Tauric Creature choices?

[CyberThread]

What would be good Tauric choices, that are powerful, but do not get the bookshelf thrown at me?

[thefirecrack3r]

I liked Large Scorpion. Good STR and natural armor, and can be paired with more intelligent creatures for a well rounded character. Just me though. Also you get 2 claws and a stinger, in addition to whatever weapons you use. Its cool conceptually too ya know?

[Vaz]

Lammasu gets Cleric 8 casting for ECL10 IIRC, as well as fly, pounce, rake,and some fairly beastly physical stats.

[herrhauptmann]

I've heard that elf/deer works well (was a low OP game I think).

Is this for a mounted charger that is their own mount?
In that case, I usually go for Bariaur (manual of the planes and BoED both have versions of the bariaur). Skipping the tauric template entirely often relaxes the DM.