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Huge beast, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 136 (13d12 + 52)
Speed 40 ft.
Skills Perception +6, Stealth +5
Senses passive Perception 16
Languages —
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Ambusher. In the first round of combat, the zentaur has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it surprised.
Forest Camouflage. The zentaur has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in forests, woodlands, or other terrain of abundant foliage.
Endurance Hunter. The zentaur has advantage on saving throws against exhaustion.
Keen Hearing and Sight. The zentaur has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
Surprise Attack. If the zentaur surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra (2d8) damage from the attack.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The zentaur makes one bite attack and two claw attacks. If it has a target grappled in its jaws, the zentaur can trade the bite attack for an additional claw attack against that target.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d8 + 7) piercing damage. If the target is a Huge creature, it must succeed a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be grappled. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it is grappled and must make the saving throw end of its turn. Until this grappled ends, the target is restrained, and the zentaur can't bite another target.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (2d10 + 7) slashing damage. If the target is a grappled creature, it suffers 9 (2d8) damage for 1 minute due to internal bleeding. This does not stack if the target is hit with multiple claw attacks.
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Most basal of the robust monarchs of the Known World of Kaimere, the zentaur (Sicaricestus carnifex "Knife-boxing butcher") of the titan gardens is almost identical to the ancestral species scaled up to the size of a tyrannosaurus rex. This beasts is comfortable in wetlands and is an accomplished swimmer, but prefers to establish itself in the conifer rainforests curated by titans and are noted for their almost tiger-like patterns and 30 inch claws.
Tyrant of the Titan Gardens. Like all robust monarchs, the zentaur is top predator of its environment, taking the largest of prey from giant dinosaurs, to moose, rhinoceros, elephants, and giant sloths, with only the largest animals in their environment, titanosaur sauropods, being off its menu unless compromised and even then zentaur only do so out of desperation. Dispatch of these prey is usually swift once a bite is established, but if they fail to do so, they will usually back down and fight another day. Despite their great size, they are assassins not brawlers and would prefer to try their luck later when noticed.
Sexual dimorphism in zentaur is minimal, with the primary diagnostic trait being more extravagant horns in males. Females are on average larger than males, but this is due to nutrient consumption rather than true sexual dimorphism: while females can settle for suboptimal territory until they reach competitive size, males are nomadic and even in the adolescent stage often face direct competition from other males and thus struggle to get the nutrients necessary to reach the absolute gigantic sizes of some females. Much like more basal megaraptorans, zentaur males rarely stay long after mating and the mother only raises the chicks until they are about 6-10 months old, at which point she drives the dog sized young away so she can bulk up and prepare for a new nest.
While they are small like this they focus on smaller game but watch their future prey from from afar and are mostly leg, as well as having wedge-shaped heads which gives them a wide field of vision to watch out for predators. Once they become adolescent stage they gain the wide heads and sharp binocular vision of their parents, but they retain the long springy legs of the juvenile stage and are the dominant mesopredator[1] in their environment. While these legs seem ungainly for predators of their size in a forest, it serves them better in endurance than speed and allows them to stay above the thicket which lets them cover a lot of ground with minimal effort. This is so successful that, if times are lean, between 2-5% of adults never grow out of this stage, although it is very rare they reproduce with robust adults.
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