Homebrew DesignRoll up your sleeves and get working: there's lots of homebrewin' to be done! Post your custom creation for critiques or review those of your peers.
My single best received piece of homebrew, besides maybe the voldur, was my half-orc fix. This is the orc to go alongside it, but the two are not related crunch wise.
The Orc
"Take your battle. I shall bring you war."
Orcs are anathema to civilization, seen as a corrupt and brutal parody of it, yet still a product of it. They descended from the ogres and giants, born in the slave pits of massive coliseums to do battle for entertainment, and then later, for armies. But the orcs surpassed their masters, rising to become one of the universe's dominant species. As demons are to angels, so to are orcs to humans.
Personality: Orcs are savage and terrible, regarding violence as the end-all-be-all solution to the world's woes. Despite this, they are far from stupid, possessing an uncanny sort of predator's cunning. This, combined with their deadly brute strength, has made them a true threat to civilization.
Physical Description: Orcs are massive, standing well over six and a half feet, every inch of it covered in rippling muscle. Their skin is a sort of grayish-green, and they possess tusks of varying size. They favor light but protective clothing, and will wear jewelry they take from a slain foe, although that's the only time they deign to decorate themselves.
Relations: Elves hunt them. Humans and halflings fear them. Gnomes are intrigued by them, but avoid them nontheless. Orcs hate them all. They get along better with a few monstrous species like ogres, goblins, and gnolls.
Orc Lands: Orcs dwell in the most inhospitable environments, usually in small, isolated tribes. Occasionally, an orc will unite them, and when that happens, all who stand in their path trembles. Luckily for the world, it's a rare occasion that one orc climbs the corpses to the top.
Religion: Orcs worship primordial gods of strength, and the most powerful of their ancestors.
Orc Racial Traits
+4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma. Orcs are incredibly strong, but lack any sort of grace or charm.
Medium. As medium creatures, orcs have no special bonuses or penalties related to size.
Base land speed of 30 feet.
Weapon Proficiencies: An orc is automatically proficient with one martial weapon of his choice, and orc double axes are treated as being martial weapons for all orcs. Smash: An orc's unarmed attacks are always treated as being lethal. Any item an orc attempts to sunder, including weapons, is treated as having a hardness 5 points lower then its actual hardness (cannot be lower then 0). Ferocity: An orc remains conscious and can continue fighting even if his hit point total is below 0. He is is still staggered and loses 1 hit point each round. A creature with ferocity still dies when its hit point total reaches a negative amount equal to its Constitution score.
Orcs suffer a -6 penalty on attack rolls in which they attempt to deal nonlethal damage, as opposed to the normal -4.
+2 racial bonus on all Survival checks.
+2 racial bonus on all Intimidate checks. We Are Predators: An orc gains the ranger's favored enemy ability for one race of his choice.
Automatic Languages: Orc. Bonus Languages: Any.
Favored Class: Barbarian.
Something about the way you've written this really solidifies what orcs are. They are Not Nice and not a PC's fodder.
The race is no longer locked out of roles that aren't Thog, too. That's how races should be.
Smash is a very nice toy. I'm concerned about being able to break pretty much anything you want at ECL 1, but then again, this is an Orc. We Are Hunters rounds out the race well, and the name says it all. Ominous.
Something about the way you've written this really solidifies what orcs are. They are Not Nice and not a PC's fodder.
The race is no longer locked out of roles that aren't Thog, too. That's how races should be.
Smash is a very nice toy. I'm concerned about being able to break pretty much anything you want at ECL 1, but then again, this is an Orc. We Are Hunters rounds out the race well, and the name says it all. Ominous.
In one word: Amazing. I don't know how, but you've made orcs seem cool.
Now I'm thinking I'll have to run a campaign based entirely on your orcs and half-orcs, and their interactions with humans. I just can't wait to use them, period.
In one word: Amazing. I don't know how, but you've made orcs seem cool.
