The humans who live there are peaceful, the gryphons don't tolerate violence for violences sake. But they themselves can be extremely dangerous when they are protecting themselves or the border.

Also, you aren't paired with them like some magical bond between dragon and rider in an Eragon-esque novel.

The way it will go is you have trained for years in gryphonic care and fighting in order to be paired with a gryphon scout. Your bi ped is essentially a veterinarian with some fighting skill in case you get in a pickle.

The Gryphons are sentient, most of them have magic of either mind or node power, and they are autonomous. They're basically held above the other races because they are benevolent protectors by their own choice. Every race is treated equally, but Gryphons are almost revered by the populace as a whole. An outsider who harms a Gryphon would be considered an enemy of every law abiding citizen.

In the pairs the Gryphons fly, scout, and fight if need be. The biped takes care of the Gryphon's needs and does things like set up camp and cook food etc. They should be well versed in hand to hand combat and probably a bow or short sword, but they are not typically going to be the main fighter. Def not skilled enough to take out more than one or two dumb mercs or monsters alone in melee.