Centaurs

Centaur (22 RP)
Legendary hunters and skilled warriors, centaurs are part man and part horse. Typically found on the fringes of civilization, these stoic people vary widely in appearance, their skin tones typically appearing deeply tanned but similar to the humans who occupy nearby regions, while their lower bodies borrow the colorations of local equines. Centaur hair and eyes trend toward darker colors and their features tend to be broad, while the overall bulk of their bodies is influenced by the size of the horses their lower quarters resemble. Thus, while an average centaur stands over 7 feet tall and weights upward of 2,000 pounds, there are vast regional variations—from lean plains-runners to burly mountain hunters. Centaurs typically live to be about 60 years old.

Aloof with other races and at odds even with their own kind, the centaurs are an old race only slowly coming to accept the modern world. While the majority of centaurs still live in tribes roaming vast plains or the fringes of eldritch forests, many have abandoned the isolationist ways of their ancestors to walk among the more cosmopolitan cities of the world. Often such free-spirited centaurs are considered outcasts and are shunned by their own tribes, making the decision to leave a heavy one. In some rare cases, however, whole tribes under progressive leaders have come to trade or make alliances with other humanoid communities—typically elves, but sometimes gnomes, and rarely humans or dwarves. Many races remain wary of centaurs, though, largely due to legends of territorial beastmen and the regular, violent encounters the centaurs have with stubborn settlers and expansionist countries.*

(* source: d20pfsrd)

Standard Racial Traits

 * Ability Score: Flexible (2 RP), Centaurs gain a +2 bonus to any two ability scores at creation.
 * Type: Monstrous Humanoid
 * Size: Large (long) (7 RP)
 * Base Speed: 40 feet (2 RP)
 * Languages: Centaurs begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. Centaurs with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Giant, Gnoll, Elven, Taiyang, Snow Elf, and Goblin. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Feat and Skill Racial Traits

 * Saddle Born: (2 RP) Creatures one size category smaller than a Centaur may ride on the Centaur's back just like a horse of comparable size. Unlike trained horses, however, the Centaur has full control over its own movement unless acquiesced to the rider.
 * Unwanted Rider: (0 RP) If a creature attempts to ride a Centaur without the Centaur's consent, they must make a Combat Maneuver Check against the Centaur to grapple them. If successful, the rider gains the Grappled condition and is mounted on the Centaur, but may not control the Centaur's movement. The Centaur does not gain the Grappled condition from an unwanted rider, unless the rider makes an additional Combat Maneuver Check to grapple the upper body of the Centaur at a +2 circumstance bonus. The rider may not Move or Pin the Centaur while riding on the Centaur's back, even if they have maintained the grapple on the upper body.
 * Stand On Your Own Hooves: (-1 RP) Centaurs do not do well when traveling by means other than their own four hooves. Centaurs take a –2 penalty to all Fly and Ride checks.

Defensive Racial Traits

 * Natural Armor: (4 RP) Centaurs tough skin give them a +2 Natural Armor bonus to their AC.

Offensive Racial Traits

 * Weapon Restrictions: (-1 RP) Centaurs use weapons one size category smaller than their full size.
 * For example, a large size category Centaur uses medium sized weapons. Changing in the Centaur's size changes the weapon proportionally.
 * Sweeping Wind: (4 RP) Centaurs gain an additional +2 Racial Bonus to Attack and Damage rolls when making Charge Attacks, as well as a +2 Racial Bonus to Bullrush, Overrun, and Drag Combat Maneuvers.

Senses Racial Traits

 * Low-Light Vision: (1 RP) Centaurs can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Other Racial Traits

 * Quadruped: (2 RP) Centaurs have four legs.

History and Ecology:
Hailing from the wide open planes of Kholecha's eastern provinces, Centaurs had made the expansive landscape their home for eons, with archaeological evidence dating Centaur cultures living near the Grave Coast as far back as 20,000 BPW.

The herds and tribes of the Centaur people thrived in these lands until the arrival of The Bukka, who's anti-monsterous policies pushed out nearly all of the continent's monstrous humanoid populations. The Centaurs were driven out to the far north to the icy tundra beyond the mountains. There their numbers dwindled and their culture stagnated, with most, if not all of their past heritage being lost into ancient memory and half remembered oral traditions.

In the far flung frozen wastes, the Centaurs would come to know of Fey living around their small settlements. With millennia of living away from their home and around the fey, their original language has been completely forgotten, replaced by Sylvan as a lingua franca. Yet with the loss of their history, they still remember their homeland, and yearned to return to the verdant fields once more.

The Centaur race would get their chance after the Planar War with the collapse of the Bukka civilization. Word of the Bukka's mass exodus spread to the mountains, and soon the remaining herds made their trek back to their homeland.

For nearly 6000 years the Centaur tribes would thrive and grow, spreading from the Grave Coast to as far west as The Whispering River (what is now modern day Shuò càn Castle). Tribes would sometimes compete with Human and Elf settlements now and then, but the Monstrous race would strike a delicate balance to avoid civilized hubs.

However, the tribulations of the Centaur people would not be over, for in the year 6008 APW the Taiyang Empire would invade Kholecha. With the Gold Elves technological edge over the more primitive Centaur tribes, the elves carved an almost unresistant path of destruction through the herds' territories.

Now the once proud and noble Centaur tribes are little more than bands of raiders, hiding on the fringes of society in ramshackle villages, and waging guerrilla skirmishes against the Taiyang's territories in Kholecha. In an ironic historical twist, the Centaur now find themselves in an unspoken alliance with the modern day Goblins who also attack Kholechan settlements.

While the Centaur tribal leaders would never openly admit to working with the malformed, backwards descendants of the Bukka; Kholechan witnesses have reported Centaur raids will sometimes coincide with arrival of goblin warbands or thief parties. Whether these combined attacks are planned between the races or simply the two groups sharing the same goals and acting opportunistically is up for debate.

Centaurs and goblins, to this day, do not get along face to face, and rarely will work together. Yet the shared common enemy of the Taiyang's constant push for more living space has forged an unusual coexistence with their once hated foe.