Is the ogrekin template overpowered?

[Panchio]

My friend is starting dmastering at Pathfinder, and one of the players pretend to play an ogrekin barbarian, so the DM asked for my opnion about the issue.

Reading the race, i got the impression that the +1 lvl ajustment is too low for a character that receives +6 strength (maybe +2 if he gets the large arm characteristic) and +3 on natural armor.

I understand the the idea was to balance the character with the randomly generated good and bad qualities.

Still, i understand it is an overpowered race.

I d like to know the general opnion about that, so i can give my friend the best advise.

[EldonG]

Well, it's decidedly less powerful than the half-fiend, half-dragon, or half-celestial...but it is a definite step up. If he wants to allow templates, +1 is likely to be about it.

[Maezer]

I generally don't like handing templates out to PCs. That said comparing it to the advanced simple template (which I consider to be the baseline +1 template) the ogrekin template gets:

+2 Str, -4 dex, -6 int, -4 Wis, -6 Cha, +1 Natural Armor. And a random benefit worth about a feat, and penalty worth about a feat.

I don't know, if templates are on the board I really think more people would take advanced than ogrekin. The Giant template (again a +1) is probably better than ogrekin as well if you just want a brute.

So I have a hard time saying ogrekin is an op template. Templates probably shouldn't fall into the hands of players but if they do, ogrekin isn't near the top of the list.

[Haladir]

The ogrekin is a monster template, not a PC race. This template is not intended for use by PCs. It's for the GM to use to create monsters.

When you say...

Panchio wrote:

Reading the race, i got the impression that the +1 lvl ajustment is too low for a character that receives +6 strength (maybe +2 if he gets the large arm characteristic) and +3 on natural armor.

...this makes me think that you are confusing Challenge Rating (CR) with the D&D 3.5 concept of "Effective Character Level (ECL)". Please note that Pathfinder does NOT use ECL at all.

Challenge Rating is a way for the GM to assess how tough a monster is against the PCs. Simply put, the ogrekin template is a monster. It is not designed or intended to be a PC race. The rules presented are for creating monsters, not PCs.

If the GM decides to allow it anyway, he'll need to keep in mind that it is not balanced with regard to PC races. If he wants to use ogrekin as a balanced PC race option, he probably should build a version for his home game using the race builder rules from the Advanced Race Guide.

Good luck!

[Silence among Hounds]

In my opinion CR is normally an Effective Character Level -1.
Also keep in mind that if he chooses to play an Ogrekin convince the DM to take advantage of the fact that Ogrekin are ugly and even more hated than Goblin and Orc.
So we have a warborn bastard that happened because of rape (half-orc) or we have a stronger uglier deformed creature that was the product of kidnapping by a giant incestuous monster.
Face it no one wants to interact with someone who reminds them of the evil that can happen in the world.
Guards will think he's a Grendel and attack on site, regardless if he is a law-abiding citizen.