Brilros the Battle Stallion

Another member of the centaur pantheon, Brilros is the child of Fanthros and Naharra, and sibling to Linroth. He represents war, battle, and strength, and like his sister, is a youthful and vigorous power. He leads centaurs in the defense of their lands, and teaches their warriors strategy and tactics.

Brilros (PDF Version)
(The Battle Stallion, the War Horse)
Demipower of the Beastlands and Ysgard, CG

Portfolio:                 Strength, combat, endurance, battle, war, defense
Aliases:                     None
Domain Name:           Krigala/Skerrit’s Glade and Ysgard/the Tiltyard
Superior:                   Skerrit
Allies:                       Anhur, Eachthighern, Fanthros, Karttikeya, Kheiron, Linroth, Lugh, Mars, Naharra, Nuada, Tempus, the Seelie Court, the Seldarine
Foes:                           Chitza-Atlan, the Queen of Air and Darkness
Symbol:                     Crossed lance and mace over a shield
Wor. Align.:             LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

Embodying the physical excellence desired of warriors and young males, Brilros (BRILL-ross) the Battle Stallion stands strong against the threats that centaur communities face. He is exuberant in battle and war, but takes the greatest delight in competitions of physical skill and battle prowess, especially the joust.

Like his younger sister Linroth, Brilros still feels the impetuousness of youth. He is quick to engage in battle or rush off to protect those he cares about with little heed to danger, and his rashness has gotten him in to many spots of trouble throughout his mythic tradition. Unlike his sister, there is no epic cycle of stories associated with the Battle Stallion; instead his myths fall either into the category of heroic tales of battle and glory, or tales of his rashness landing him in a thorny predicament that only his wits can get him out of by devising ingenious strategies and using surprising tactics to foil more dangerous foes. His mythic tales often pair him with a companion, be it his sister Linroth or a deity of war or battle from another pantheon; his foes and challenges usually consist of powerful monsters or hostile armies rather than other powers.

An intense rivalry exists between Linroth and Brilros, with each attempting to outdo the other in terms of accolades and deeds. It is sometimes said that the Battle Stallion’s early combat victories are what spurred Linroth on to demand equal treatment when her parents and Skerrit did not consider her to yet be an adult, and triggering her great mythic journey. There is no animosity in this rivalry, but nevertheless it often leads to squabbles and boasting, much to Fanthros’s chagrin; Naharra seems to have an easy time calming them down should things get too heated, however. Brilros is respectful of Skerrit but the two have little interaction, while he sees Kheiron as an old mentor who has little left to teach on the subjects the Battle Stallion is interested in.

As might be expected, the Battle Stallion works closely with those powers whose interests align with his and those of the centaur race. He is said to occasionally serve as a mount for members of the Seldarine and human battle deities in times of war, and more than one of his myths culminates in a battle with Oberon riding his back into combat. Interestingly, Brilros holds no grudges; once a threat is ended and the enemy has retrieved, he has little interest in pursuing. So long as other powers are not currently acting against the interests of centaurs and their allies, the Battle Stallion ignores their actions. The only powers that he actively opposes are the centaur deity of death, Chitza-Atlan and the Queen of Air and Darkness.

Brilros spends most of his time in his realm on Ysgard, known as the Tiltyard. A favorite location for warriors across the planes, especially the einheriar of Valhalla, the Tiltyard is one endless series of martial contests and pageants. Visitors can test their mettle in jousts, duels, games of strategy, and virtually every other known contest of military and strategic thinking. One of the most fascinating elements of his realm is that no injury, even up to death, is permanent if gained through the contests, although this in no way lessens the pain of such wounds. Brilros himself often participates in the activities, especially the tilts. The pageantry surrounding these competitions has led to thriving community of inns, taverns, and stores to spring up in the realm, making it a friendly, if rowdy, place to visit.

