Comments on: Half-Ogre PC Race

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:55:44 +0000

Just stumbled across this. Nice write-up. Don’t understand all the chatter about ability score mods. Rules this and rules that. If you want to make it +4 str, do so. Maybe remove /reduce something else for balance. Don’t like -2 int, remove it and the offsetting +1 str. Jeez, it’s a game…. not a blueprint for a nuke where something bad will happen if not followed exactly as drawn out.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:02:04 +0000

4th edition? Dang, thought this would be for Pathfinder.

By: Ask a Shoanti

Ask a Shoanti — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:59:19 +0000

I like the theme of trust in the roleplaying section: hard to earn, but rarely lost.

By: Dagalk

Dagalk — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:40:41 +0000

not a fan of 4th yet, but this race sounds great to play. Anyone who gets too wrapped up in rules that say you can’t do this or you can’t do that should just relax. a penalty to a stat for a race sounds completely just to me. it sounds fair, people who complain about their elf having a lower con than someone else should just play somethig else. Some of my favorite characters were using those penalty stats as their primary ability. a dwarven paladin is a world of fun. a halfling barbarian and i could have alot of fun with a half ogre wizard it’s all in how you play your character and negative stat modifiers give you a chance to play outside the box.

By: Fossawhey d'Orien

Fossawhey d'Orien — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:03:35 +0000

Brings me back to 1st and 2nd Edition. I have fond memories of an article written by Roger Moore about a family of Half Ogres. Love to see this in print!

By: Orange Dragon

Orange Dragon — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:37:33 +0000

There is absolutely no reason why you couldn’t play a half-ogre swordmage, it just wouldn’t be optimized. Really guys, is it necessary to min/max every single character you make? Some people actually create characters with role-playing in mind, not just roll playing.

By: Matthew J. Hanson

Matthew J. Hanson — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:41:22 +0000

There’s a lot to like here. The idea of the encounter power is good, but I think having it as a burst that lets you make a melee attack is a little odd. I might write it up like this:

Trigger: You are hit by an attack that deals damage to you
Immediate Reaction Personal
Effect: You may make a melee basic attack against one enemy in range. Your reach increases by 1 for this attack.

I’m also not to keen on the +3 Str -2 Int. Penalties serve to limit class and build choices rather than provide balance. (Want to play a half-ogre swordmage? TOO BAD!)

By: Sonofapreacherman

Sonofapreacherman — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:22:05 +0000

First of all, great racial write up, and certainly welcome at my table. I think some half-ogre backgrounds and a racial paragon class are warranted now.

Speaking to another point, let it be said that more than any previous iteration of D&D, all ability score are equal in 4th edition. A such (and this flies in the face of much that has been already said here) if you are going to pin a -2 Intelligence on half-ogres, then it should be returned with a +2 Strength, meaning, the half-ogre should begin with +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, and a -2 Intelligence modifiers. This is also in keeping with the idea that 4th edition races are not balanced with odd numbers.

I understand that the author wanted to differentiate half-ogres from goliaths, but the inclusion of a negative modifier to Intelligence already accomplishes that. No need to keep breaking standards.