D&D 5E [RANT] Why are centaurs not humanoids / unplayable?

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Because they all have a giant horses ass and poor table manners. Where do 90% of adventures start? That's right, in the smoke filled, dimly lit tavern, from the hooded guy sitting in the shadowy corner in the back. How is your 1,000 plus pound horse-butt going to get through door and then navigate across the room of tables and patrons without stepping on feet and causing the tavern wench to spill the drinks she is carrying? Plus there is the issue of random horse droppings, because you still have the digestive system of a horse.

Face it, your a walking social disaster. No cryptic quest giver in their right mind is going to trust the fate of the known world with you. Centaurs just can't get the job done, and thus are never invited to join any of the better adventuring parties.

A centaur is only unplayable if you have a phobic or crappy GM.
I'm guessing Caliban is being coy here? If not, let's consider this:

If 90% of adventures start the way you suggest, then WotC ( as well as every 3rd party publisher) could save some serious ink and pages with the adventure setup and just publish ONE SINGLE INTRO that applies to every adventure forward.
That set up is so cliche it actually bothers me that someone would use it as a defense on this specific topic.

But if we are going to go with how their anatomy doesnt fit the campaign:
- Give it a high charisma, and there will be certain individuals who want to have "relations" (see Catherine the Great )

- Who can earn gold by creating a "mechanical bull" entertainment in the not so cramped tavern

- If the DM is going to be that much of an OCD nightmare that you will have to roll a Fort save, or they just narrate, that you randomly crap yourself, then you should probably quit right there, but if that's the only game in town, then you should probably insist that everybody make rolls, or that urination/defecation checks be mandatory: Hence, the Wizard is trying to get 8 hours of rest, well oops, your bladder disagrees, start over. Oh, you have been crawling around in the dungeon for a few hours, better make a roll, you might really need to take a dump as the evil high priest is about to make the sacrifice you were sent to stop.....

Also, why the hell does anyone trust the mysterious stranger in the tavern. If it was me, I'd say lets take this guy out back and kill him, because since we are in cliche-land, there's a 50% chance that he is actually the bad guy in disguise trying to manipulate the party....or wait, maybe we could just hold him down under the centaur and make Intimidate checks (with a bonus) regarding the impending fecal consequences.....

 

[Jester David]

Also why are they unplayable?

Ladders.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

I think that pedalism is a bit of a distraction. Merfolk are not bipedal; they can't walk at all. A satyr, on the other hand, is a biped, yet not a humanoid.

Humanoid-ness may itself be beside the point. Chimps are much closer to the shape of humans than are birdfolk. Seriously, try to find a hexapod vertebrate in the fossil record. Yet the latter are humanoid in game terms.

I think that the simple answer is that centaurs aren't humanoid because the game developers say they aren't, and centaurs aren't playable because your DM says they aren't.

 

[Ganymede81]

Does anybody know why centaurs are not considered humanoids, yet mermaids (merfolk) and aaracoras are?
Also why are they unplayable (they make much more sense than a bird creature that dies when it hits 30)?

It is probably because they are large rather than medium, have a high walking speed, have natural attacks, and are more powerful than other base creatures.

Can you think of any large humanoids? I can't.

 

[Jester David]

In all seriousness:

Does anybody know why centaurs are not considered humanoids, yet mermaids (merfolk) and aaracoras are?

Three possible reasons.

One, as mentioned, the anatomy is father away from the standard human, with two extra limbs and an expanded body. They're not just humans with feathers like the aarakocra.
Also, they're much bigger than a human, being large-sized. After all, big people like cyclops and ettins are just slightly larger people but considered "giants". After all, merefolk are humanoid but the simmilar merrow - large size - are monstrosities.

Second could be the assumed story or origins not described in the book. Merefolk might be assumed to have been humans slightly altered, while centaurs could never have been human to begin with. The different origin makes them physically different.

Third, the Monster Manual was written by several people over the course of months. Like six people plus the editor(s). Different people will make different decisions. It's not as satisfying an answer but it's truthful: different people make different calls and there's going to be some inconsistencies as minds were changed or monsters were thought of differently.


That all said, I wouldn't be surprised to see a playable centaur race somewhere on the DMsGuild.

 

[Ancalagon]

#2 isn't really a centaur-specific issue in 5E, since you can achieve the exact same thing as a variant human with the Mobile feat and high Dex. Yes it is a good tactic to have available.

? The centaur has a speed of 50 feet, more than can be achieved by merely the mobile feat. If all the centaur had going for it was high speed, it might be balanced, but the entire package was not, not in 2nd ed at least.

