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(2) Swineherds: Orcs love to eat swine, and there are so many parts to eat. And they both try to eat their young so they have that in common. Swineherding is an honored profession among orcs that seem to lack that +4 to strength stereotype. The more successful ones call themselves ranchers, and they can describe all seven cuts of bacon to you, among other examples of the deep knowledge they possess. Hope you speak orcish, because its the only language that has words for all seven cuts. Can you imagine muddy fields of legions of squeeling, ravenous, lustful pigs? Occasionally an orc will disappear in one, and this is considered a fact of life. Can you imagine the stink? Its not so bad for an orc - smells like home. Behold, the noble swineherd!
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3 Quarter-orc, but they are only good at running races.
4. Scholar of Sorts.
An orc who tries really hard to become a wizard, cleric, or bard, but ends up getting frustrated as his -2 to all mental stats. Becomes a barbarian. Wizard 1, Cleric 1, Bard 1, Barbarian X.
A bit silly, but I could see it.
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Boarfolk
Orcs are to wild pigs what humans are to apes, halflings are to rabbits, and elves are to deer. Their is a distant kinship with boars that all orcs share. Some say they share a common ancestor. Other suggest they are a mixture of protohumans and dire swine. What ever the origin of Boarfolk, none can deny their similarities. Such as:
-Tusks
-Flat, bridgeless noses
-Ferocity
-The inability to sustain large communal groups
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Still, a lot of us (I'm looking at us, WoW players) prefer a bit more moral and cultural complexity in our mook race, so we can play as them, negotiate with them, and actually have an origin for half-orcs that isn't nauseating and leaves a bad taste in our feminist taste buds. And even beyond that, fighting a bunch of one-note dumb muscle gets boring.
Favorited and dotting.
will contribute when time get
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6. "Domesticated" orcs
For some reason or another, a large band or tribe of orcs wound up in human/elven territory. Defenseless, they had the choice of either being put to the sword or acquiescing to the demands of their hosts. Over several generations of peaceful farming and crafting, the group forgets its former savagery. Although physically intimidating like their forerunners, these orcs are kinder and gentler, and are capable of living side by side with "civilized" folk.
I'm surprised the pro-"Always Evil" crowd hasn't swarmed here to tell us how badwrong these ideas are.
Anyway, I'll dot this and try to think of a way or two how to contribute.
Also, on the touchy subject of breeding half-orcs, I don't see why lady orcs wouldn't want snu-snu with human men. I've always run orcs as being rather egalitarian among themselves, giving women just as much privilege as men. Their savagery is a result of overbreeding and consequent overcrowding and competition for resources, much like locusts.
Orcs might have been egalitarian in the D&D settings like Eberron and Forgotten Realms, but they are actively chauvinistic (and misogynistic?) in Golarion.
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7. Orcs of Nirmathas (Golarion specific)
The (slim) majority population of Nirmathas are orcs comprising mostly CN/CG-leaning tribes, descended from tribes that crossed the mountains out of Belkzen during the reign of Kazavon. These people are a big motivator behind Nirmathas' fierce independence, which leads them to greater conflict with Molthrune, a land that promises their race security in exchange for freedom. These tribes are also entangled, for better or worse, with the fey courts of Nirmathas' forests, which are somehow larger on the inside than the outside due to First World shenanigans. The orcs get on well enough with their human countrymen, and this place provides ample opportunity for half-orcs to have backstories that aren't rooted in tragedy. They have a grudging mutual respect with Lastwall, though it took a while to get there.
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Long story short is that Sarenrae had long been sickened by the idea of an entire race ensnared by a culture that revered Rovagug. She managed to wrangle a "chosen one", Maja Firehair(a female orc possessed of remarkable empathy, which is usually an unhealthy thing to have in Belkzen), to lead her people towards the light. Said chosen one was more CN than anything, interpreted her visions as a call to conquest, and basically forced her way into the leadership position of her tribe and handed out beatdowns and annexations to other tribes. She did make some changes in orc culture(curbing brutality and sexual inequality, defying and defiling Rovagug's works,) but she was more about getting vengeance on her oppressors than anything else. She was closer to a Gorumite than a Sarenraean.
Orcs of Golarion has orcs using the concept of Crossed Souls, a bit similar to real world beliefs on gender found in some Native American tribes and elsewhere. It actually bugged me to see real world cultures mined for an Always Chaotic Evil culture, but here, it seemed like a good way to get a foot in the door and to kind of "take it back" so to speak.
