Equiceph
Art © Wizards of the Coast, by Stephen Tappin. Accessed at the D&D Miniatures Handbook Art Gallery here
[Welcome to Furtober! Throughout the month, I will be spotlighting miscellaneous anthropomorphic animals that have appeared in D&D over the editions. There’s a lot of them--I found 45 that I would be interested in enough to convert on a pretty superficial pass through Third Edition, and that doesn’t count other editions, obscure books, Dragon or Dungeon Magazine, or spinoff games like Hackmaster or Arduin. So if this is popular, Furtober may become a long standing tradition.
The Miniatures Handbook was not quite fish or fowl. It was primarily a detailed version of the rules for the D&D Miniatures game that developed in 3rd edition, but also served as a clearinghouse for various concepts that the authors wanted to try out in D&D 3.5. So you had a full on healer class, a warmage, some spells and feats that mimicked rules the mini game had, and some monsters. A surprising percentage of those monsters are anthropomorphic animals, and it featured the first appearance of a generic “catfolk” in D&D (the tabaxi name is much older, dating back to The Isle of Dread). The equiceph, like some of the other concepts in The Miniatures Handbook, was a refugee from Chainmail, Wizards of the Coast’s previous attempt in late 2e/early 3e to have a spinoff miniature wargame from the D&D license.]
Equiceph CR 3 LE Monstrous Humanoid This giant humanoid wears heavy armor and has the oversized head of a horse. It clutches a cruel polearm.
Equicephs are oversized, horse-like humanoids with a penchant for cruelty and slavery. They are cunning raiders, and usually live in small bands tended to by a large and rotating slave population. Hobgoblins are favorite slaves, as they have similarly orderly minds. Some especially powerful hobgoblin tribes turn the tables on equicephs, however; equiceph slave soldiers can be found in hobgoblin armies as shock troopers.
Most equicephs place a high priority on capturing and looting their enemies rather than merely killing them. They have keen tactical minds, and typically make sure to flank enemies, attack from high ground, and otherwise eke out minor advantages wherever they can. An equiceph often fights by inches, slowly grinding their opponents down. They use their slaves in combat as disposable soldiers, and will happily allow all of them to die rather than be killed themselves.
According to the equicephs, they are the descendants of exiles. The equiceph empire was a peaceful place, and a rogue faction thought that they could take advantage of that peace and stage a coup. The coup failed and its members were sent across the sea rather than be executed. If the equicephs ever had their own language, it is now forgotten, and many sages believe that the dream of the equicephs returning to their homeland and avenging their ancestors is nothing more than a fantasy.
An equiceph stands about 11 feet tall and weighs more than 900 pounds. They favor heavy armor and heavy weapons. Equicephs advance by character class, with fighter and ranger being common choices.