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D&D General What have you done with Orcs in your games?
- Thread starter Voadam
- Start date
oreofox
Explorer
My orcs are mutated elves. The elves came to be from the pairing of fey creatures and my homebrew plant race. Due to this heritage, elves mutate rather easily (it's the justification for all the various types of elf subraces you seem to find). There are 3 subraces of elf that resemble the typical elves, then there's the orcs. An orc is born to elves who have spent at least a century in areas of concentrated Fire magic (such as one of the countries that became the orc's homeland, which is full of lava and volcanoes). Orcs can also procreate amongst themselves. It can be assumed that a sun elf could be born of 2 orc parents who spend 100 years within the jungles of the sun elf homeland, but orcs don't live that long typically.
Orcs gain fire resistance due to the circumstances of their births. Their skin is black as coal, with eyes and hair the shades of flame. Despite being descended from elves, they live a fraction of the lifespan of an elf, thanks again to the circumstances of their births. And I stole a thing from this board where (I forget who, so I am very sorry!) someone suggested orcs (or something else, but I believe it was orcs) feel emotions as if they were turned to 11. Anger becomes extreme rage, sadness becomes crippling despair, love becomes near obsession, happiness becomes euphoria, etc. I thought that was something pretty good and seemed to fit the whole "firey passion" type thing, so I went with it.
The typical raging orc of default D&D is still there, but it's only because someone made them mad. That's about all I have on my orcs, as I haven't had a Player interested in playing an orc, so I haven't gotten much deeper into their culture.
Orcs gain fire resistance due to the circumstances of their births. Their skin is black as coal, with eyes and hair the shades of flame. Despite being descended from elves, they live a fraction of the lifespan of an elf, thanks again to the circumstances of their births. And I stole a thing from this board where (I forget who, so I am very sorry!) someone suggested orcs (or something else, but I believe it was orcs) feel emotions as if they were turned to 11. Anger becomes extreme rage, sadness becomes crippling despair, love becomes near obsession, happiness becomes euphoria, etc. I thought that was something pretty good and seemed to fit the whole "firey passion" type thing, so I went with it.
The typical raging orc of default D&D is still there, but it's only because someone made them mad. That's about all I have on my orcs, as I haven't had a Player interested in playing an orc, so I haven't gotten much deeper into their culture.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Errantas
In my Errantas homebrew (2 campaigns set 80 years apart), all of the races (except effectively underdark Halflings) were brought to this material plane as a refuge because it had thin elemental walls. (Custom cosmology - just basially it was easier to get to.)
So I had orcs that orginated from two different planes in my world. The Steppes Tribes were loosely based on Ghegis Khan and the mongols, had seven tribes each with some different core beliefs, plus another tribe that retreated before start of play into the underdark, taking with it a seedling from the mother tree of a CN druid grove that helped them adapt. One of the tribes became allies becasue of the action of the party and controlled much of the steppes by the second campaign.
The other group was the Archipelago Orcs, who were fearsome sailors and were the strongest naval power around. They were slavers as well. It wasn't explored in play, but they were beholden to something demonic in a volcano.
13th Age
Last finished campaign was 13th Age. The Orcs had long ago been created by the Elves to defeat the dreaded Wizard King (now the less powerful Lich King), who then lost control. Various other races inhabited the lands they allied with, but the races were showing to grow together, especially in Concord and other cities, which threatened the Elf Queen's rule over the elves. So she set up a new Orc Lord by breeding a new, more powerful one and sending a clandestine champion to help him unite the orc tribes under him. (This is the work of of decades.) She also captured a living dungeon and started a decade long ritual to force feed it the evil bubbling up from below when the Drow tainted the underworld to win their war against the dwarves. She knew that living dungeons were what you got when the taint infected new Koru Behemoths as they swam through the earth to the surface, and wanted to make a crazed Behemoth that would wipe Horizon, the floating city of the Archmage off the map, and then go one and wipe out Axis, the capital of the human's empire. The entire city of Horizon, she had found out, was the phylactery of the Lich King.
The Orc Lord, having been created stronger, wasn't just a pawn. He used the elven magic on sacks of orcs gestating beneith the earth (orcs bubble to the surface in waves of evil, as well as being born) to create elf-enhanced orcs.
So the campaign spread the time from right before the Orcs started their attack to until the Dwarves had been contained and the Orc armies were encircling Horizon and starting the ritual to guide the living dungeon/behemoth there. The campaign started and ended with the Orcs and their plans, though it circled the entire map to do so.
Current
In one of my current campaigns, the players are agents for a fading and failing Imperium, well past it's peak. The continent has been mostly civilized, and orcs are not a part of it. There's no indication in play yet if they never existed, or if they are extinct like dragons and dwarves are.
There's also a possibility that I may introduce them later - both the drow and halflings are races created by the Imperium at it's peak, and I could have Orcs be a new warrior race being created for the war that is brewing.
In my Errantas homebrew (2 campaigns set 80 years apart), all of the races (except effectively underdark Halflings) were brought to this material plane as a refuge because it had thin elemental walls. (Custom cosmology - just basially it was easier to get to.)
So I had orcs that orginated from two different planes in my world. The Steppes Tribes were loosely based on Ghegis Khan and the mongols, had seven tribes each with some different core beliefs, plus another tribe that retreated before start of play into the underdark, taking with it a seedling from the mother tree of a CN druid grove that helped them adapt. One of the tribes became allies becasue of the action of the party and controlled much of the steppes by the second campaign.
The other group was the Archipelago Orcs, who were fearsome sailors and were the strongest naval power around. They were slavers as well. It wasn't explored in play, but they were beholden to something demonic in a volcano.