Brilros operates on the Prime Material Plane as often as he can, given his inability to send his avatars there through his own power. He takes great interest in centaur warfare and defense of centaur realms, and has Skerrit, Naharra, or Fanthros send his avatar should he detect the interference of other powers in their military affairs. He also has been known to meet with skilled centaur warriors, either to test their strength or share tactics or skills he feels they need to know.

Brilros’s Avatar (Fighter 24, Cleric 14)
Brilros appears as a well-muscled and bare-chested handsome young centaur with dark skin. He has a coat of dark brown fur, and his eyes are grey. He keeps his black hair cut short, and favors a light helmet when entering combat. If he deems it necessary, he will don plate armor and barding as well. He draws his spells from all spheres save animal, plant, and weather.

AC −1; MV 18; HP 180; THAC0 −3; #AT 5/2
Dmg 1d8+14 (heavy lance +2, +9 Str, +2 spec. bonus in lances) or 1d6+14 (mace +2, +9 Str, +2 spec. bonus in maces)
MR 15%; SZ L (9 feet tall, 11 feet long)
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 19
Spells P: 8/8/7/6/3/2/1
Saves PPDM 2; RSW 5; PP 4; BW 4; Sp 6

Special Att/Def: Favoring direct confrontation and melee to more subtle means of defeating foes, Brilros usually charges enemies at the start of combat with Hastilud, a heavy lance +2. In addition to the normal damage and effects from charging, any creature struck by this weapon must make a saving throw versus death with a −4 penalty or be knocked dazed and prone for 1d8 rounds. Even the largest, most stable creatures are vulnerable to this blow due to the great power in Brilros’s charge; only creatures that have very little height or are highly amorphous (trappers, most slimes, oozes, and jellies, etc.) are immune due to their body structure. Once his charge is completed, Brilros switches to melee, using Fustid, a mace +2 that stuns creatures it hits for 1d4 rounds unless they succeed a saving throw vs. paralyzation with a −4 penalty. If prevented from engaging his foes in melee due to flying ability, terrain, or other situations, he resorts to his magic or ranged weapons at hand.

If the Battle Stallion fights alongside other centaurs, he can cast strength of one three times per day, sharing his great strength with them. He can also remove fear from any creature he can see at will in addition to any of his other actions, and grant cloak of bravery or strength with a touch six times per day each. He is always surrounded by a prayer spell in a 30-foot radius.

Brilros can be struck only by magical weapons, and is immune to fear and any emotion-altering magic, illusions, charm magics, and mental attacks (including spells and psionics). He takes only half damage from fire, and is immune to earth and stone attacks.

Other Manifestations
Brilros manifests his power on the Prime Material Plane in a number of ways. Warriors defending their lands in desperate and dire battle are the Battle Stallion’s favored recipients; they may find themselves suddenly benefitting from a strength spell, a double-strength aid spell, or able to unleash a prayer at twice the area of effect. In non-combat scenarios, a rush of adrenaline may be a sign of his power, allowing a follower to perform feats that require great Strength or Constitution for a short time as if they had a score of 19 or 20 in either statistic. Finally, he occasionally sends flashes of military inspiration to his followers that warn them of ambushes or make them aware of terrain features that would affect an upcoming battle.

Brilros is served primarily by aasimon, equinal guardinals, and war horses, as well as aasimar, asperii, asuras, buraqs, coltpixies, einheriar, eladrin, hippogriffs, hollyphants, incarnates of courage, moon-horses, pegasi, and unicorns. The Battle Stallion shows his favor through the discovery of well-used but intact weapons and armor in unusual places or positions, the distant sounds of battle cries and victorious cheering, and unmarked warrior graves, as well as red stones of all sorts, particularly rubies, blood stones, and carnelians. He manifests his disfavor through the distant sounds of widows’ lamentations, as well as the discovery of slighted fortifications and the remains of deliberately destroyed weapons.

The Church
Clergy:                      Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, shamans, fighters
Clergy’s Align.:      NG, CG, N, CN
Turn Undead:           C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Sha: Yes, F: No
Cmnd. Undead:         C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Sha: No, F: No

All clerics (including fighter/clerics), specialty priests, crusaders, and shamans of Brilros receive religion (centaur) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All members of Brilros’ clergy may use lances and maces, regardless of class.

