Description: The Centaur are known as the illegitimate children of Cenarius - the offspring of an
unholy union between Zaetar, a Keeper of the Grove, and the grotesque giant Earth Princess Theradras. These savage creatures war with each other, as well as other sapient races - in particular, driving the Tauren from
their original homelands.
Appearance: Centaurs are hybrid creatures, possessing the lower body of a horse, but, where the head
of a horse should be, instead there is a humanoid torso, head and arms, with pointed and almost horse-like
ears and disproportionately large fists on the males. Male elders eventually grow tusks. Most centaurs
practice the art of body painting over their humanoid torsos and lower horse bodies.
Clothing on male centaurs is minimal (and optional), usually limited to studded leather bands about the
wrists and waist. Female centaurs are more modest, wearing cloth on their upper bodies, and hiding their
faces with veils, using dyed feathers as ornamentation.
Adult male centaur grow to about 7 feet in height, and weigh around 2100 lbs. The females grow to nearly the
same height, but weigh in slightly less at around 1900 lbs.
Region: Centaurs inhabit the central areas of Kalimdor - most notably the Barrens, Mulgore, Durotar, the
Thousand Needles, and Desolace. These consist of five primary tribes, each tribe descended from one of the
Five Khans - the first sons of Zaetar, and the first leaders of the centaur people. The Kolkar are found in
the Barrens, Durotar and Desolace. The Maraudine, Magram and Gelkis are found only in Desolace. The Galak
are the only living centaur tribe driven entirely out of Desolace, as they are only found in Mulgore and the
Thousand Needles.
There are tales of a sixth tribe of centaurs that was once found in the Eastern Kingdom,
that survived the initial onslaught of the Scourge in the Third War, only to be eradicated by the Blackrock
Clan. However, if such tales are true (and Blackrock Spire is full of centaur skin rugs supposedly from this
tribe), it is unclear whether they might be an offshoot of one of the original Five Tribes (somehow separated
from Kalimdor), or whether they are, indeed, a sixth tribe. The surviving centaurs of Kalimdor confess no
knowledge of such a tribe, should it exist (and consider the very idea sacriledge, since it conflicts with
their traditional stories).
Affiliation: Alliance or Neutral. The Alliance has attempted to establish treaties with the Gelkis
and Magram tribes in Desolace, though for duplicitous purposes - pitting one tribe against the other in an
attempt to keep the centaur tribes in the region from growing into too strong of a force. (The Horde has
attempted to reach the same ends - but by the more direct method of just killing all the centaur. The fact
that the centaur drove the tauren from their lands - and that they consider tauren steaks as a delicacy -
doesn't prompt much consideration from the Horde.)
Some members of the Gelkis and Magram tribes have signed on with the Alliance as scouts and outriders - though
the Alliance has to take care never to assign centaurs from warring tribes to work together. These centaurs
are also required to put aside some of their more barbaric practices (such as the eating of the flesh of
sapient beings - particularly tauren).
There is also a small but growing band of centaurs in Desolace known as the Outcasts, who follow a lone
centaur prophet known only as "The Pariah". The Pariah wields a powerful amulet bearing holy gems associated
with the Five Khans, and preaches a message of unification and turning away from barbaric ways, in order to
reclaim the glory of the centaur's ancient past. (Indeed, the sophisticated stonework of Maraudon - with its
perfectly engineered, sliding stone doors and lifelike centaur statues - suggests that the centaur race was
once possessed of more civility and order.) It is said that a band of adventurers - drawn from the Alliance
as well as the Horde - quested into Maraudon to retrieve the amulet and its five gems for this centaur.
Accordingly, the Outcasts are affiliated neither with the Horde, nor the Alliance; currently, they are little
more than a wandering centaur caravan that stays in the vicinity of Maraudon, despite the attempts of the
Maraudine Tribe to drive them away.
Faith: The centaurs do not have any organized religion, as such, but most of their ritual practices
revolve around their origins - as children of Zaetar and Theradras. Zaetar's own children slew him, and
Theradras buried his body within the caverns beneath Maraudon. Many centaur rituals re-tell the stories of
the origins of the centaurs, and of the bloody exploits of the First Khans - who are venerated to nearly
god-like status. The exact practices - and versions of these stories - vary greatly.
Names: Centaurs traditionally take names of a venerated ancestor. (As to how these ancestors got
their names, no one thinks to ask. The original meanings of these names have been lost to history,
but they seem to be corruptions of Darnassian.) Surnames are rarely taken; the tribe name or a title serves
this purpose if necessary.
- Male Names: Achellios, Barak, Hezrul, Uthek, Verog.
- Female Names: Silverfang, Darkhide, Longclaw, Bloodeye, Moonscalp, Deathhowl.
- Tribal Names: Galak, Gelkis, Kolkar, Magram, Maraudine, Outcast.
Centaur Racial Traits
- Strength +4, Intellect -4, Charisma -4.
- Monstrous Humanoid: Centaurs are Monstrous Humanoids.
- Large: As Large creatures, centaurs have a -1 size penalty to hit and to AC, a -4 size penalty to
Stealth attempts to hide, and a +4 size bonus to Grapple checks.
Centaurs occupy a 5-foot by 10-foot space in combat, but only have a 5-foot reach.
- Quadruped: As Large and quadrupedal creatures, centaurs have three times the carrying capacity as a Medium
character with the same Strength rating.
- Equipment Considerations: Although centaurs are large creatures, their upper torsos are actually
proportional to that of a medium-sized humanoid. That means that a centaur can wear head, shoulder, neck,
chest, wrist, hand and waist items sized for a medium creature. A centaur can wear robes and vestments, but
cannot wear a suit of armor fashioned for a medium-sized humanoid (since a centaur has a very different
lower body). A centaur uses weapons scaled for a medium-sized creature even though it is technically a
large creature. Full armor for a centaur costs five times the amount the same type of armor could cost for
a medium-sized humanoid creature, and weighs three times as much. Centaurs can't wear magic boots; they
can wear horseshoes, however.
- Centaur base land speed is 50 feet.
- Natural Weapons: When making a full attack, a centaur may make its regular attacks with a melee weapon,
and then make two hoof attacks. These attacks use the centaur's base attack -4 to hit, and do 1d6 points of
bludgeoning damage, with only half Strength bonus (rounded down) applied to damage.
- Centaurs have a -10 circumstance penalty to Climb checks, and may not make Ride checks.
- Mounted Combat: A centaur qualifies for the feats of Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge and Trample, as if
the centaur had the Mounted Combat feat, and as if the centaur were "mounted" for purposes of performing
these feats.
- Automatic Languages: Common and Low Common.
- Bonus Languages: Darnassian, Goblin, Orcish, Taur-ahe. Those few centaur that bother to learn additional
languages are most likely to pick up the tongues of the other major civilizations in Kalimdor.
- Favored Class: Barbarian (male) or healer (female). A multiclass centaur's favored class does not count
when determining whether he suffers an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
