What to do about the centaur?

[GreyBlack]

So I'm going to be running a new game and I've told everyone to go nuts on character creation, basically. Do whatever you want. I've also told them that they should expect a heavy Fey theme in the adventures (I'm building a lot on Slavic mythos with a "creatures of the forest against the forces of society" vibe).

That said... the one caveat I gave was that, while they could use any official source they wanted and as many of them as they wanted, they had to use the most recently published version (so, for example, you could play a Hexblade warlock, but you have to use the XGTE version and not the UA version).

One of my players wanted to play as a Centaur, which had been in the UA. That said, with the Centaur now being fey, I'm worried that the player will be at a SIGNIFICANT disadvantage (e.g. villages are protected by folk magic putting the town under the permanent effect of "Protection from Evil and Good" targeting fey, the people being even more untrusting of the Fey than other nonhuman races, etc.). Do I make an exception which I've made for literally no other character and allow an older version? Do I encourage the player to pick a different character concept/race? Do I just allow them to pick the race but remind them that in doing so they'll be at a significant disadvantage?

[Naanomi]

Either let them do it as is, or change the type but otherwise use the new centaur... either way should be fine

[Vogie]

You've got a couple potential outs.

Perhaps the player is not a natural Centaur, which would be a fey, but rather a human that pissed off a deity and was cursed to be a centaur, not unlike Hera transforming Lamia or Athena transforming Medusa into a monster.
Perhaps the reason Centaurs are fey is that they are, in fact, nature spirits. Maybe that actually provides some benefits that would counter the downsides you and the player are worried about.
Centaurs in general are fey, including that player, but they've gone through a process to make you not count as one. Maybe you have some sort of amulet, ring, or even horseshoes that make you count as a non-fey humanoid.


There are more suggestions in THIS similar thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573899-How-to-Work-Around-Being-Fey)

[JellyPooga]

Bear in mind that with the parameters you've set out for the game, this player may be expecting such issues to arise in play. Talk to them about it and find out the motivation behind wanting to play a Centaur in this game and move on from there. If you just change things to try and accomodate this player without talking to them you may be doing the equivalent of making Drow the good guys in your setting to try and accomodate a player who wants to play a bad guy character.

[GreyBlack]

Bear in mind that with the parameters you've set out for the game, this player may be expecting such issues to arise in play. Talk to them about it and find out the motivation behind wanting to play a Centaur in this game and move on from there. If you just change things to try and accomodate this player without talking to them you may be doing the equivalent of making Drow the good guys in your setting to try and accomodate a player who wants to play a bad guy character.

Really, the motivation seems to be more comedy than anything else. The concept seems to be "Wisconsin accent + centaur." Which, again, I'm fine with; the game I have designed is more or less an old fashioned hex crawl with a deep and engaging plot for the characters to interact with if they so choose. They think it'll be funny to walk around and have the horse parts poop everywhere while this old fashioned Wisconsin grandma type is always just sitting there saying, "Oh, gosh darn there it goes again. I'll get that, dearie, doncha know."

That said.... my setting is homebrew so all sorts of weirdness is possible. Dwarves keep Kobold slaves, the Elves are down to their last 200 surviving members, there's a neighboring orc society that prizes half-orcs because they had a half orc leader 700 years ago who basically founded their society, halflings are basically Arabic merchants who come from the desert, the gnomes are basically explorers and colonizers (and constantly at war with the lizardfolk, who are basically explorers and colonizers)... but that's all neither here nor there.

At this point, I just don't want the player to feel penalized for making a choice and feeling like they weren't warned about the repercussions. Like, one of my players wants to be a lawful good bugbear; he fully expects societies to reject him. I've made him fully aware that societies probably won't accept him, so he and I worked it into his backstory.

[NaughtyTiger]

Where is the centaur now a fey?
Did they update the UA or is there a new sourcebook that includes centaur?

[Naanomi]

Where is the centaur now a fey?
Did they update the UA or is there a new sourcebook that includes centaur?
Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica

[Prince Vine]

Really, the motivation seems to be more comedy than anything else. The concept seems to be "Wisconsin accent + centaur." Which, again, I'm fine with; the game I have designed is more or less an old fashioned hex crawl with a deep and engaging plot for the characters to interact with if they so choose. They think it'll be funny to walk around and have the horse parts poop everywhere while this old fashioned Wisconsin grandma type is always just sitting there saying, "Oh, gosh darn there it goes again. I'll get that, dearie, doncha know."

As someone from Wisconsin we tend to think of that as the Minnesotan or for some variants (Yooper) Upper Michigan accent. Of course I had a girlfriend from Colorado once say I had no accent whereas everyone else in the city did so I am not sure what that means (she later detected SOME accent but apparently not the Wisconsin one everyone else had. I blame the fact I lived in California, Maryland, Texas and Wisconsin by the time I was 5).

