Introduction
A classic mythological creature, the Centaur is a horse but rather than a horse’s head they have the waist-upward portions of a human in the same place. Anatomically it’s a nightmare, and much ink and countless pixels have been spilled in the name of cryptozoological scientific attempts to explain exactly what’s going on there. What do they eat, and how much? What are centaur newborns like? How does a centaur wear pants? Can a centaur touch its own back feet? These are questions for scholarly and scientific minds far greater than my own.
Regardless of looming scientific questions, centaurs have been depicted in works of fiction dating back to Greek mythology. Even more recent works like Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter feature centaurs. Generally they’re depicted as socially insular, and they’re frequently depicted as powerful warriors, especially with bows and spears. Dungeons and Dragons has its own spin on centaurs, especially in the Ravnica setting where they first appeared as a playable race for 5th edition, depicting centaurs as roughly the size of a tall human rather than the size of a human mounted atop a horse as they’re depicted in most fiction.
Mechanically, the Centaur is challenging but novel in many ways. Their ability score increases to Strength and Wisdom work for a variety of classes, but few classes can easily capitalize on both. The Customizing Your Origins optional rules and the updated version published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse solve that challenge, but their other racial traits will still encourage martial builds and melee combat.
The Centaur’s 40-foot speed is matched or exceeded by no playable race except the Aarakocra (before Monsters of the Multiverse reduced it to 30 ft.), and combined with their Charge trait the Centaur is capable of quickly getting into melee combat and making their presence felt. Equine Build is essentially the same as Powerful Build, but with the added handicap of being really bad at climbing. Fortunately Dungeons and Dragons features abundant options for levitation and flight, so that won’t be a problem beyond low levels.
The Centaur was notably the first non-humanoid playable race to be published.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Centaur Versions
- Riding Centaurs
- Charge
- Centaur Magic Items
- Centaur Classes (Customizable Origins and MMoM)
- Centaur Classes (Classic Rules)
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Centaur Versions
There are effectively three versions of the Centaur. The original was published in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the option Customizing Your Origin rules, which gave us the second version and allowing players to reassign the Centaur’s ability score increases.
Most recently, Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse re-published the Centaur. The changes here were minor, replacing the Centaur’s Ability Score Increase trait with the new standard for ability scores, allowing players to assign either +2/+1 increases or three +1 increases. The update also increased the Centaur’s Hoof damage to 1d6. For the majority of builds, this minor update does little to change your options.
Riding Centaurs
Unfortunately, the Centaur does not have rules for being ridden by other humanoids. The Unearthed Arcana version did, but the way the rules were written allowed other medium humanoids (including other centaurs!) to ride the player, leading to all sorts of jokes about parties of centaurs marching into battle stacked atop each other like a tower. If you still want to carry a rider, I suggest reading my Practical Guide to Mounted Combat. (Hint: A centaur would count as an intelligent mount). If your DM does allow a centaur to serve as a suitable mount, you can still stack an infinitely tall tower of centaurs inside a 5-foot space. Well, not infinite due to carrying capacity limits, but you get my point.
There is notably no restriction on centaurs riding another creature. Centaurs can also ride horses, which is exactly as weird as it sounds, and has produced some truly excellent memes and webcomics on the subject.
Charge
The Centaur’s signature trait is Charge, allowing them excellent action economy on their attacks if you move 30 feet straight toward your target before hitting them with a melee attack. This can be very powerful, but can be difficult to apply repeatedly, especially when combat typically only lasts 3 to 5 rounds. The 30-foot distance required to charge is also problematic, even with 40 feet of move speed. Typically you’ll charge once, then may not be able to do so again in that encounter.
If you want to repeatedly and reliable use Charge, you need to solve two problems: move speed and Opportunity Attacks. Conveniently, the Mobile feat goes a long to solve both, removing the threat of Opportunity Attacks and adding 10 feet to your move speed. Unfortunately, you need to get to 60 feet somehow. Several options exist, including the Barbarian’s Fast Movement feature, the spell Longstrider, and magic items.