Brilros’ church is generally well regarded in centaur societies, although they are often said to rely too much on brute strength to solve problems. However, they are respected for their organization and leadership of defense forces and combat troupes in dangerous times. There is an intense, but friendly, rivalry between the clergy of Brilros and that of Linroth, much as there is between the deities themselves. This often manifests during contests and competitions, with each trying to outdo the other in number of prizes and honors. Any violence that results from this rivalry is quickly and harshly punished by their respective hierarchies, just as mean-spirited insults garner strong reprimands.

The Brilran priesthood rarely builds full temples. Instead, they dedicate shrines at any location that has been designed for defense, such as walled villages and encampments. Nomadic tribes often carry portable shrines with them, to be set up where ever they camp. Shrines are usually in the form of a small wooden or stone altar, with an arch above it, either decorated to evoke a crossed mace and lance or actually containing those weapons. Full temples contain larger scale versions of this altar, but otherwise there is no standard design ethic; they usually resemble other buildings in a community in outward appearance. The clergy eschews most forms of decoration other than banners and tapestries; they prefer their places of worship to be plain and stark.

Novices in the service of the Battle Stallion are called Pages, while full priests are called Knights-Errant. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by the priesthood of the Battle Stallion are Dagger, Sword, Warhammer, Morningstar, Flail, Spear, Mace, and Lance. Higher ranking priests are granted unique titles based on their achievements in battle and tournament. Specialty priests are known as destriers. The Brilran priesthood is favored by males (70%), and thus has a fairly small minority of females (30%). Fully half of clergy consists of specialty priests (50%), with a substantial remainder of clerics (30%), and much smaller numbers of shamans (12%), crusaders (6%), and even fighters (2%). The priesthood of Brilros is dominated by centaurs (84%), with small minorities of bariaurs (8%), centaur-kin (4%), pegataurs (2%), chevalls (1%), and other tauroid and equine creatures (manotaurs, unicorns, wemics, etc.; 1%) filling out the ranks.

Dogma: Defend centaur lands from monsters and invaders through skill at arms and tactical maneuvering. Hone your body to be a weapon against your foes, but never see yourself as that. Train the body and mind and achieve excellence in military matters. When peace reigns, keep your skills sharp and enjoy life by participating in games and demonstrations of skill.

Day-to-Day Activities: The Brilran clergy spends their time focused on the art of war and battle. Many find themselves in a dual role as a member of the priesthood and serving in their society’s military, whether it is a king’s army or a small chief’s warband. When not performing the duties required of these roles, they maintain a regular regime of training, both of themselves and younger recruits. Most also spend time studying military tactics, either by listening to the accounts of veterans or reading treatises and histories.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The only regular ceremony observed by the followers of Brilros is the Pageant Tilt, held at the start of summer; in agrarian centaur societies, it marked the end of the planting season. For a number of days, usually three but sometimes as many as seven or as few as one, the clergy organizes a series of martial contests for all to participate in, including sword fighting and fencing, archery, and most importantly, jousts. The start of the ceremony opens with the highest-ranking priest striking a gong with a mace or mallet after a lengthy prayer, and a similar event closes off the ceremonies at the end. Each event is inaugurated with a ritual prayer to Brilros asking him to guide the contestants to victory. Followers of Linroth take great pleasure in entering these contests and besting the Brilran faithful when they can.

Other ceremonies held by the Brilran clergy honor historical or legendary heroes, battles, and victories. Such ceremonies typically involve a ritual meal and a recitation of a story describing the events or deeds being honored in the early evening after the day’s work is completed.

