D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[Gammadoodler]

And you also have the horse torso prying the human portion off of the cliff. It's leverage and weight. The centaur trying to climb that way has a suicidal death wish.

Sure. They use specialized climbing shoes. At least if they want to climb something sheer like a wall or cliff.

Not sure why the horse torso would pry anything. A horse can lower its head all the way to the ground. The human torso should be able to bend as far as necessary.

And in the same way humanoids might pack special boots, a centaur could pack special climbing gear as well, and probably would.

Note that this is also an discussion based 100% in your assumptions, which this far has included size, hoof type, applicable strength and now range of motion, aspects of character creation upon which the rules are (mostly) silent.

 

[Scott Christian]

Maxperson is saying that a centaur's equine half cannot get flush against a cliff and thus cannot climb vertically.

This means the centaur lacks the joints to bend over its humaniod half.

Ah. I see. Well the front half could be flush and those hooves could touch, but that would leave several hundred pounds of horse weight 5'-7' jutting outward. I guess if you twist, you could have one front hoof and one rear hoof touching the rock.

 

[Maxperson]

Not sure why the horse torso would pry anything. A horse can lower its head all the way to the ground. The human torso should be able to bend as far as necessary.

To eat at it's feet, yep. As I said, touch your toes and then try to climb that way and see how it works for you. Oh, after you put on something round and hard over your feet.

 

[Scott Christian]

And yeah, hooves are piss poor for climbing, but so are combat boots, but I've not seen anywhere, that we're having all our humanoids strip down to being barefoot to make these climbs.

My characters have always used boots. You can climb in them. Not ideal, but they are not hooves. Even our plate clad fighters have leather boots at our table. It is the only way we can make sense of it. (Although some have had sandals or low cut boots. It is actually a thing we did at one table, always describe the boot when introducing the character.)

 

[Maxperson]

Ah. I see. Well the front half could be flush and those hooves could touch, but that would leave several hundred pounds of horse weight 5'-7' jutting outward. I guess if you twist, you could have one front hoof and one rear hoof touching the rock.

Several hundred pounds and the pair of hooves touch the cliff can't actually grip anything or be used to be wedged into cracks or onto small ledges and is round so little of it can be put onto a small ledge in any case. It's suicide for a centaur to try and climb that way. And it's also suicide for it to bend its torso and touch its toes before trying to climb a cliff. It just doesn't work.

 

[Scribe]

The last several pages here are pretty bizarre.

Why cant these Centaur climb like those Mountain Goats?

 

[Scott Christian]

To eat at it's feet, yep. As I said, touch your toes and then try to climb that way and see how it works for you. Oh, after you put on something round and hard over your feet.

DC 30 per ten feet? (C'mon, you know there is a player that would try it?)

 

[Scott Christian]

The last several pages here are pretty bizarre.

Why cant these Centaur climb like those Mountain Goats?

Specifically we are talking about climbing a sheer cliff. Not one with steps, which are what goats use. They may look like the cliffs are sheer in pictures, but they aren't even close. Climbing a rope and a rope ladder have been other examples.

 

[Maxperson]

The last several pages here are pretty bizarre.

Why cant these Centaur climb like those Mountain Goats?

Size, shape and very wrong hoof types. That's why.

 

[Scribe]

Got it, carry on then.