In Orcs of Golarion, the Crossed Soul concept holds that those female orcs that do manage to rise above the abuse of males and hold their own against them apparently must not actually have female souls. To them, they clearly must be reincarnations of mighty orc champions. These "crossed souls" are generally considered male by their kin and allowed to take wives of their own.
Maja most likely would have been considered one of those individuals by her tribe at the time. And given her empathy, she would have been genuinely protective of those she claimed, whether she was claiming them as actual wives or simply to protect them from abuse. Basically, this led to her falling into the dual role of conqueror and protector, as she extended that protection to the children of her tribe and adult males that weren't completely monstrous in nature. She was certainly pushy about it, but that's orcs for you.
But it wasn't just her alone. Those females that she claimed and those that were drawn to her banner, she drove to stand up, reclaim their pride, and be able to defend themselves rather than perpetuating their own abused position in Belkzen orc society(another element from Orcs of Golarion describing the dysfunctional way life in Belkzen works) For a while, the core part of her tribe was mostly a badass "Amazon brigade" until Maja conquered and absorbed more tribes to even out that demographic. Children raised within these tribes grew up with a much more equalized point of view on male and female capability, and the Crossed Soul concept would eventually fade out of use within those tribes, or it would come to mean something else entirely(that is something I'm still trying to figure out for a society where males and females are treated and expected to function as equals on the battlefield).
Sarenrae was enraged that her chosen one was missing the point and decided the best way to get through to an orc was to speak the same language. She then metaphysically and physically kicked Maja's ass and made her see that there was no future at all for the orcs if they stayed on their current path. A bit of a "Moses and the Burning Bush" vibe, if the Burning Bush was handing out beatings. Finally fully spiritually awakened, Maja started edging more and more into CG and led a change in culture along the way, while continuing her, now far more idealistic, tribal conquest.
This is the element that ties into what still survives of the original "amazon tribe" tradition that was around for a while in Maja's early days of conquest. Once she went full-blown Sarenraen, those female warriors most loyal to her cause tended to identify her directly with Sarenrae either as an avatar or a daughter. Many came to identify themselves as daughters of Maja in turn. This particular warrior and shamanistic tradition survives to the modern day. While many male Nirmathi orcs are fully devoted to and serve Sarenrae, there's still a bit of perception that Sarenrae's chosen are typically females, and there a lines of female warrior companies and wisewomen that are seen as the heart of what the Nirmathi tribes are all about, and they carry a bit more authority than groups of their size normally would within Nirmathi orc society.
And things actually started to come together. Maja had managed to win over the hearts, minds, and souls of four great tribes that had gathered under her banner in southern Belkzen. They had also made a number of enemies that wanted nothing less than to see them wiped out, mainly rival orc tribes, particularly those truly faithful to Rovagug. But more dangerous than that was Kazavon, who had consolidated power in Belkzen at that time.
Maja was hellbent on leading her people against Kazavon in a holy, frenzied crusade before Sarenrae gave her one final vision. Her mission wasn't to conquer in her goddess' name, but to preserve and safeguard the people she had managed to save. If they stayed in Belkzen, they would be wiped out and all of their work would come to nothing, and the orc race would face its eventual self-inflicted extinction. Maja's task was to lead her people to a new land where they could chart their own destiny.
Hounded by rival tribes and the servants of Kazavon, Maja's went south through the mountains of Nirmathas, around Lastwall. After weathering a rough winter and ogre attacks, they finally made their way in to Nirmathas, at that time still mostly unpopulated save for the outlying dwarven settlements that were paying more attention to what was inside the ground than on it. Maja passed when they finally arrived, and the tribes spread out.
They came into conflict with the dwarves from time to time, with the usual racial motivations, but that came mostly to a stop once "this is our side/this is your side" lines were drawn and that the orcs now greatly outnumbered the dwarves(and that the orcs were basically going "don't start none, won't be none" at that point).
The native fey courts of Nirmathas reacted differently. They and the land itself adopted these tribes in their own way. The general outlook of these fey was that they were the nobility, the superstitious orcs were the common folk. Depending on the nature of the individual fey or court, these orcs were sources of entertainment, champions, pawns in their inter-court feuds and games, etc. The orcs in turn generally see the fey as capricious nature spirits, to alternately be revered or avoided, but always approached with a healthy wary respect.
Lastwall was naturally highly suspicious(and alarmed) when orcs settled Nirmathas, and there was conflict before it became clear that most on both sides did not truly have a fight with each other. A mostly chilly, wary truce was kept after that, with Lastwall spending too much of their forces on their southern border to make certain nothing was afoot. True peace and trust between the two nations finally came when Lastwall extradited a band of war criminals that had fled into the country after wiping out a number of Nirmathi orc villages. After these criminals were hanged at the border, old wounds finally started to heal.
