Centaur

Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

This page is about the obsolete player species. For the monster, see Centaur (monster). For a list of all monstrous centaurs, see List of centaurs.

The Centaurs are another species of hybrid creatures: horses with Human torsos. They usually live in forests, surviving by hunting. Centaurs can move very quickly on their four legs, and are excellent with bows and other missile weapons; they are also reasonable at fighting in general while being slow learners at specific weapon skills. They advance quite slowly in experience levels and are rather sub-par at using magic. Like Nagas, they receive reduced protection from the body armour they wear.

Innate Abilities

• Centaurs are hybrids, half-horse and half-man:
  • Deformed: Centaurs only gain half the base AC from body armour.
  • Centaurs can equip centaur bardings, but not boots.
  • Centaurs are large enough to attack normally while standing in shallow water (though they still move slowly through it).
  • Centaurs require less skill to use shields effectively than other medium-sized races.
• Tough Skin 3: Centaurs have extremely tough skin (AC +3).
• Hooves 3: Centaurs have a kick auxiliary attack. Hooves reduce stealth by -20 if you aren't flying.
• Fast 2: Centaurs cover ground very quickly during movement. (0.7 decaAut per tile, equal to 14.2 monster "speed"; slightly slower than monster centaurs).

Centaurs have a base Strength of 10, Intelligence of 7 and Dexterity of 4 (before background modifiers).

Preferred Backgrounds

• Warriors: Fighter, Gladiator, Hunter
• Warrior-mages: Warper, Arcane Marksman

Level Bonuses

• +1 strength or dexterity (equal chance) every 4th level.
• 10% more HP than average.
• 10% less MP than average.
• +3 magic resistance per level.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Centaurs start with the skills and equipment listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

Due to their combination of high HP and fast movement speed, Centaurs are a very powerful and forgiving species. Speed allows Centuars to kite most targets, disengage from many bad engagements, reposition favorably, and avoid being surrounded. High HP, especially when compared to other fast species (Spriggans and Felids), means that you're less likely to die from orc priests and the like. They have an amazing Bows aptitude, but any sort of ranged attack can work well too.

Centaurs are not without their problems - poor defensive aptitudes, low stealth, Deformed mutation - but the benefits far outweigh the cons. The innate +3 AC from Tough Skin counteracts Deformed; Centaurs only get a net AC loss when wearing heavy armours. Plus, centaurs can wear centaur bardings, which give more AC than boots (once you find one).

They are considered "Intermediate" because it's considered difficult for a completely new player to understand Crawl's speed system (and take advantage of kiting) from scratch. It's not because they are weak; Centaurs are one of the strongest overall species, arguably easier than "Simple" species like Draconian and Ghoul.

Skill aptitudes

Values are from the most recent version that had both the species and the skill:

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	0	Armour	-3	Spellcasting	-3
Short Blades	-1	Dodging	-3	Conjurations	-1
Long Blades	-1	Stealth	-4	Hexes	-1
Maces & Flails	-1	Shields	-3	Charms	-1
Axes	-1	Stabbing	-3	Summonings	-1
Polearms	-1	Traps	-2	Necromancy	-1
Staves	-1			Translocations	-1
Unarmed Combat	0	Invocations	1	Transmutations	-1
		Evocations	-1
Throwing	1	Shapeshifting	N/A	Fire Magic	-1
Ranged Weapons	N/A			Ice Magic	-1
Slings	1	Experience	-1	Air Magic	-1
Bows	3			Earth Magic	-1
Crossbows	1			Poison Magic	-2
				Alchemy	N/A

Trivia

Centaurs are originally creatures from Greek mythology.

History

• Playable centaurs were removed in 0.26.
• Prior to 0.15, centaurs were Herbivorous, gaining more nutrition from vegetarian foods and less from meat-based foods. They also had Fast Metabolism 1, causing them to hunger more quickly. As a result, they started with one more bread ration than most species.