Now I'm thinking I'll have to run a campaign based entirely on your orcs and half-orcs, and their interactions with humans. I just can't wait to use them, period.
I love it. You've taken the classic orc and somehow made it as awesome as a drow.
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
I don't quite understand why the orcs have -2 Dex. They're the classic 'brutish warrior', but I still think that knowing how to hold a weapon is as important as smashing it. Maybe instead of Dex... I'm not sure. Thoughts?
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
I don't quite understand why the orcs have -2 Dex. They're the classic 'brutish warrior', but I still think that knowing how to hold a weapon is as important as smashing it. Maybe instead of Dex... I'm not sure. Thoughts?
I struggled with this too, but it made the most sense. Wisdom penalty, and you lose the predatory cunning. Intelligence penalty and we're back to square one (ME SMASH). Constitution penalty, and, well...........
The only real problem I have with this is that it makes an Orc a better Wizard then a Sorcerer.
But, otherwise, it's very neat, and certainly feels like an Orc.
I'm alright with that. Orc's really do need the charisma penalty I think. It makes by far the most sense for them. As to sorcerer vs. wizard, I might do some racial substitution levels that let you base spontaneous casting on intelligence, or possibly wisdom.
I struggled with this too, but it made the most sense. Wisdom penalty, and you lose the predatory cunning. Intelligence penalty and we're back to square one (ME SMASH). Constitution penalty, and, well...........
Yes... I still think Int makes the most sense, along with the whole wizard-to-sorcerer thing. But either could work.
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
While I was browsing through the homebrew section i cam across your half elf-orc hybrid. I have to say that out of all your work I have seen, this is only beat by the voldur. (hope I spelt that right.) I may have to show this to my group.
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
While I was browsing through the homebrew section i cam across your half elf-orc hybrid. I have to say that out of all your work I have seen, this is only beat by the voldur. (hope I spelt that right.) I may have to show this to my group.
Hmmm. I personally like my half-orc fix more then the voldur, but I appreciate the love for it
I like it. Its short,simple, and really brutal. It fits the orc perfectly.
Thanks. I can be short and simple too! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! In all seriousness thankyou for the compliments. Every time I do an orc homebrew it's like an ego-booster.
I have to add my voice to the love this orc bandwagon. It makes them playable and not retards while holing the idea of orcs being big bad and in your face.
I have to add my voice to the love this orc bandwagon. It makes them playable and not retards while holing the idea of orcs being big bad and in your face.
Appreciated, as always.
As a side note, the half-narzul is coming along rather gradually. PM me some suggestions for favored class
I like it, your half-orc is still my favorite, but i like this one too. Hm, I think we should work together on races sometime, we're both pretty good with them, though i will say you are better with mechanics than i am.
__________________
Quotes
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by GFawkes
You didn't poke fate with a stick. You set fate on fire, then whacked it with a 2x4 several times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackwind1kaze
good thing they did body attribute instead of Physical attribute, otherwise the stats would look like:
I like it, your half-orc is still my favorite, but i like this one too. Hm, I think we should work together on races sometime, we're both pretty good with them, though i will say you are better with mechanics than i am.
Yeah but you (being honest here, promise) definitely have much more inspired concepts. I could never hope to think of something like the zshar you did. PM me about a collaboration on races?
Also, glad you like it, and I'm not surprised you prefer the half-orc. I really only built on the old orc concept, as opposed to rebuilding from the ground up like I did with the orc.
I enjoy this. it makes them stronger. i will use this now as my standard orcs.
my complaint is a lack of a rage or toughness feature, such as Ferocity or even a racial bonus feat of toughness or diehard.
Ferocity (Ex) A creature with ferocity remains conscious and can continue fighting even if its hit point total is below 0. The creature is still staggered and loses 1 hit point each round. A creature with ferocity still dies when its hit point total reaches a negative amount equal to its Constitution score.
i feel this still should be included, what say you, Vilpich?
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The Orc to my half-orc fix, PEACH
That's pretty much what I was going for.