Human settlers started rolling into the Nirmathas area from Molthrune(and thus the Chelish Empire), which didn't really recognize the coverignty of a bunch of orcs, who were hardly organized into any sort of nation anyway. The expected conflicts did occur, but when Cheliax crumbled and House Thrune rose, the game really changed. Irgal Nirmath had established healthy relationships with the orc tribes and had earned their respect(and even had a half-orc wife who may have had a child, leading to all sorts of rumors and whispers that speak of that scion as some sort of "royalty", if Nirmathas held to such structures).
Humans and orcs are currently highly integrated in most places in Nirmathas. There are still some regions that are mostly orc and mostly human, but they're all Nirmathi. There, peaceful unions between humans and orcs are the norm rather than the exception, which means the region boasts probably the largest half-orc population in Avistan.
The Molthrune conflict is particularly vicious and painful, because there aren't (m)any real "bad guys" on either side. Molthrune does have a large population of humanoids and "monsters" that have sworn loyalty to that nation, and they've been given acceptance, honor, and station for it. The same offer has been made repeatedly to the orcs, but they remain as fiercely independant as their human countrymen.
Some particularly zealous orcs do make raids into Belkzen from time to time, but these small crusades are most often a drop in the bucket that is the ongoing Belkzen/Lastwall conflict.
Orcs may be getting on well with their neighbors, but there are still aspects of their culture that frighten or disturb others. Many of the tribes do "sky funerals", where the bodies of their dead are left on elevated platforms for carrion birds to pick clean. Some of the traditionalist tribes still have some form of ritualized cannibalism going on, where a new chief eats the heart of the old one to inherit thier strengh and wisdom. Cannibalism period doesn't hold much of a taboo in times of great need, such as during the original exodus from Belkzen. That is only performed with the willing however, and carried out with the utmost respect. (it's been noted with curiosity that there are no reports of orc ghouls in Nirmathas...)
Alternate ability modifiers: +2 STR, +2 WIS, -2 INT
No light sensitivity
Most popular deities: Sarenrae, Desna, Kurgess, Cayden Cailean, Gorum, Gozreh, Erastil, Pharasma
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...I am pretty sure I have said it before, but I will say it again.
Mikaze, you are full of win, and I wish you were my DM.
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8. Double Helix
When the world was still young, two of the greatest gods of creation and chaos sought to populate it: The passionate Granath and the dreaming Ellerif. The two lovers had crafted much together, playing off each others creations to build something truly unique. But when it came time to create their mortal children alongside the other gods who had a hand in this world, they could find no agreement.
Ellerif wanted it's children to endure time, to weave into the biosphere of the world naturally and easily, to contemplate and enjoy an age of cycles before returning home.
The elves would be delicate and beautiful, ghost-like figures wrapped in gossamer. Long-lived in years and capable of flowing with the tides of change.
Granath wanted his/her children to live in the moment, to struggle, overcome, and achieve, to test themselves against whatever challenges teh world had to throw at them before returning home.
The orcs would be hearty and strong, beast-like figures clad in furs. Short-lived in years and inclined to fight against the course of fate to make their own.
And so the two quarrelled for the first time, turning from each other to give life to their own vision of mortality, this time working alone rather than together.
And as their bitterness grew so to did strife amongst their children. Resentment grew amongst the orcs. Disgust grew amongst the elves. Distrust grew between them both. And so the wars began.
Ages of bloodshed passed with both peoples and their allies striving to overcome the other to validate their own worth, until eventually even their allies abandoned them both. Their wars escalated to the brink of tearing the world apart before one of the gods of law, creator of the dwarves, came forth and brought both Ellesif and Granath low and forced them to see what had become of their children. They were horrified to find their children on the verge of that downward spiral into extinction. And so too did both of the gods of chaos and creation see and finally recognize the face of a lost love.
Under the guidance of the dwarven god, the two entered a sacred bond that eternally bound their children to each other:
From that day forth, the union of two elves or two orcs would no longer bring children into the world. Only the union between the two races could do so. Elven fathers and orc mothers would bear orcish children. Orcish fathers and elven mothers would bear elven children.
And so their gods decreed. If they wished for their people to live, they had to learn to live together. Evolve or die.
In the ages since, the two sibling races have adapted to this arrangement in a number of ways.
In many places, they ahve adapted as their gods hoped: Elves and orcs live together. Sometimes in parallel cultures. Sometimes as one. The cultures born from this mix of the contemplative and the passionate have tended to be healthier than their segregated contemporaries.
