Smiting Him Hip and Thigh
Return of the Half-Ogre
Revised D&D3e Character Race converted by M Jason Parent (hound@ambient.on.ca)

	The Half-Ogre was originally presented by Gary Gygax in his then-regular column in Dragon Magazine as an example of ways to make “power characters” less appealing to players, he was then revised by Roger Moore in “The Whole Half-Ogre” in a later issue. Overall the Half-Ogre is a fairly competent fighter, but ill-suited to most other D&D tasks. This document attempts to bring the Half-Ogre into the third edition D&D game. The most important note when comparing this half-ogre to other versions is that he is not a Large creature.

	Although humans and ogres are not known for their romantic liaisons, they do occur (often less romantically than with elves and humans) and half-ogres are often the result. 
	Most half-ogres are not accepted by their ogre parent, as they are smaller, weaker and slower to mature than their brethren. This pushes them in turn towards human society, where their great size and fearsome appearance gives them a modicum of respect, although they are still often judged harshly for their giant-kin roots. Those that cannot adapt to human life find themselves uprooted, without kin, wandering alone or perhaps with a tribe of lesser humanoids.

	Personality: Half-Ogres are not deep thinkers, nor are they known for their sensitivity. Those who live in human domains however are those who show the least of their ogrish tendencies, having learned to hold back from physical acts of violence because it more often than not leads to intervention by the city watch.
	Since they live in exile, most half-ogres in cities seek work in out-of-the way positions, often doing menial labour at docks or working with trade caravans. With their mighty strength, many are sooner-or-later approached to bear arms for their employer, but few are ever given the proper training to become a fighter, mostly out of fear.

	Physical Description: Half-Ogres are impressive specimens, ranging between 7 and 8 feet in height (80 + 4d4 inches), and weighing 300 pounds on average (255 lbs + (2d4 x height bonus)). Skin colour and hair colour is variable, but tends to be brown, greyish, black, or dull yellow (for skin tone only, never hair). Most half-ogres have human-like eyes, though abou 20 have the white pupils common to ogrekind. 
	The half-ogre skull has a massive brow-ridge and heavy-set jaw, and the nose takes on a flat, squashed appearance. Combined with their size and large amounts of coarse body hair (even including manes on some specimens), the half-ogre is hard-pressed to hide in polite society.
	Half-Ogres age and mature faster than human, at a rate proportional to that of half-orcs (use the half-orc aging tables in all cases).

	Relations: Half-Ogres are only generally on good terms with half-orcs, who go through the same social problems as them. In fact, some half-orcs look to the half-ogre as a bigger, dumber brother. Generally they are on poor terms with most other races, only having humans on anything close to speaking terms. Most half-ogres try to find acceptance via the path of least resistance, usually by being quiet and good citizens and keeping to themselves. More boisterous, “tough” behaviour usually results in their immediate removal from human society via the city watch.

	Alignment: Half-Ogres have a strong tendency towards chaos from their parentage, but favour neither good nor evil. Most half-ogres found in human lands try to keep a neutral good bent to their behaviour. Those living with humanoids are more evil.

	Half-Ogre Lands: Half-Ogres have no lands of their own. They most often quietly live among humans, while those not suited to human life find themselves exiled from both worlds, and only usually accepted by smaller humanoids (goblins and orcs) who take advantage of their greater strength.

	Language: Most half-ogres are fluent in common, and some have learned Giant from their ogre family.

	Names: Like half-orcs, half-ogres names usually are based on the impression the half-ogre wants to make. Those living in human society usually take unassuming human names, while those living with the humanoids are more likely to take a name in the Giant tongue to impress the humanoids around him.

	Adventurers: Half-Ogres join adventurers when the pressures of society become too much and they feel the need to strike out and get out of town for a while. Those that do often find that adventurers are more accepting than society at large, and will often continue to adventure for no other reason than to stay with these new friends.

Half-Ogre Racial Traits
	
	Abilities: +4 Strength, -2 Dexterity,+2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Half-Ogres are strong and touch, but their lineage includes a much smaller brain and they are inept in social situation.
	Size: No matter how much bigger a half-ogre may appear to be, they are still Medium-sized creatures (as is any creature up to 8 feet tall). As medium-sized creatures, half-ogres have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
	Hit Dice: A half-ogre gains one additional hit die (1d8) at level 1 because of his stature and parentage.
	Skills: Half-Ogres get a +3 racial bonus to Intimidation skill rolls due to their mighty stature and reputation.
	Speed: Half-Ogre base speed is 30 feet.
	Low-light vision: Half-ogres can see twice as far as humans in starlight, moonlight, torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination.
	Giant Blood: For all special abilities and effects, a half-ogre is considered to be an Ogre or a Giant. Half-Ogres can, for example, use special ogre weapons or magic items, and are treated as Giants when dealing with rangers who have Giants as their favoured enemy.
	Automatic Languages: Common or Giant. Bonus Languages: Giant or Common, Orc, Gnoll.
	Favoured Class: Warrior. Unfortunately for the Half-Ogre, proper fighter training is rare and their favoured class aborts back down to the NPC Warrior Class. A multiclass half-ogres warrior class does not count when determining whether he suffers an XP penalty.