I have mixed feelings about orcs. I greatly dislike the comedic takes on them, but I love their flexibility. As stated in the video, they're just smart enough, strong enough and common enough that it adds up to trouble. Take the Orcs of Thar Gazeteer though. Damn thing makes them into a complete joke. However, it also has rules for wokani (orc mages), shamans (clerics), and elite orc warriors up to 7hd with a host of nasty skills they could learn, and rules for orc hordes and kingdom ending threats.
The Mystara take on them is that Hel and Thanatos are and have been reincarnating the most vile and malevolent souls they can find into orcs. Repeatedly. So you can kill the soul of the same serial killer in five different orc bodies. They'll just keep sending that bastard back to cause more harm.
My favorite takes on orcs come from outside DND entirely. The Warhammer orcs, are incredibly cool, especially their psychology and love of violence for its own sake. Their entire physiology being based on war, with them being hyper advanced fungal life, devoid of sex, just grow and kill and their corpses spawn more of them.
The other is from GoblinPunch, his articles about orcs are fantastic and horrifying.
"When a haruspex dies, they cease to exist. Their eternal reward is nothing. Utter oblivion. They are pleased with this. Everyone else goes to hell when they die. Heaven is a lie humans tell themselves because they are weak and servile."
" Void monks seek to embody nothingness. The tradition originally came from the orcs, who sought a way to escape the cruel world by vanishing it like the rude dream that it is. Nihilism is the only comfort, because by embracing it, comfort is no longer needed.
Annihilation isn't destruction. It is the return to nothingness.
Everything is an illusion. Only the mind is real.
Even the mind is an illusion. Nothing exists.
The world is a lie, and you can prove it."
"In the old days, when the Void Monks were closer to the orcish metal, removing your brain meant sawing off the top of your head and scooping out your own brains while reciting the chants. Those who removed all of their brains were revered as Masters of Emptiness. Those who pitched forward, had a seizure, and died were quietly buried under the turnip beds."
Probably the meanest, but obvious, thing I did with orcs against my players was when they were trapped on a bridge by a large group (50+), but these were powerful 6th level characters. So it was a blood bath at the front line where the heroes were killing orcs handily. The mage, seeing a large group bunched together behind the front line, cast levitate to rise up and get a clean shot at them with fireball. Shame you can't cast two spells in one round. 30-ish orcs shot him. The party retreated as the orcs were lobbing flaming arrows onto the bridge behind them.
As a player I remember really pissing off a friend when I used their unconscious wizard as a shield by draping them over my back as I ran away from orc archers… my argument that I’d avoided a TPK was NOT appreciated.
As a GM I routinely used orcs to harass and bedevil parties and as quest openers. Even at mid levels orcs pair well with a variety of other humanoids, ogres, hobgoblins, and giants for instance. They really are one of the more versatile creatures out there.
oh yeah. I remember that. that was a topic on the Roll For Initiative podcast, years ago that we did. Fun topic. I’ll look into this for a refresher topic.
I have mixed feelings about orcs. I greatly dislike the comedic takes on them, but I love their flexibility. As stated in the video, they're just smart enough, strong enough and common enough that it adds up to trouble. Take the Orcs of Thar Gazeteer though. Damn thing makes them into a complete joke. However, it also has rules for wokani (orc mages), shamans (clerics), and elite orc warriors up to 7hd with a host of nasty skills they could learn, and rules for orc hordes and kingdom ending threats.
The Mystara take on them is that Hel and Thanatos are and have been reincarnating the most vile and malevolent souls they can find into orcs. Repeatedly. So you can kill the soul of the same serial killer in five different orc bodies. They'll just keep sending that bastard back to cause more harm.
My favorite takes on orcs come from outside DND entirely. The Warhammer orcs, are incredibly cool, especially their psychology and love of violence for its own sake. Their entire physiology being based on war, with them being hyper advanced fungal life, devoid of sex, just grow and kill and their corpses spawn more of them.
The other is from GoblinPunch, his articles about orcs are fantastic and horrifying.
"When a haruspex dies, they cease to exist. Their eternal reward is nothing. Utter oblivion. They are pleased with this. Everyone else goes to hell when they die. Heaven is a lie humans tell themselves because they are weak and servile."
" Void monks seek to embody nothingness. The tradition originally came from the orcs, who sought a way to escape the cruel world by vanishing it like the rude dream that it is. Nihilism is the only comfort, because by embracing it, comfort is no longer needed.
Annihilation isn't destruction. It is the return to nothingness.
Everything is an illusion. Only the mind is real.
Even the mind is an illusion. Nothing exists.
The world is a lie, and you can prove it."
"In the old days, when the Void Monks were closer to the orcish metal, removing your brain meant sawing off the top of your head and scooping out your own brains while reciting the chants. Those who removed all of their brains were revered as Masters of Emptiness. Those who pitched forward, had a seizure, and died were quietly buried under the turnip beds."
Probably the meanest, but obvious, thing I did with orcs against my players was when they were trapped on a bridge by a large group (50+), but these were powerful 6th level characters. So it was a blood bath at the front line where the heroes were killing orcs handily. The mage, seeing a large group bunched together behind the front line, cast levitate to rise up and get a clean shot at them with fireball. Shame you can't cast two spells in one round. 30-ish orcs shot him. The party retreated as the orcs were lobbing flaming arrows onto the bridge behind them.
I always found them to be cute & cuddly.
This is a different take I’ve not heard before, but rock on. :)
As a player I remember really pissing off a friend when I used their unconscious wizard as a shield by draping them over my back as I ran away from orc archers… my argument that I’d avoided a TPK was NOT appreciated.
As a GM I routinely used orcs to harass and bedevil parties and as quest openers. Even at mid levels orcs pair well with a variety of other humanoids, ogres, hobgoblins, and giants for instance. They really are one of the more versatile creatures out there.
Curious to hear your thoughts on Tucker’s Kobolds.
This is my next topic. With credit to you. I did my research today and will record this weekend.
oh yeah. I remember that. that was a topic on the Roll For Initiative podcast, years ago that we did. Fun topic. I’ll look into this for a refresher topic.