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Many creatures in Dungeons & Dragons come from classic fantasy media, and just like dwarves and elves, few things are as core to these fantasy settings as centaurs. With the upper half of a human and the bottom half of a horse, these equine defenders of the forests have fascinated players for years.
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As such, you will likely be tempted to include them in your setting, but there are quite a few things to consider with them, particularly when it comes to your players. Here, we will cover the centaurs, the role they can play in your campaign and how they can work as a playable species.
Using Centaurs As NPCs In Your D&D Campaign
Centaurs are fey creatures, and they are easier to add to any setting when using that to your advantage. They tend to be protectors of nature, and as neutral good characters, they will live and let live as long as the party (or some other force) doesn’t become a threat to their environment.
Centaur Lore & Society
Dungeon Masters will often create their lore for the creatures that inhabit their world, but one book that offers plenty of ideas about centaurs is Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. Not only are different tribes of centaurs described there, but also examples of names and hairstyles.
The main takeaway is that centaurs often settle in forests, taking only what nature can give, and are led by their elders. These elders are often druids, guiding the young in the protection of nature and organizing hunts for monstrosities that might threaten the balance.
Classical centaurs have a lot in common with wood elves, letting you make a varied community by combining the two different creatures.
Centaurs can also be nomadic, traveling with the change of the seasons to greener pastures. This is ideal if you are keeping a calendar for your campaign, or if you need a reason as to why the players can no longer find the helpful herd where they once were.
As fey creatures, centaurs are likely to live in the Feywild or in forests that connect the Feywild with the Material Plane. They often trade goods for other goods, since they have little use for gold, although you can have them accept any currency depending on your setting.
Centaurs In Large Cities
You may like the idea of having centaurs in your setting, but not as the classical defenders of the forests. Since Dungeons & Dragons already allows many different species to live and thrive with one another, centaurs don’t need to be any different, although their body structure is something to keep in mind.
While centaurs have room on their horse back to let players ride them, they rarely agree to it unless it is an emergency.
It makes little sense, after all, for centaurs to go to cramped bars where they can barely move, so they would need buildings to accommodate their size. It is better to keep centaurs outside the city or on the outskirts of it, where they can often be seen by players, but no questions will arise about the logistics of them there.
Centaur Encounters & Combat Strategies
The classic centaur from the 2014 Monster Manual is a CR two creature that relies on charge attacks to be a real threat. Using them to their maximum potential means adding ways for the centaur to be able to charge every turn, something hard to achieve beyond wasting turns or combining them with terrain-controlling creatures.
They have been upgraded in the 2025 Monster Manual into the centaur trooper, a version of the centaur that can’t attack with its hooves but has a new deadly bonus action: the Trampling Charge. This action lets them move up to their speed without provoking opportunity attacks and forces a Strength saving throw on each creature it charges through, dealing damage and knocking them prone on a failed save.
To balance this, the charge is a recharge action, meaning the centaur trooper can’t use it every single turn. This makes them easier to use for inexperienced Dungeon Masters: just use Trampling Charge each time it is available, and more often than not the battle will balance itself.
The 2025 Monster Manual also adds a new CR seven centaur, the centaur warden, perfect for leading packs of centaur troopers against any who would defy nature. While they have different damage types, they function just like the troopers, with a mix of melee and ranged attacks as well as a rechargeable bonus action charge.
Unless players are too antagonistic, centaurs will rarely launch the first attack. A few warning arrow shots from the troopers should be enough to get their attention, with the warden being explicit as to what the players did wrong, and what they might do to earn their trust.
Centaurs As A Playable Species
The most up-to-date playable version of centaurs can be found in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse, but all sources tend to agree on how to make a centaur valid as a playable creature. There is a focus on the equine build, and how that facilitates as well as hinders your exploration of the world.
- Size: Your size is medium, unlike the large classification of the other centaurs. This slender build permits the player to interact with the world as any other species would, although you still can’t use a chair.
- Hooves: Your hooves are natural weapons that deal damage equal to 1D4 plus your Strength modifier, and if you make a charge attack, you can make an additional attack with your hooves as a bonus action.
- Equine Build: You count as large when it comes to pushing, pulling, or carrying something. Your horse legs give you a speed of 40 feet, but they make it extra difficult for you to climb surfaces, although not impossible.
These features make centaurs a perfectly viable species without them being too limiting or too overpowered. If the party ends up meeting the larger centaurs, the cleanest solution is to make them medium as well, without needing to change much else from their stat block.
Centaur Players And Mounts
Even if the party meets a friendly gargantuan dragon that wants to take them somewhere, a centaur player will have trouble riding on its back; the dragon will need to grab them with its claws. This is a problem that persists at all levels of play, so consider this if you’re thinking of allowing a player to be a centaur or if you’re thinking of playing one yourself.
In the lower tiers of play, the centaur playable species has a decent 40 feet of movement, just like a draft horse. However, if the party gains access to riding or warhorses, their speed of 60 feet would leave the centaur lagging behind.
At higher tiers of play, the centaur wouldn’t be able to ride a celestial pegasus that would carry the party to the final battle, for example. You can always use other narrative devices, like larger aircrafts or the like, but your story will always be limited due to having a centaur in the party.
Best Classes For Centaurs
Ideally, you’ll be using the 2024 Player’s Handbook when creating your character, which ties your starting Ability Scores with your background instead of your species. As such, any class can work well as a centaur, from front-liners to backline spellcasters.
Whether you are using the 2024 or 2014 rules, being a barbarian will remove a lot of problems when it comes to equipment. Their unarmored defense lets you bypass the headache of trying to find armor for your whole body, while their focus on Strength makes your hooves shine.
Another ideal choice is druid, not only for flavor but for its functionality. No matter your subclass, being at least a level two druid gives you access to Wild Shape, letting you turn into all sorts of animals that can easily access places that you cannot.
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