In fact my DM pulled the accent you describe to generally humorous effect recently for a prominent but ultimately minor NPC.

[hymer]

Really, the motivation seems to be more comedy than anything else. The concept seems to be "Wisconsin accent + centaur." Which, again, I'm fine with; the game I have designed is more or less an old fashioned hex crawl with a deep and engaging plot for the characters to interact with if they so choose. They think it'll be funny to walk around and have the horse parts poop everywhere while this old fashioned Wisconsin grandma type is always just sitting there saying, "Oh, gosh darn there it goes again. I'll get that, dearie, doncha know."

Well, in that case:
http://img12.deviantart.net/6474/i/2014/302/3/0/a_centaur_in_disguise_by_manweri-d2yvgs6.jpg

Other options: Don't explain it. Have him be free to enter towns and interact with people. No NPC thinks there's anything peculiar about it, and the folk magic doesn't affect him. You can play it for comedy, as a plot point, or just to see if anyone stops to think about it.
The centaur in question could own a magical item, which allows getting through folk magical barriers as long as he behaves nicely.
Centaurs in general could be fey, but still be an exception. They often act as go-betweens and try to balance nature vs. civilization.

[GreyBlack]

Well, in that case:
http://img12.deviantart.net/6474/i/2014/302/3/0/a_centaur_in_disguise_by_manweri-d2yvgs6.jpg

Other options: Don't explain it. Have him be free to enter towns and interact with people. No NPC thinks there's anything peculiar about it, and the folk magic doesn't affect him. You can play it for comedy, as a plot point, or just to see if anyone stops to think about it.
The centaur in question could own a magical item, which allows getting through folk magical barriers as long as he behaves nicely.
Centaurs in general could be fey, but still be an exception. They often act as go-betweens and try to balance nature vs. civilization.

I mean, I would, but......

The area in question is being terrorized by the spirits of the wood elves, a race that is functionally extinct at this time who lived in this region. The adventuring party who founded this region knew about these spirits and set up wards to protect their people from the more vengeful. Recently, a dragon moved into the area so the local townsfolk entered into an agreement with a local hag to keep them safe, delivering babies to said witch in exchange for their safety. That said, it doesn't mean that they WANT a hag to roam freely in the region and eat ALL of the babies, so they keep these wards in place to keep the fey out. Given the prevalence of all of the fey who both just want their homeland back for themselves (the aforementioned Fey spirits of the wood elves) and the actually malevolent forces like the hag, I can't see the people trusting a known fey.

Like I said. I have a plot. How much they feel like interacting with it is up to them. I totally expect them to just hear "Treasure in the woods? Let's go!"

[Man_Over_Game]

I'd keep them as Fey, having all the bad, but also implement an equal amount of good.

There's supposed to be this major conflict with the Fey, right? Maybe this Centaur is able to gather information about what's going on, being able to work on an armistice, or being able to get information from neutral Fey who don't want to be involved. Maybe there are illusions/portals/magic that affects most people but not Fey, maybe originating from a fungus or something.

Or just have them find an item that polymorphs them into a specific humanoid shape that only works once a day.

Conflict and problems are fine, as long as there's equal reward. Keep a tally of how much that Centaur player gets punished for their race. Once that tally reaches the number of players, make it so that everyone else is punished because they're not Fey.

[Tectorman]

You've got a couple potential outs.

Perhaps the player is not a natural Centaur, which would be a fey, but rather a human that pissed off a deity and was cursed to be a centaur, not unlike Hera transforming Lamia or Athena transforming Medusa into a monster.
Perhaps the reason Centaurs are fey is that they are, in fact, nature spirits. Maybe that actually provides some benefits that would counter the downsides you and the player are worried about.
Centaurs in general are fey, including that player, but they've gone through a process to make you not count as one. Maybe you have some sort of amulet, ring, or even horseshoes that make you count as a non-fey humanoid.


There are more suggestions in THIS similar thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573899-How-to-Work-Around-Being-Fey)

Speaking as the guy that started that thread, I have to say I was greatly disappointed at how little help it was, so I hope the OP finds it more helpful than I did. I mean, I get that I probably could have specified the premises under which I was asking the question, but I feel like no effort was made to address the point of the thread at all.

In the interest of thoroughness, I did have one other thought about how to mitigate being a Fey. Most of what hurts them by virtue of their creature type are spells. I didn't think of Dispel Magic or Counterspell, but those are also options (either having them or being friends with someone who does).

[Sigreid]

I would either warn the player what they are in for or just change the centaurs to monstrosities. Just because Ravena centaurs are medium Fey doesn't necessarily have to mean all centaur people are.