Once you hit 60-foot speed and have a way around Opportunity Attacks, Charge becomes routine. Run backward 30 feet, then run straight back at your target to trigger Charge.
Centaur Magic Items
As a DM I don’t recommend allowing any of these items to be used by a centaur character, but RAW the centaur can use them, so here we go.
Horseshoes of Speed (Rare): Enough move speed that you can easily use Charge every turn so long as you can deal with Opportunity Attacks.
Horsesoes of a Zephyr (Very Rare): Not super useful, but you can wear them and never need to get your hooves dirty again.
Saddle of the Cavalier (Uncommon): Put literally any creature in the saddle, and this is better than a Cloak of Displacement and doesn’t require attunement.
Centaur Classes (Customizable Origins and MMoM)
This section assumes that you’re using the option updated versions of the race, including the “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and/or the updated version published in Monsters of the Multiverse. Because the race changed so little between those two versions, I have decided to combine these two sections. If you’re not using those rules, scroll down to the “Classic Rules” section.
Despite the flexibility offered by the custom origin rules, the Centaur is still locked into melee in many ways due to their Charge trait. Without charge, the centaur’s only appeal is their speed, and that’s simply not enough. If you’re playing a centaur, you’re building a melee charger.
Artificer
Both the Armorer and the Battle Smith are interesting choices because they work in melee. The Centaur’s Charge trait notably doesn’t care where your melee attack comes from, so attack cantrips like Booming Blade synergize very well, but since it’s Strength-based its largely useless. Battle Smith may struggle to keep their Steel Defender nearby, but you may also be able to use your Steel Defender to hold enemies in place so that you can repeatedly Charge and run away to get enough distance for another charge.
You eventually gain the ability to infuse Boots of Speed, and despite being boots and you being a centaur, they appear to work like they do for any other character. Unfortunately, that doesn’t solve the issue of Opportunity Attacks or of Hooves being Strength-based.
Barbarian
Still an excellent choice for the Centaur. Grab the Mobile feat and you’re ready to charge every turn. Add in Reckless Attack and you can reliably hit nearly every time, triggering Charge’s extra attack frequently and throwing down huge piles of damage. The custom origin rules change very little here, but moving the Wisdom increase to Constitution is a good choice. If you insist on using Unarmored Defense, consider the updated centaur published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse so that you can put a +1 in all three of Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom.
Bard
Strength bards are really difficult to build, and if you’re going to play a caster bard you’re giving up the only things that makes the Centaur mechanically interesting.
Cleric
Weapon attacks work, but they’re not a great choice for the Cleric. If you want a similar flavor, the Paladin is a much better choice.
Druid
Access to Shillelagh looks tempting, but you need to build around Strength to make your Hoof attack useful. Combining Longstrider with Mobile is enough to make Charge work repeatedly, but the MAD issues will kill you even with the option of three +1 increases. Go for the Ranger instead.
Fighter
With more Ability Score Increases than any other class, the Fighter makes it easy to set yourself up as a charge monster. Grab Mobile early and look for extra speed boosts (Horseshoes of Speed, Longstrider from an ally, etc.), and you’re ready to go. Consider feats like Sentinel to keep enemies right where you want them so that you can use Charge repeatedly without them chasing you or running away.
Monk
Martial Arts makes Charge totally redundant.
Paladin
While not quite as well-suited to charging as the Barbarian or the Fighter, the Paladin’s Divine Smite offers a way to pile on massive damage in a hurry. Between Extra Attack, two attacks with a two-handed weapon, and hopefully a hoof attack, you can deal a huge amount of damage turn 1. Unfortunately, since your hoof isn’t a weapon it doesn’t qualify for Divine Smite.
Ranger
Much better suited to melee than the Druid and you also get access to both Longstrider and Zephyr Strike. If you can find a movement speed bonus somewhere to get you to 60 feet (40, +10 from Longstrider, so you’re almost there) you can use Zephyr Strike to replace the Mobile feat and move around without worry about Opportunity Attacks. The biggest challenge is that you’re building around Strength, which can make the Ranger very MAD due to medium armor’s need for 14 Dexterity. Using the updated version of the Centaur published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse offers the option of three +1 increases which can make things much easier.