Major Centers of Worship: The Enclosure, located on the world of Torus, is a large, walled holy site dedicated to training priests and warriors in the service of Brilros, regardless of tribal affiliation. Marking the location of a legendary battle in that world’s history between two great rival centaur tribal empires, the holy grounds are considered permanently neutral in all conflicts. Centaurs accused of certain sorts of crimes may be allowed exile to join the ranks of the clergy in lieu of punishment. The soldiers and clergy of the temple dedicate themselves to ensuring peace talks are not disrupted, as well as defending against monsters and other enemies of centaur civilization. In recent years they have gained a rather negative reputation with the recent human immigrants due to frequent clashes they’ve engaged in as the humans aggressively expand into centaur lands.

Affiliated Orders: The priesthood of Brilros has no wide-spread order of warriors or monks affiliated with the church. Instead, they sponsor a myriad of small adventuring bands, questing knights, and elite warrior lodges. Such groups are often short-lived, as they pursue the most dangerous threats faced by centaur society, although the lodges in particular often have a long and storied history within their society.

Priestly Vestments: High ranking priests in the Brilran clergy wear ornate plate armor and barding, while lower ranked priests wear scale armor and barding during services and ceremonies. All priests wear open-faced helms with a flaring collar, cheek guards, and a large crested plume. The color of the plume indicates individual rank, with the highest being black, followed by red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally white. Armor is typically made of bronze, although steel is the norm where bronze is not available in large enough quantities. Tails are bound with cloth the same colors as helmet plumes and trimmed short, with shorter lengths indicating a lower rank. The holy symbol of the clergy is a medallion of a crossed lance and mace.

Adventuring Garb: The clergy of Brilros tend to wear the best armor they can obtain when traveling or entering combat. Other than their holy symbols and bound and trimmed tails, they prominently wear any badge of office they may hold.

Specialty Priests (Destriers)
Requirements:          Strength 15, Constitution 12, Wisdom 9
Prime Req.:                Strength, Wisdom
Alignment:                CG, CN
Weapons:                   Any
Armor:                       Any
Major Spheres:         All, chaos, combat, elemental earth, elemental fire, healing, protection, war
Minor Spheres:         Divination, travelers
Magical Items:         As clerics and fighters
Req. Profs:                Lance, mace
Bonus Profs:             Endurance

  • Destriers must be centaurs, pegataurs, or centaur-kin.
  • Destriers are not allowed to multiclass.
  • Destriers with an 18 Strength are eligible for Exceptional Strength.
  • Once per day, destriers may charge a foe in order to deal double damage dice with a mace or triple damage with a lance, in addition to the other normal benefits and penalties of charging. The triple lance damage replaces the normal double damage with a charge.
  • At 3rd level, destriers can cast draw upon holy might (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
  • At 5th level, destriers can cast strength (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) once per day.
  • At 7th level, destriers may spend a weapon proficiency slot to specialize in either lances or maces. If the Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics rules are used, destriers may never achieve mastery or grand mastery in either weapon
  • At 9th level, destriers can cast adamantite mace (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day.
  • At 14th level, destriers can cast Brilros’s barding (as the 3rd-level priest spell) at will.

Brilran Spells
1st Level
Mace and Lance (Pr 1; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere:                    Combat
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 3 rds. +1 rd./level
Casting Time:          1
Area of Effect:         1 weapon
Saving Throw:        None

This spell imbues any type of mace or lance with increased precision and the ability to harm creatures that can only be struck by magical weapons. A weapon so enchanted strikes as a +1 magical weapon, gaining the attack bonus but not the damage bonus. This increases by another plus for every four levels the caster has achieved, to a maximum of +5 at 16th level. The attack bonus is cumulative with other magical effects, but only to a maximum of +5. For example, a 17th level caster under the effects of a prayer spell using a non-magical weapon gains only a total attack modifier of +5. However, this spell can effectively increase the potency of magical weapons; a mace +2 under the effects of this spell cast by a 5th level priest functions as a +4 weapon for determining what it can strike and attack bonus determination, but still only has a +2 bonus to damage.

The material component for this spell is a pinch of powdered silver sprinkled on the weapon.