13th Age
Last finished campaign was 13th Age. The Orcs had long ago been created by the Elves to defeat the dreaded Wizard King (now the less powerful Lich King), who then lost control. Various other races inhabited the lands they allied with, but the races were showing to grow together, especially in Concord and other cities, which threatened the Elf Queen's rule over the elves. So she set up a new Orc Lord by breeding a new, more powerful one and sending a clandestine champion to help him unite the orc tribes under him. (This is the work of of decades.) She also captured a living dungeon and started a decade long ritual to force feed it the evil bubbling up from below when the Drow tainted the underworld to win their war against the dwarves. She knew that living dungeons were what you got when the taint infected new Koru Behemoths as they swam through the earth to the surface, and wanted to make a crazed Behemoth that would wipe Horizon, the floating city of the Archmage off the map, and then go one and wipe out Axis, the capital of the human's empire. The entire city of Horizon, she had found out, was the phylactery of the Lich King.
The Orc Lord, having been created stronger, wasn't just a pawn. He used the elven magic on sacks of orcs gestating beneith the earth (orcs bubble to the surface in waves of evil, as well as being born) to create elf-enhanced orcs.
So the campaign spread the time from right before the Orcs started their attack to until the Dwarves had been contained and the Orc armies were encircling Horizon and starting the ritual to guide the living dungeon/behemoth there. The campaign started and ended with the Orcs and their plans, though it circled the entire map to do so.
Current
In one of my current campaigns, the players are agents for a fading and failing Imperium, well past it's peak. The continent has been mostly civilized, and orcs are not a part of it. There's no indication in play yet if they never existed, or if they are extinct like dragons and dwarves are.
There's also a possibility that I may introduce them later - both the drow and halflings are races created by the Imperium at it's peak, and I could have Orcs be a new warrior race being created for the war that is brewing.
Wicked Woodpecker
Explorer
In my Warhammer Fantasy - they are basically 40ks nerfed Orkz (as I run WHF as isolated world of WH40k). So they do not speak like hools, but as latent psychics they speak very crude version of whatever language dominates in area (High Elves hates it).
In Forgotten Realms - generally with evil tendencies - but slowly building more civilised forms like Obould Many Arrows, even within basic Gruumshian aspect. But generally mortals with real souls - so they can overcome it.
Really only rage-tendencies are common for all orcs, as part of biology, and seeing things as competition and conflict (independently of alignment) which makes them understand quite well with goliaths.
I have two orcs PC and NPC in a team I run - LG paladin of Tyr with sport referee / trial by combat judge/champion schtick and CN mercenary ranger.
In Forgotten Realms - generally with evil tendencies - but slowly building more civilised forms like Obould Many Arrows, even within basic Gruumshian aspect. But generally mortals with real souls - so they can overcome it.
Really only rage-tendencies are common for all orcs, as part of biology, and seeing things as competition and conflict (independently of alignment) which makes them understand quite well with goliaths.
I have two orcs PC and NPC in a team I run - LG paladin of Tyr with sport referee / trial by combat judge/champion schtick and CN mercenary ranger.
Stormonu
NeoGrognard
Honestly, I‘be just recently pulled out Orcs of Thar and found something in the DM’s section I want to use.
Orcs are the reincarnated souls of the evilest of humanoids, punished to live a life of cruelty and pain for their previous sins. Some neutral deity set down this curse of rebirth to deny the lower realms (or perhaps evil deities) the souls of these evil beings for their infernal legions. In a way, though, the curse backfired because the reincarnated souls end up wrecking havoc and pain on the material realm.
But it is possible for Orcs to break the cycle, if the can find a way to recant their evil ways. The bigger issue is, most have no desire to recant - if they’re even aware of their past crimes.
Orcs are the reincarnated souls of the evilest of humanoids, punished to live a life of cruelty and pain for their previous sins. Some neutral deity set down this curse of rebirth to deny the lower realms (or perhaps evil deities) the souls of these evil beings for their infernal legions. In a way, though, the curse backfired because the reincarnated souls end up wrecking havoc and pain on the material realm.
But it is possible for Orcs to break the cycle, if the can find a way to recant their evil ways. The bigger issue is, most have no desire to recant - if they’re even aware of their past crimes.
The Green Hermit
Hero
Usually just kill them, because my kids are proud murderhobos. My husband is a half-orc thief, though. And there was once when they just wanted a toll of fresh-killed boar.
Puddles
Adventurer
I gave Orcs, goblins and gnolls all a similar treatment, which was to make them more akin to fiends/devils than human cultures. All 3 are genderless, they do not grow, they do not reproduce, and are irredeemable creatures filled with malice and spite that the adventurers need no qualms in killing.
Each race has its own way of “spawning”. Orcs are said to come out of the blizzards to the far north, goblins come out of the shadows when the half moon crosses the night sky and gnolls come from the abyss or when a hyena feeds on tainted flesh.
Half-orcs are not the offspring of a human and orc because that is impossible. Instead there are entire human tribes to the north that are said to have “Orcish Blood” within them, but how that came about is ancient history shrouded in myth - these are my Half-orcs. Half-elves and Tieflings get a similar treatment (of being a wider race with an ancient heritage rather than having parents of 2 different races.)
Each race has its own way of “spawning”. Orcs are said to come out of the blizzards to the far north, goblins come out of the shadows when the half moon crosses the night sky and gnolls come from the abyss or when a hyena feeds on tainted flesh.
Half-orcs are not the offspring of a human and orc because that is impossible. Instead there are entire human tribes to the north that are said to have “Orcish Blood” within them, but how that came about is ancient history shrouded in myth - these are my Half-orcs. Half-elves and Tieflings get a similar treatment (of being a wider race with an ancient heritage rather than having parents of 2 different races.)
Don Durito
Hero
I don't use Orcs - don't really see any need for them.
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