Rogue
Charge relies on Strength and rogues rely on Dexterity.
Sorcerer
Too frail to make charging work.
Warlock
I know what you’re thinking, but Hex Warrior does not work with your hoof since it’s not a weapon, and neither does Pact of the Blade. If that was allowed, a hexblade would absolutely work.
Wizard
Too frail to make charging work.
Centaur Classes (Classic Rules)
This section assumes that you’re not using the option “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything or the updated version of the race published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. If you are using those rules, scroll up to the previous section.
Artificer
No Intelligence increase. A level to pick up Booming Blade to use in conjunction with Charge may work in some builds, but it’s hard to build an artificer with poor Intelligence so your best option is usually a dip into artificer but to focus primarily on a different class.
Boots of the Winding Path look like a tempting option for the Centaur, but remember that activating them takes a Bonus Action so you can’t use it the same turn that your Charge.
Barbarian
The Strength increase, the extra speed, and Charge are spectacular for the Barbarian. Unfortunately you can’t start Rage and use the extra attack from Charge in one turn since they both require a Bonus Action, but if you want to spend the remaining 9 turns of your Rage charging around and hoofing people that would be an excellent use of your time. The extra attack gets you the number of attacks that you would get from two-weapon fighting while still allowing you to use a two-handed weapon for the rest of your attacks. You may need to consider the Mobile feat to remove Opportunity Attacks as a persistent problem for this strategy.
Bard
Nothing about the Centaur supports the Bard’s capabilities.
Cleric
A Wisdom increase is all that you really need, and the Strength increase is great for martial builds if you insist on using a weapon, but without Extra Attack you may find Charge unreliable because you only get one chance to trigger it each turn.
Druid
The Wisdom increase and the extra skill are all that the Druid really cares about. You may be better served by the Nature Cleric.
Fighter
Strength, 40 ft. speed, Fey creature type, and Charge all work very well for melee fighters. Charge is a great use for the Fighter’s typically under-used Bonus Action, and not being a Humanoid protects you from things like Hold Person which are often problems for fighters since you’re not proficient in Wisdom savimg throws and your Wisdom likely isn’t spectacular.
Monk
I love the idea of a centaur monk, but the ability scores and the other racial traits don’t work well enough to make it viable for anything except a foot race. Martial Arts also makes Charge totally redundant.
Paladin
The Centaur works for the Paladin for the same reasons that they work for the Barbarian and the Fighter. The additional attack from Charge offers an extra opportunity to deliver Divine Smite, especially if you manage to score a critical hit and can double the extra damage.
Ranger
Strength-based rangers are hard, but if you can make it work the Centaur would be a great option. The ability scores work, the extra skill fits thematically, and the extra speed and Charge are great on any melee build.
Rogue
Nothing about the Centaur supports the Rogue’s capabilities.
Sorcerer
No Charisma increase.
Warlock
No Charisma increase.
Wizard
No Intelligence increase.
Centaur Feats
Centaurs don’t have any racial feats. I mostly just want to call out Mobile.
ChargerPHB
You can already get a Bonus Action attack thanks to the Centaur’s Charge trait, and the damage bonus from the Charger feat only applies to the Bonus Action attack provided by the Charger feat. Basically the Charger feat and the Centaur are mutually exclusive, which is a shame because a centaur feels like the best possible user of the extremely niche Charger feat.
MobilePHB
If you can get additional +10 feet of speed from a class like the Barbarian or the Monk or from the spell Longstrider, Mobile makes abusing Charge very easy. You’ll also need Extra Attack, but you won’t be able to take this until 4th level, so you only need to wait 1 level before it pays off.
Start your turn in melee (hopefully you charged successfully on turn 1). Make an attack to trigger Mobile’s feature which prevents the creature from hitting your with Opportunity Attacks. Run 30 feet away, then immediately run 30 feet straight back. Make your second attack, which then triggers Charge, allowing you to make a hoof attack as a bonus action. Repeat every turn, provided that you have enough space.