Charge into the fray with this quick and aggressive species from D&D Beyond Drops.
D&D Beyond Drops has blessed us with another new species in the form of the celestial Bariaur. Like a centaur, but with the lower half of a sheep, Bariaurs like a fight using their heightened speed to close the gap between them and their enemies, their ram to knock foes down and a sturdy stance to avoid being knocked over themselves.
This is our 2nd species from D&D Beyond Drops following the Duskling and seems to be WOTC’s opportunity to bring in species that don’t quite fit into other book releases. In fact, with the Duskling, the Bariaur is also the 2nd species to be revived from 3.5e.
In my analysis below, I’ve rated the species as a whole and its traits as well as identifying which classes fit best for a Bariaur build.
Is a Bariaur the right species for me?
Choose a Bariaur if you want…
- A higher movement speed
- Improved unarmed strikes
- To avoid being knocked prone as much
A Bariaur might not be for you if…
- You’re no good at unarmed strikes
- Don’t need a high movement speed
- Prefer walking on 2 legs
Bariaur traits
| Creature Type | Celestial |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 35ft |
| Traits | Darkvision, ram, stable stance, wanderer’s instinct |
| Resistances | Prone |
| Proficiencies | Animal handling, arcana, nature or survival |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | D&D Beyond Drops |
Darkvision – 3/5
Always a useful option for seeing in dark places.
Ram – 5/5
Great for hit and run specialists who want to hit and then push the enemy away so they can easily move away. They will also need to have great unarmed strikes too which nicely fits the bill of a monk who won’t need to use patient defense to move away and can instead focus on something like flurry of blows. A dance bard might do alright here, but the DC of the shove will be based on their strength which is likely to be poor.
Alternatively, prone is also great for getting advantage on subsequent melee attacks. An unarmed build fighter or paladin might do really well here. This is really good on the right build, but mostly on unarmed builds.
Stable stance – 4/5
In theory, this is quite good as prone is being attempted a fair bit. It’s not generally a massive problem, but enough that creatures could be getting advantage on attack rolls for a round before you stand up. The main problem here is that some creatures cause prone automatically on a hit (like a displacer beast) so this has no effect on those things.
There are other monster attacks where there is a saving throw against the prone condition and this is where this becomes useful. It’s hard to know exactly how often this comes up, but quite a lot of creatures did gain an attack and if hit, then also knocks prone type of attack in 5.5e so this won’t always help.
Wanderer’s instinct – 2/5
A choice of 2 wisdom skills and 2 intelligence skills. A skill proficiency is fine and a choice is slightly better. Intelligence doesn’t really go with unarmed attacks though but wisdom can. Sadly, the wisdom skills aren’t necessarily any of the more important ones but this is still fine.
How good is the Bariaur?
The Bariaur is quick, lacks the humanoid creature type (so isn’t affected by some spells like hold person or charm person) and is great at unarmed combat. This does lead it into being pretty good for a very limited number of classes and builds, but for those builds, it’s pretty strong. The skills aren’t the best for the classes you’ll want to take, but it’s still something. All of this makes for a decent new species.
Score: 4/5
Choosing a class for your Bariaur
Below I’ve scored how well each class works for a Bariaur scoring each class out of 5 with explanations for each class as well:
Artificer: ⭐⭐
Barbarian: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bard: ⭐⭐⭐
Cleric: ⭐⭐
Druid: ⭐
Fighter: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Monk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paladin: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ranger: ⭐⭐⭐
Rogue: ⭐⭐
Sorcerer: ⭐
Warlock: ⭐⭐
Wizard: ⭐
*Star ratings scored out of 5
Artificer – 2/5
Artificers either need to be using weapons or spells so ram is no good for them. Prone advantage is better on melee subclasses like the battle smith and armorer who may be more “prone” (see what I did there) to these effects as might the extra speed for closing down enemies. At least an extra intelligence skill is a decent option but you’ve got no use for the best feature here.
