue, as the DMG clearly states that magic items will reshape themselves to fit their user if needed. This means you can totally wear Boots of Flying even with your hooves. That’s enough about problems though, let’s get to the upsides. The biggest one is that you are definitely a potential mount for other player characters. Note that we are still medium sized (because WOTC would sooner go bankrupt than print a large sized race). This means that only small creatures can mount us, but there are plenty of great small sized races that another party member could be to take advantage of this. You’ll definitely want to coordinate with your party during character creation if this is something you want to take advantage of, as there are many build decisions for both you and your rider that would be great for a tag team strategy. The Mounted Combatant feat obviously comes to mind as a standout option, Rogues will always have sneak attack as you’ll always be close enough to provide it. Legacy Kobolds will always have advantage thanks to Pack Tactics, Cavalier Fighters can more reliably use their abilities, and you can split the typical melee feats like Sentinel between the two characters, allowing for more freedom of choice with feats. Paladins will always have at least one person in their aura, Peace and Twilight Clerics can do their already brain-dead broken stuff even more easily, Ancestral Guardian Barbarians and Defender Armorer Artificers can impose disadvantage on enemy attack reliably if we (the Centaur) play that build and have our rider take Mounted Combatant, forcing all attacks to be made at them instead of you and giving disadvantage thanks to those subclass’s abilities. In summary, take some time to brainstorm with another party member about this. There is some seriously broken things you can do with this if you put your minds to it, and the potential for different build combinations is limitless.
This is one of my favorite races because it has such a potential for strange and unexpected builds, especially when you coordinate with another player. If you don’t build around this race, you’ll find it nothing more than an increased movement speed, but if you put a bit of thought into it, there is some real gold to be mined here.
Final Rating: 4/5, just because I can’t ignore the disadvantages that being a horse imposes.
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