Bariaur | New Race for Fifth Edition (Patreon)

Native to the rolling hills and woods of Ysgard, the centaur-like bariaurs wander the lands in search of evil. When a vile foe is located, the bariaurs charge into glorious battle. 

Personality: To those unfamiliar with them, bariaurs appear carefree or even irresponsible, but this behavior is merely the outward sign of their wanderlust. They rarely remain in one place for long, preferring a life of travel to sedentary existence. When evil rears its ugly head, this carefree demeanor disappears, replaced by single-minded pursuit of that which endangers good folk of the area. 

Physical Description: A bariaur resembles a centaur. Its lower body is that of a ram, with sleek brown or golden fur and cloven hooves. Its upper body is humanlike, powerfully muscled and sporting a pair of ramlike horns atop its head. The skin of a bariaur ranges in color from pale tan to deep nut-brown. 

Relations: Bariaurs are social and outgoing, though not foolishly trusting. They get along well with elves, gnomes, halflings, and wil dren, as well as aasimars who aren’t too strict in their outlook. They grudgingly accept dwarves as allies against evil. Halfbreeds, such as halfelves and half-orcs, are objects of curiosity to bariaurs. They are moderately suspicious of races with heritages tied to planes of evil or shadow, including tieflings and shadowswyfts, but they prefer to take a positive outlook about individuals until proven wrong.

Bariaur Names

A bariaur’s name is given to him by his parents. It is usually a simple, one- or two-syllable name (the easier to be shouted across the hills of Ysgard). Within the flock, he denotes his parentage by adding “buck of” his father’s name (or “doe of” the mother’s name, if female); outside the flock, he relies instead on a fl ock name to indicate the extended family to which he belongs. Flock names typically describe the environments favored by the fl ock, and can change over time. 

Male Names: Bex, Hul, Jek, Menok, Ril, Wyk

Female Names: Daeth, Hysh, Saph, Tyth, Vash

Flock Names: Cloverfield, Dalewatcher, Hillwalker, Woodstrider

Bariaur Traits

As a bariaur, you share the following traits with other bauriars.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age.  The average bariaur reaches adulthood at about the same age as a human, and the eldest members of the race live to well over 200 years of age.  

Alignment.  As creatures who value freedom, most bariaurs are chaotic good in alignment. Some more settled bariaurs tend toward neutrality in their approach to good, while a few stray from pure good toward neutrality. Evil bariaurs are extremely rare and always shunned from the flock. 

Size. Bariaurs stand a foot taller than the average human.  The typical male weighs nearly 300 pounds, with females about 40 pounds lighter.  Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.

Darkvision. Accustomed to the dark corners of the multiverse, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Sure-Footed. As a quadraped, you have advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock you prone.

Horns. You have a pair of thick ram-like horns which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 plus your Strength modifier, instead of the normal bludgeoning damage for an unarmed strike.

Charge. If you take the Dash action on your turn, you can use your bonus action to make a horns attack. If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before taking this bonus action, you may add an additional 1d6 bonus damage to the attack's damage roll.

Bariaur Stubbornness. You have advantage on Wisdom saving throws against magic.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice. Bauriars typically learn the languages of the denizens of the outer planes such as Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal.

Art and flavor text by Wizards of the Coast.