 

[Sunseeker]

As @The Grassy Gnoll says, it is likely because they are quadrupedal and technically "large" size. However, I rectified this in a 3E game I ran a long time ago with "vanity templates". Since centuars, driders and other human+monster creatures are essentially "normal bipedal race with one or two special features" that's what I offered to my players. They could take a "vanity template" and their half-elf would now be a half-elf drider. They'd lose a feature from their base race and gain a feature from their template. So

Centuar:
*any humanoid race+horse*
You are your normal appearance from the waist up, but from the waist down you have the body of a horse.
Instead of *racial feature* (unfortunately has to be adjudicated race-by-race) you gain a hoof attack as an Attack Action which you are proficient in and uses Str to attack dealing 2d4+str.
and/or instead of *racial feature* you gain "Heavy Load" your carrying capacity is doubled. (30xStr score instead of 15)
You are considered "Medium-Plus" and take up one extra 5x5 space.

Drider:
*any humanoid race(Typically Drow)+giant spider*
Spider Climb: Instead of the normal Drow movement speed bonus, you have natural spider climb, active at all times.
and/or:
Web: Instead of the Drow Magic feature, you can shoot webs as an Attack Action, Dex save, DC 8+prof+dex or target is entangled, same DC to break free.
You are considered Large but use medium-sized weapons and take up a 10x10 area.

Anyway, I have typically found this works in older editions, but I have not yet experimented with it in 5th. It should make little difference. Making a centaur playable, assuming you follow the custom race guidelines in the DMG, should not break the game. As always, with custom features the DM reserves the right to adjust and modify those features at any point during the game, should they find it just not working out.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

? The centaur has a speed of 50 feet, more than can be achieved by merely the mobile feat. If all the centaur had going for it was high speed, it might be balanced, but the entire package was not, not in 2nd ed at least.

Yes, but against a foe with 30' or 40' movement (most of the MM), 50' and 40' are equally-good at kiting from range, whereas if an enemy manages to close to melee range by Dashing, the Mobile dude can attack and back out of range every round at zero risk whereas the centaur has to eat at least one opportunity attack to get out of melee, and might have to eat an opportunity attack every other round or so depending on terrain.

In actual practice it's hard to find a scenario where 50' movement is better than 40' movement plus no risk of opportunity attacks plus no problems Dashing over difficult terrain. Maybe against Winter Wolves (50' movement) or something in tight-but-not-difficult terrain, if there were sufficiently-many wolves.

Also, gaining the "no opportunity attacks and no issues with difficult terrain" is more difficult than just gaining 50' of movement. For example, 40' movement becomes 50' movement by application of Longstrider, or 80' movement by application of Expeditious Retreat.

Centaurs wouldn't be gaining anything in kiting capability that wasn't already readily-available.

 

[Sunseeker]

Yes, but against a foe with 30' or 40' movement (most of the MM), 50' and 40' are equally-good at kiting from range, whereas if an enemy manages to close to melee range by Dashing, the Mobile dude can attack and back out of range every round at zero risk whereas the centaur has to eat at least one opportunity attack to get out of melee, and might have to eat an opportunity attack every other round or so depending on terrain.

In actual practice it's hard to find a scenario where 50' movement is better than 40' movement plus no risk of opportunity attacks plus no problems Dashing over difficult terrain. Maybe against Winter Wolves (50' movement) or something in tight-but-not-difficult terrain, if there were sufficiently-many wolves.

Also, gaining the "no opportunity attacks and no issues with difficult terrain" is more difficult than just gaining 50' of movement. For example, 40' movement becomes 50' movement by application of Longstrider, or 80' movement by application of Expeditious Retreat.

Centaurs wouldn't be gaining anything in kiting capability that wasn't already readily-available.

Indeed, a lot of the theory-crafting of high mobility (and long range) assumes nearly unlimited line-of-sight over endless flat ground. In reality the party is more likely to be in a cramped dungeon with limited range, a woodland with lots of line-of-sight issues or some combination of the two where being able to move at high speeds or being able to fire over extremely long range will see little actual value gain.

 

[Zardnaar]

Centaurs are in the Southland Heroes PDf from the Kobolds. They are large, have a base speed of 40' and get this as a racial ability.

Pike Charge. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a pike attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3 (1d6) piercing damage. The number of extra damage dice you gain increases by one at 6th level (2d6) and again at 11th level (3d6). You can apply this extra damage only once per turn. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.