2nd Level
Joust (Pr 2; Alteration)
Sphere:                    Combat
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 1 rd./level or until discharged
Casting Time:          5
Area of Effect:         1 creature
Saving Throw:        Special

This spell allows the recipient to charge another in combat with increased speed and precision, and almost assure the target is knocked prone. The recipient must be a centaur-like creature or a man-sized humanoid riding on a quadrupedal mount, and they can only gain the benefits of the spell when wielding a lance, spear, or spear-like polearm. The spell remains in effect until the recipient initiates a charge attack, or one round per caster level has passed, whichever comes first.

When charging, the recipient gains all of the normal benefits of a charge attack, while suffering none of the penalties (in other words, they do not lose Dexterity bonuses or suffer an Armor Class Penalty). In addition, rather than being able to move half again their movement, they can charge up to double their normal movement range. When making their attack at the end of the charge, the recipient of this spell gains a +2 bonus to hit and damage on top of the normal bonuses for charging, and if they are wielding a weapon that deals double damage or more in a charge, the damage modifier is similarly doubled. Finally, the victim of the charge must roll a saving throw versus death with a −4 penalty or be knocked prone and stunned for 1d3−1 rounds (a zero indicates the creature is prone but not stunned and can get back to their feet on their next action). Gargantuan creatures cannot be knocked prone, while Huge creatures or Large creatures with three legs or more make an unmodified saving throw. Some creatures, like slimes, jellies, ghosts, and fire elementals may be immune to being knocked prone, at the DM’s option.

The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and a piece of a broken lance.

3rd Level
Brilros’s Barding (Pr 3; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere:                    Combat
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 Special (no more than 24 hrs.)
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         1 equine or centaurine creature
Saving Throw:        None

This spell creates a faintly glowing magical field of energy around an equine or centaurine figure that serves as if it were plate barding with an Armor Class of 2.

The spell has no effect on a creature already wearing metal armor or barding, or a creature with Armor Class 2 or better, but it is cumulative with Dexterity bonuses. Brilros’s barding does not affect a creature’s movement or hinder spellcasting, and it has no weight.

Brilros’s barding remains about the individual until dispelled or until the individual suffers damage equal to 30 points plus the caster’s level. For example, if an 8th-level priest cast this spell upon himself, the armor would remain intact until he suffered 38 points of damage. The armor does not prevent the spell recipient from suffering the damage; damage both affects the protected individual and reduces the duration of the spell. The spell lasts no longer than 24 hours.

The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and a piece of plate armor or barding worn by a warrior slain in battle.

5 Responses to Brilros the Battle Stallion

  1. Barastir says:

    Good stuff, as usual! I have only two questions: in the Destrier’s entry, the 7th level power says that they “may spend a WP slot to specialize in either lances or maces”. It means the slot can be used that way from then on, right? For a priest doesn’t receive a weapon slot at that level… Or must they save an earlier slot to use then?

    Besides, can they specialize in other of those weapons later, as they acquire more WP slots? Can a mace specialist choose a lance later? Can a light lance specialist specialize in a medium lance afterwards? Or a footman’s mace specialist later choose a horseman’s? Are there limitations on these choices (centaurs and kin could only choose up to medium lance, horseman’s mace only, etc.)?

    • AuldDragon says:

      If they don’t have a spare weapon proficiency, they need to wait until they do, yes. They cannot specialize in both, since characters are limited to one specialization only unless it is specifically called out. They can specialize in any mace or lance, at their choice. I didn’t feel the need to note all that because it follows the standard proficiency rules.

      • Barastir says:

        Alright. As for the limitation on the kind of lance or mace, I was wondering if it would be OK for a centaur to employ a footman’s mace… And for the lances, I think if the “horse part” of a centaur would be equivalent to a heavy warhorse… If not, maybe they should be limited in their lance choice, since usually only a heavy horse rider can use a heavy lance… Maybe I’d restrict to a medium lance.

  2. Faolyn says:

    Not sure if you’re aware, but there’s no link to this on the Update page.

    • AuldDragon says:

      Whoops, got that updated; must have forgotten to do that last month and didn’t check this month. Thanks!

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