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

[Ancalagon]

speed of 40? A centaur is half human, half horse - not half donkey...

 

[Dit464]

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.

This is the reason that I tend to associate Centaurs (which in any homebrew campaign that I run can be playable per request) as disadvantageous, don't get me wrong there have been a few that have been played but I took great strides to make sure that instead of ladders and climbing up sheer cliffs there was at least an option that the Centaur could potentially jump up or down like a mountain goat.

Personally I would rather be a Satyr only for the sheer fact that they dont need to be planned around, they are small sized not medium-plus or a large character, they can actually use ladders, and can at least attempt to hide their animal appendages without magical means.

 

[Zardnaar]

Its funny you guys mentioned ladders as a draw back.

Quadruped. You have disadvantage on Stealth checks because of your size and indelicate hooves. The mundane details of the structures of humanoids can present considerable obstacles for you, such as ladders and manholes.

 

[Dit464]

Its funny you guys mentioned ladders as a draw back.

Quadruped. You have disadvantage on Stealth checks because of your size and indelicate hooves. The mundane details of the structures of humanoids can present considerable obstacles for you, such as ladders and manholes.

I wish I would've found this when I ran that campaign, I found it difficult to try to balance a Centaur no matter what I thought up it always seemed disadvantageous to play one/inferior to other races.

 

[Ancalagon]

Planescape had a more "reasonable" quadruped race - the Bariaur. Smaller, not as strong/fast, but much more sure-footed. Seems to me like an option that would be *far* more manageable for everyone.

 

[Zardnaar]

Same PDF I found the Centaur in has the Alseid. Medium size quadreped, +2 wis, +1 dex, and some other stuff.

http://koboldpress.com/kpstore/product/midgard-heroes-for-5th-edition/

 

[Satyrn]

A satyr, on the other hand, is a biped, yet not a humanoid.

 

[mflayermonk]

Size category large is probably why they aren't called humanoids in the game.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

So much for the Centaur using the spell "Rope trick"

 

[jayoungr]

Simple answer: Because an official adventure featuring centaurs hasn't come out yet. If/when one does, I'm sure we'll get PC stats for them, like we did with aaracokra when Princes of the Apocalypse was released.

Until then, homebrew is where it's at.