Young centaurs?

[Kd7sov]

In the adventure I'm currently building, I find I want to include a young centaur NPC. This would normally not be worth coming to you about, except that on one of the major paths I'm planning for this adventure, he'll briefly be fighting the party, so I feel I ought to have some idea of his stats. Unfortunately, the books have nothing about playing younger versions of most of the MM creatures.

The character in question will probably be somewhere equivalent to his mid-teens, all gangly and awkward and, as it were, coltish. Problem is, I have no idea how to represent that stats-wise. It's occurred to me to knock his HD and damage dice down to the next smaller die, but that doesn't quite feel like enough. Any suggestions?

[Segev]

Many "adult" adventurers are mid-teens; just play him up that way and use the basic stats.

[Ninja_Prawn]

As well as taking off a few of the hit dice, I'd probably knock some of the ability scores down a bit, especially physical ones and wisdom. Swap the pike for a spear, reduce the hooves to 1d10.

That's probably going to take him down to CR 1 or even lower, so he won't be much of a threat to the party, even if they're low level themselves...

[Wymmerdann]

Given the lack of lumbar and neck support infant human skeletons have, and the extremely young age at which horses are able to achieve full mobility, all young centaurs should be suffering, at the minimum, extreme cases of shaken-baby syndrome.

[hymer]

You could use the stats of a half-ogre. All its ability scores are equal to or worse than centaur, and it's one CR-level lower. You may want to add in stats for using whatever weapon(s) the centaur is supposed to use. The players are unlikely to notice.

[Ninja_Prawn]

You could use the stats of a half-ogre. All its ability scores are equal to or worse than centaur, and it's one CR-level lower. You may want to add in stats for using whatever weapon(s) the centaur is supposed to use. The players are unlikely to notice.

PC: "...and this is our centaur friend, Billy."
NPC: "He doesn't look much like a centaur... what makes you think he is?"
PC: "I dunno. He seemed to be hitting things approximately as hard as a centaur would."
NPC: "But aren't centaurs supposed to have four legs?"
PC: *shrug*

[hymer]

PC: "...and this is our centaur friend, Billy."
NPC: "He doesn't look much like a centaur... what makes you think he is?"
PC: "I dunno. He seemed to be hitting things approximately as hard as a centaur would."
NPC: "But aren't centaurs supposed to have four legs?"
PC: *shrug*

Just in case you're serious, I'm talking about using the stats. Not the physical description. :smalltongue:

[Kd7sov]

You could use the stats of a half-ogre. All its ability scores are equal to or worse than centaur, and it's one CR-level lower. You may want to add in stats for using whatever weapon(s) the centaur is supposed to use. The players are unlikely to notice.

Ooh, I like this solution. I may rearrange the ability scores a bit to better fit my thoughts about what it is to grow up a centaur, but that definitely looks like a good idea. Thank you!

[DragonBaneDM]

PC: "...and this is our centaur friend, Billy."
NPC: "He doesn't look much like a centaur... what makes you think he is?"
PC: "I dunno. He seemed to be hitting things approximately as hard as a centaur would."
NPC: "But aren't centaurs supposed to have four legs?"
PC: *shrug*

"Troll in the Playground"

[gfishfunk]

PC: "...and this is our centaur friend, Billy."
NPC: "He doesn't look much like a centaur... what makes you think he is?"
PC: "I dunno. He seemed to be hitting things approximately as hard as a centaur would."
NPC: "But aren't centaurs supposed to have four legs?"
PC: *shrug*

"Its a gestational state. You can see his back legs coming in if you look close."

"D-Dad! Stop it! You're embarrassing me!"

[Segev]

"Its a gestational state. You can see his back legs coming in if you look close."

"D-Dad! Stop it! You're embarrassing me!"

So he's a half-centaur. The front half, specifically. :P

[hymer]

So he's a half-centaur. The front half, specifically. :P

I suggest you use the satyr for that, and never even think about how it came about.

[Segev]

I suggest you use the satyr for that, and never even think about how it came about.

I'm sure the story about how it came to be is full of satyrical farce.

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Troll in the Playground"

^_^

I wish there was a way to freeze that in place - or maybe have the option to go back and pick from any title you've previously 'unlocked'.

[rlc]

I suggest you use the satyr for that, and never even think about how it came about.

Well, there was that one mortal kombat game...