Yet while many elven and orcish communities have moved towards positive directions, this is not the case for all. Even knowing that their race's survival is dependant on the continued existence of the other, some orcs and elves seek power and dominion over their siblings. In some lands, one race is treated as a lower caste. In others, they are reduced to little more than breeding stock that must be sustained and tolerated. And there are others still who crave genocide, feeling tainted by presence of their race's other half. To these monstrous few, the whispers of demon lords and archdevils alike take root.
For both orcs and elves, the old divisions of Us vs. Them have mostly given way to a new dichotomy: Live together or die alone.
Considering my campaign's in the Hold of Belkzen, dot and dot
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Considering my campaign's in the Hold of Belkzen, dot and dot
The Gorumite orcs of Belkzen are long overdue for fleshing out.
I like the idea of them considering those Gorumites fighting for Lastwall as closer to being kin than the Rovagugi tribes, even while it's those Lastwallers they seem to prefer fighting.
I really love the idea of them being less monstrous but still harsh and perhaps even more dangerous "worthy opponent" types in the eyes of Lastwall, Gorumite and Iomedaean alike.
I'm surprised the pro-"Always Evil" crowd hasn't swarmed here to tell us how badwrong these ideas are.
As a charter member of the 'Orcs are always EVIL' club, I love having different takes on them. I have a tribe of Chaotic Evil Orcs that mimic a LE ethos. Customs are not really laws there, but they recognize hard natural 'laws' such as 'might makes right'. Most of the nearby tribes hate them for solid discipline and iron production (My orcs are just reaching the Iron Age). Their relations with the nearest Dwarf Hold are best seen as Ali vs Frazier press conferences.
I post so I'll filch the best ideas from here.
Biomancied Orcs
Created to be tools of war for great biomancers of eons past, these orcs are designed for violence. While not necessarily evil, this is certainly an easy path for them to take.
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In a major league campaign world I ran, a number of mercenary orc companies had come together to establish a city on the ruins of an older city that had been utterly razed by evil forces. They all had traditions of hiring out and fighting for the best coin, and were generally thought of as some of the world's best mercenaries. They had made fortunes of gold...and a few of the leaders saw the wisdom in hoarding some.
When they established their new homeland, having never had one before, a number of the human kingdoms saw the wisdom of having a very tough buffer state between themselves and the horrific wastes left beyond, and actually offered some help - the orcs responded by hiring on - long term - some of the best combat engineers in the known world, and ended up building a huge, city-sized, all-but-impregnable fortress. Human kingdoms nearby send food not because they're being forced to, but because they get *actual* protection...and the orcs are still mercenaries-for-hire, some of the best in the world. Their most famous units are led by heavily armored orcs mounted on direboars...but the warlord of the orcs (actually just the most powerful mercenary leader) rides a gigantic wooly rhinoceros..
I had an idea that a delicacy for Orcs was a particular kind of alcohol that's kind of like 90 proof mixed with the sort of tobasco sauce that isn't technically legal. In any games that I'm gonna run, they basically have an uneasy truce with the Gnomes, simply because they're capable of growing the pepper required for said drink.
Also, for my games, green Orcs would basically be like American Indians, whereas gray Orcs would be more akin to Vikings. Both live harsh lifestyles, and neither of them are particularly "friendly", but the greens I picture as being more neutral in terms of how they view any other species. Like, they don't just murder anyone who comes into their camp, but you get no chances if you're trying to intimidate them, or cheat them, anything like that.
Greys/Grays, on the other hand, are more likely to pillage and act like the typical bad guys. Greys and greens try to avoid conflict with each other, but one wouldn't really call them 'friends', and skirmishes do happen between them.
I dubbed these Orcs I made as a bit higher Tiered Orcs, Firebusters.
FireBusters: They come from a Volanic Region and have Red skin. Most of them wear medium to heavy armor embroidered with a red flame of their current leader. Fyr the Fire Lord. Firebusters use explosives and flames a good deal because they take half damage from fire based damage. (If they make their fireball saving throw good luck killing them that way!) I also created a gauntlent of explosive powder that upon punching does an extra 1d6 as the impact of the punch sets off a mini explosion that doesn't seem to hurt the Firebusters or they are trained to ignore the pain. From tossing flaming vials to fighting up close and personal they seem to be on a mission to conquer land for their Lord.
There general tactic's are above average for most orcs actually having a chain of command though still generally based off Fear/Strength of Arms. Fyr has somehow inspired loyalty amongst his Orcs through Strength and promises of raising Orcs above their lot in the world.