Barbarian – 4/5
With the right feats, barbarians can make great unarmed combatants with their high strength and rage boosted attacks. Extra speed will help them close down enemies quicker and prone resilience is good for a class that’s often the target of lots of attacks.
Bard – 3/5
Bards only gain this score because of dance bards, other bards would probably score a 1/5. Dance bards don’t have high strength, but layering on a shove onto their unarmed attacks is a free extra that may not work loads, but will a bit and that’s still useful. For other subclasses though, they tend to hang back unless you’re a valor bard so value speed and unarmed strikes much less.
Cleric – 2/5
Clerics should almost never use unarmed strikes. Speed is helpful as they can be a sort of frontline caster (say if you’re moving around with spirit guardians active) which also means the prone resilience may help a bit. They also have a high wisdom for those wisdom skills but it’s still not a great option for them.
Druid – 1/5
Some druids need to move a round a bit and manoeuvre close to melee (mainly sea druids) so the extra speed here does help a bit, but tends to be less so than most classes. They are poor at unarmed strikes but at least benefit from some wisdom skills.
Fighter – 4/5
Another that can do well with unarmed strikes with the right feats (like grappler, unarmed fighting style and tavern brawler). In fact, grab some of these and you can have a few different effects on a few different attacks. Knock prone with ram then use grappler to grapple them on the floor and now they’re stuck prone. Extra speed will help you close down enemies and prone resilience will help a frontline warrior.
Monk – 5/5
The ultimate class for a Bariaur. All monks are great at unarmed strikes so adding a shove on the top of an attack is excellent. Monks can use their dexterity for the shove portion of this too so should land this a lot. This also enables some much easier hit and run tactics as you can use flurry of blows, push and move away without needing to use patient defense to avoid opportunity attacks.
Paladin – 4/5
The 5.5e rules allow smites with unarmed strikes making this a viable option for a paladin. Take feats like grappler and the unarmed fighting style for shove grapple tactics and more damage to really debilitate enemies. Paladins are much better in melee than at range so closing down enemies quicker with more speed is helpful, as is prone resilience.
Ranger – 3/5
An unarmed build is possible on a ranger, but quite challenging. You’ll need to invest in strength which is already hard as you’ll need dexterity for medium armor too and constitution and wisdom making them very MAD (Multiple Ability score Dependant). You then in turn either sacrifice AC or stealth which isn’t great for a warrior-scout class. It’s possible for this to work alright, but it requires sacrifice.
Rogue – 2/5
Rogues really shouldn’t be making unarmed strikes. they don’t work with sneak attacks and you don’t want to be investing in strength. The extra speed is good though for a hit and run approach and darkvision is really important on the stealthy rogue.
Sorcerer – 1/5
Sorcerers don’t really need loads of speed as they tend to just stay away from danger. Unarmed strikes are a bad idea too. It’s not completely useless, but the best traits just aren’t much good on a sorcerer who may not even mind being knocked prone that much.
Warlock – 2/5
Warlocks never want to be making unarmed strikes, but ironically, a bladelock stands to gain a little more here. Not because of ram, but for the extra speed and prone resilience as they try and close down enemies and last a bit longer in combat. Still not a great species for a warlock though.
Wizard – 1/5
For exactly the same reasons as a sorcerer, wizards are no good at unarmed strikes, don’t have loads of need for speed and have magic to deal with darkness if necessary. They maybe benefit a little from an extra knowledge skill, but that’s really not enough.
About Bariaur
Most Bariaur originate from Ysgard or have ancestors that originated there. They are similar to centaurs, but rather than an equine lower half, they have the lower half of a sheep and the upper half of a humanoid but with horns on their heads. Which humanoid they resemble can vary, with some resembling Humans, Elves, Dwarves or other humanoid species.
Like Vikings, Bariaur love adventure, revelry and a great battle. Typically, they look to fight against evil and injustice and carve small notches in their horns to count the number of glorious battles they’ve survived.
