What do Centaurs eat?

[Ed_Laprade]

The 'What do Giants eat?' thread reminded me of something one of the guys I originally played with pointed out many moons ago. What do Centaurs eat? They have the upper body of a Human and the lower body of a horse. How many stomaches do they have? Do they eat what Humans do, or what horses do? Is the bottom half of their Human torso solid muscle? Anyone know?

 

[NiTessine]

They are omnivorous, and survive through a mixture of trade, agriculture, hunting, fishing, and foraging.

They tend to become aggressive and rowdy when drunk.

This is from the AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual.

 

[Gez]

I have sometimes thought that their whole human torso was occupied only by lungs (and the heart, of course).

However, I'd say they're omnivorous like humans, just with a greater emphasis on veggie stuff. Probably eat a lot of salads, and carrots, too.

They love dry bread and sugar lumps, by the way.

 

[hafrogman]

They eat human food.

Have YOU ever tried bending over at the waist to graze? It ain't fun!

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Their diet is probably very similar to that of the Central Asian Steppe Nomads, i.e. goat and goat milk products with whatever tubers and wild vegetables that can be found.

 

[Mycanid]

I read a book that said they had two stomachs (?!) and that BOTH needed to be fed. One with horse food and the other with human food.

Make meals a very long prospect indeed if it were so, don't you think?

 

[Meloncov]

I read a book that said they had two stomachs (?!) and that BOTH needed to be fed. One with horse food and the other with human food.

Make meals a very long prospect indeed if it were so, don't you think?

I think it was one of the Narnia books, but I could be wrong.

 

[kirinke]

I think it was one of the Narnia books, but I could be wrong.

Yup, twas a narnia book.

Well. I'd say they're probably omnivorous, but lean heavily towards the veggie side of omnivore.

 

[Andor]

I'm inclined to go the other way. Large herbivores need to spend ridculous amounts of time eating their low energy density diets. If Centaurs did some intensive farming of highly nutritious foods like beans, oats and corn then yeah, maybe they lean towards the veggie side of the equation. I personally think of them as herdmen and hunters who eat a meat heavy diet.

It kind of depends on the role you want them to play. Using Parthian tactics Centaurs should utterly dominate any and all terrain thet lets them use their natural mobility. I want to use them as empire builders.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

PCs.