As punishment there is the "Chamber of Fyr" which is a room where Lava heat rises and slowly cooks people alive. It is an Arched room that many dread to ever see. Keeps upstarts in check, as well as that criminals become indentured for a year.
(That's what I have so far at least feel free to edit to your heart's content just the base line of the Firebusters)
As an Asside I had my Orc Follower of my Paladin of Death once comment that the scariest orcs are the Pink Orcs.... <--- Not sure if I ever intend to use that as a real orc.
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I'm surprised the pro-"Always Evil" crowd hasn't swarmed here to tell us how badwrong these ideas are.
Anyway, I'll dot this and try to think of a way or two how to contribute.
The more you portray Orcs (or any fantasy monster) as sympathetic, the more distasteful it becomes to charge into battle against them without asking questions first.
This thread seems like the perfect solution-- make orcs sympathetic, and replace them with a new horde of monstrous humanoids. Here's my contribution.
Plague Orcs
The bodies of these orcs are perfect breeding grounds for multitudes of virulent, deadly diseases. The orcs themselves are immune to these diseases, but they are among the only ones. Their spit, blood, sweat, and waste is so full of disease that any animal or person in the orcs' presence is in danger of being contaminated. Animal husbandry is unknown among them-- their food comes entirely from hunting and farming.
These orcs cannot coexist with any other race or population. No matter how peaceful their intention, plague orcs will eventually kill any other race merely with their presence. In ancestral plague orc lands, even the groundwater has been contaminated. This contamination eventually kills off the local wildlife, forcing plague orcs to become nomads, tracking big game across the wilderness and searching for new lands to claim. The inhabitants of these lands either recognize the plague orcs as heralds of death and pestilence, or attempt negotiation and diplomacy, and unwittingly invite disease into their community.
Some kingdoms have called for crusades against the plague orcs, arguing that civilization will always be in danger as long as they live. Other kingdoms recognize that the plague orcs are not malicious, but will still respond to an approaching plague orc caravan as they would to an incoming siege. Either way, plague orcs are no strangers to war, and are surprisingly bold in battle with the knowledge that even if they fall, the blood their enemies draw from them will succeed where they fail.
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Still, a lot of us (I'm looking at us, WoW players) prefer a bit more moral and cultural complexity in our mook race...
I just want to understand what I'm reading here. Orcs have been a staple of fantasy fiction for more than half a century, they have had countless iterations in endless tabletop games in all that time, have found themselves in the hands of literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of GMs and players, and have been developed and re-developed by writers, both good and bad, of movies, games, and novels for decades. And your point of pride here is that you think that adherents of a relatively new and terribly limited video game are somehow the first to want to press culture onto the species?
Use of nuclear weapons is now authorized against the Blizzard servers. I will write your name on the side of each missile so they will know whose fault it is.
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@Bruunwald: I think you're being a bit too sensitive. It reminds me of a time a friend of mine commented on a guy's name in a mobile phone game. The name was Drow...something, and my friend said "Oh, like Drizzt?" and the guy got upset and gave him a history lesson on Norse and Celtic mythology explaining that drow were centuries older than Drizzt. The trouble is, my friend already knew this - it's just that Drizzt is the most likely source that a random person will encounter the use of "drow".
Anyway,
Orks
They love their dakka.
Okay, an actual contribution:
Tower Orcs
These orcs have an intellect and magical ability that rivals even elves. However, they have a more brutish appearance and under-developed vocal cords that don't allow them to speak in anything other than grunts and growls. Finding common orcs to be too feral and civilized races too intolerant, they seclude themselves in arcane towers and other remote places to study their Art in peace.
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I have always loved the idea of orcs with guns. can you imagine a bunch of orcs canoneer with a big-a** cannon strapped on a triceratop. Awesome
Barukaz was sneaking up on the unsuspecting man when the sight of his shadow betrayed him the man quickly turned around and bathed him in an acrid smelling black smoke. Barukaz looked down at the hole pulsating blood from his side and then he smiled, tusk gleaming in the darkness. I do believe i wont kill you little man
Powder orcs
Years ago, a relatively unknown war-chief found his way to Alkenstar. There he discovered the devastating power of black powder and through means still unknown managed to harness its ways. Learning to recreate the mix and having his smiths find new ways to cast powerful canons to be strapped to his warbeasts. Woe be the foes of Barakuz for he is mighty indeed.
The powder orcs are known to be smarter then their cousin
+2 str,+2 dex-2 wis and cha
Gun affinity: Powder orcs are proficient in fire arms
Fire res: Powder orcs learn very young to ignore the burns of gunfight fire res 5
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I want all these ideas to exist in the same game.