Bariaur

The forgotten member of the original Planescape trinity.

Bariaurs are a playable race from Planescape, first introduced to the D&D scene back in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition. They were one of the three playable races introduced in A Player's Guide to the Planes, the Player's Handbook of Planescape, alongside the Githzerai and the Tieflings.

Bariaurs are a planar race hailing from Ysgard, an Upper Plane that lies on the border between the Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral planes. They resemble centaurs, though smaller, with the body of a large mountain goat or a bighorn sheep - the books cannot seem to keep which it is straight, because they insist on referring to males as "rams" and females as "ewes", even though they are outright stated as resembling a "goat". Males of the race, and a tiny minority of females, have long curling ram horns growing from their foreheads, which give them a natural weapon attack. They are best known for being very vain, always fussing over their appearance, and for their strong racial wanderlust. Also, despite their obvious resemblance to centaurs, they consider being compared to them insulting.

Bariaurs exhibit sexual dimorphism in their stats, with different ability scores and racial abilities for both genders. Males get +1 Strength and Constitution, -1 Wisdom and Dexterity, the ability to headbutt for 1D8 + Str bonus damage, a charge attack, and the ability to be fighters, rangers, paladins or priests. Females get +1 Wisdom and Intelligence, -1 Strength and Dexterity, +2 bonus to surprise rolls against ambushers that "make noise or have smells", +3 to saving throws vs. spells, and the ability to be fighters, priests or wizards.

That said, it's not unheard of for female bariaur to be born with horns, or male bariaurs to be born hornless, but these are huge upsets in their very gender-stratified culture; most of these poor souls, who happen in 1 out of 20 births, are drowned at birth. There's no real rules for playing a horned doe, but the Bariaur Book of Belief introduced the Payira, a secret order of hornless bariaur bucks who pursue the path of the mage, which normally is forbidden to their gender. Aside from a kit to further distinguish their order's special affinity for the Wild Mage, though, there's no clear rules on how they statistically differ from normal bariaur bucks (beyond the obvious loss of the headbutt and charge attack).

Bariaurs have never been very popular amongst the fans; even the Aasimar were more popular, despite not originally being one of the Planescape PC options. They were forgotten about for most of 3.x edition, although they did appear in several 3e sources - the Manual of the Planes, the Planar Handbook, and the Book of Exalted Deeds, as well as a Creature Class write-up in Dragon Magazine #312. They never made the transition to 4th edition, and have yet to be seen in 5th edition (though it's likely they'll make an appearance in the 5e Planescape book that got announced for ~Fall 2023).

There are two semi-official netbooks that expand upon the Bariaur; The Complete Book of Bariaur, which is a huge expansion on their culture, classes, characters, etc, and The Bariaur Book of Belief, which covers bariaur rituals, legends, religious rites and more, serving as a sourcebook for bariaur wizards and clerics. Currently, however, the only place you can find these is on Scribd:

• http://www.scribd.com/doc/48456344/Ps-the-Complete-Book-of-Bariaur
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/48456253/bariaur-book-of-belief

Male Bariaur PC Stats

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 10/18, Dexterity 3/18, Constitution 11/18, Intelligence 3/18, Wisdom 3/17, Charisma 3/18

Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity, -1 Wisdom

Class & Level Limits: Fighter 13, Cleric 13, Druid 13, Ranger 13, Paladin 13

Movement 15

Infravision 60 feet

A male bariaur can make a headbutt attack that inflicts 1d8 + Str bonus damage.

By moving at least 30 feet beforehand, a male bariaur can make a charge attack; this is a headbutt attack that triples its damage, but which forces the bariaur to make a save vs. breath weapon, taking damage equal to its opponent if it fails the save. Medium or smaller creatures hit by a bariaur's charge attack have a 50% chance to be knocked to the ground.

Female Bariaur PC Stats

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/18, Dexterity 3/17, Constitution 5/18, Intelligence 9/18, Wisdom 11/18, Charisma 3/18

Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -1 Strength, -1 Dexterity

Class & Level Limits: Fighter 13, Cleric 13, Druid 13, Wizard 13

Movement 15

Infravision 60 feet

+2 to all surprise rolls

+3 to saving throws vs. spell

3e PC Stats

Bariaurs got two very different sets of PC stats in Third Edition. One set was given in the Book of Exalted Deeds, and the other was given in the Planar Handbook.

BoED stats:

• Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar, Good)
• +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma
• Large size
• Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet
• Base land speed is 40 feet. Its speed drops to 30 feet when wearing medium or heavy armor
• Quadruped: As quadrupeds, bariaurs gain a +4 bonus on checks to resist bull rush and trip attacks. They have a carrying capacity 1 1/2 times greater than normal for their Strength. They must wear barding instead of normal armor and cannot wear boots designed for humanoids.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• Racial Hit Dice: A bariaur begins with three levels of Outsider, which provide:

3d8 Hit Dice

Base attack bonus of +3

Base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +3, and Will +3.

Skill points equal to 6 × (8 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Handle Animal, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival

Two feats

• +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks
• Automatic Languages: Celestial and Common
• Favored Class: Ranger.
• Level adjustment +2.

Planar Handbook stats:

• Outsider (Extraplanar)
• +2 Strength, -2 Charisma
• Medium size
• Base land speed is 40 feet
• Darkvision out to 60 feet
• Quadruped: As quadrupeds, bariaurs have a +4 bonus on checks to resist bull rush and trip attacks. They have a carrying capacity 1-1/2 times greater than normal for their Strength. They must wear barding instead of normal armor and cannot wear boots designed for humanoids.
• Powerful Charge: A charging bariaur can make a single ram attack that deals bludgeoning damage equal to 2d6 + 1-1/2 times the bariaur's Str modifier.
• Spell Resistance: Bariaurs have spell resistance equal to 11 + class level.
• +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities
• +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks.
• Automatic Languages: Celestial, Common. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Infernal
• Favored Class: Ranger.
• Level Adjustment: +1.

Gallery

• 

  Pre-Planescape

• 
• 
• 
• 

See Also

• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races