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| The Gremlin |
 Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject: Fixing the half-orc... |
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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Nobody can dispute that the half-orc is underpowered. Okay, anybody can, but they shouldn't. look at their racial abilities and you'll see what I mean. And don't give me the half-orcs-are-wretched-creatures-anyway-so-they-should-be-underpowered argument, because if you read the Dragonlance Campaign Setting, you'll see another 'wretched' creature: the gully dwarf. But I notice that gully dwarves have some good abilities, many of them unique.
So do not disagree with me on this!
*Others wait for psycho gremlin to end rant*
Anyways, I'm trying to come up with some ways to boost the half-orc's power.
The first thing to do is fix the negative opinion on half-orcs. Wolves and cats are cunning, but their Int is 2, right? So half-orcs are not 'me smash puny kobolds' anymore. I see no reason to make them talk like that, anyways! So they are more, 'I'll smash those kobolds into dust if they cause too much trouble!'
Any more ideas?
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| Zherog |
| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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I have a house rule that lets the player choose one of the stat penalties to eliminate.
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John Ling
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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That in't a bad house rule. Still, it might be a little powerful.
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 30 Dec 2007
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Location: The Mines
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You could give them a new racial ability, like a Great Cleave or Diehard bonus feat.
What do you want to do with half-orcs in the campaign? Just get more players to take them, or make them better villains, or what?
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Wolfgang Baur
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know, but I just to make it more fair. Have you see dwarves? Sheesh, talk about over-powered!
Diehard or Great Cleave might be good, they're hard to get and thus are very helpful.
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe I'll let them use their strength modifier rather than their Charisma on Intimidate checks.
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| Ben Overmyer |
| Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| You could try and wedge some 4E-ish racial abilities per-level in....but that might necessitate doing it for all races, which could get messy for home rules. |
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| bubbagump |
| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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This thread, in combination with another thread I encountered elsewhere, got me thinking about the way I used to handle orcs and goblinoids in a previous campaign. I used to treat them like Native Americans, but worthy of being discriminated against. They had a "nature" feel to them similar to the feel one gets from elves (except evil instead of good).
Along that vein: how 'bout giving 1/2 orcs the Scent ability? Perhaps they could receive the Track feat for free. Perhaps they could get a +2 bonus on their Survival skill, Spot checks, or Listen checks. Perhaps a +2 bonus to Climb and Swim checks is in order, depending on how you wish to portray them. Perhaps all 1/2 orcs can Rage once per day. Obviously I wouldn't give them all these bonuses, but I think one or two might not be overpowering.
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:00 am Post subject: |
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Scent is a great suggestion. I picture them like the Uruk-Hai in LotR, sniffing the air for the stench of hobbitses...
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| Squach |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:35 am Post subject: |
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I had an idea when 4e was announced and it's certainly tied to the ideas of this thread. What do we think about doing away with races like "half-orc" and "half-elf" and instead we just had "orc" and "elf" but then also provided an LA+0 template for "half-human"?
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Jeff Greiner...
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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Scent is certainly a good idea, it is certainly a unique ability. The Native American one is good too, I think I'll use them. Also, I'll take one idea I got from another site: Put the half-orcs in the desert. Plainsmen and Northmen are a little cliche.
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| bubbagump |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Squach wrote: |
| I had an idea when 4e was announced and it's certainly tied to the ideas of this thread. What do we think about doing away with races like "half-orc" and "half-elf" and instead we just had "orc" and "elf" but then also provided an LA+0 template for "half-human"? |
I actually like the idea of doing away with all the "half" races. I realize there's a long tradition of half-elves (they were inspired by Tolkien, after all). Half-orcs, of course, were intended to be the antithesis of half-elves. In the contemporary form of D&D, though, I don't think either race is necessary. What's the point of playing a half-orc when you can just as easily play a bugbear or any other monster?
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| bubbagump wrote: |
| ...Half-orcs, of course, were intended to be the antithesis of half-elves... |
Um, I think you're getting them mixed up. Tolkien had half-orcs, and half-elves were added as the 'antithesis' of them.
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| bubbagump |
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| The Gremlin wrote: |
| bubbagump wrote: |
| ...Half-orcs, of course, were intended to be the antithesis of half-elves... |
Um, I think you're getting them mixed up. Tolkien had half-orcs, and half-elves were added as the 'antithesis' of them. |
Actually Elrond, leader of Rivendell, is a half-elf - the only one in all of Middle Earth. Tolkien even made a semi-big deal out of his ancestry in The Fellowship of the Ring and elsewhere.
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| bubbagump wrote: |
| The Gremlin wrote: |
| bubbagump wrote: |
| ...Half-orcs, of course, were intended to be the antithesis of half-elves... |
Um, I think you're getting them mixed up. Tolkien had half-orcs, and half-elves were added as the 'antithesis' of them. |
Actually Elrond, leader of Rivendell, is a half-elf - the only one in all of Middle Earth. Tolkien even made a semi-big deal out of his ancestry in The Fellowship of the Ring and elsewhere. |
Oh yeah, that's right!
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