I got a wierd idea about a new race. I'm not sure if I'm even going to use it in my home game, but I had to write it up anyway. Basically it's a race that combines the "worst" traits of halfingls and orcs, with a little something extra. Let me know what you think:
Orclings
The race known as orclings resulted when a large warparty of vicious, cannibalistic halflings from a desert world were thrown through an interdimensional portal and ended stranded on another plane. They were attacked by a local orc tribe, and ended up annihilating all the male orcs and taking over their village. Lacking women of their own, they took the orc women as their mates. Soon after they attacked a tribe of Goblins and moved into their caves, taking their women as well. After a few generations a new race of small orc-like creatures swarmed over the land. A significant percentage of them exhibit psionic potential, mostly as psychic warriors.
Personality: Orclings tend to be dominated by greed and hunger. They always want more; more food, more land, more possessions, etc. The less intelligent are always going for short-sighted schemes to make money or steal food, with little self control. Even the more intelligent members of the race are ultimately ruled by these urges, although they are capable of patience, and more complicated, well thought out schemes. Only the wisest members of the race have been able to conquer these urges completely, and their priests are all that give them a semblance of unity and civilization. One common trait is that they consider dead creatures to be food, whether or not the creatures used to be sentient, or even related to them.
Physical Description: Orclings are Small humanoids with green skin, large pointed ears, and small fangs or tusks. They stand about 3-1/2 feet tall, to just less than 4 feet. They are unusually strong for their size, with large appetites, and have no qualms about eating anything that has stopped moving long enough for them to take a bite.
Orcling women bear children frequently, and twins and triplets are common. They reach maturity in about 10 years, and live about 50 years.Their rapidly expanding population, combined with their large appetites and unsavory dietary habits led to their primary tactic in war: the Orcling Swarm. Every few generations their population reaches critical mass, and most of the healthy adults leave en-masse, eating or destroying everything in their path, taking down larger opponents by sheer weight of numbers and focused viciousness. Orcling swarms can make even an orc barbarian horde think twice.
Relations: Orclings tend to attack goblins on sight, and have generally displaced them in the areas where Orclings live (their word for goblin means “food that begs for mercy”). Kobolds and Orclings tend to see each other as rivals for the same territory, and frequently war with each other. However, the two Small races have also been known to band together to fight a common threat from the larger races. Orclings generally consider gnomes and halfings to be soft and weak (and tasty), but good aligned orclings often find them better company than their own kind. Orclings are wary of all the larger races, seeing them as large, clumsy, stupid, and dangerous. When they are outnumbered by a group of larger humanoids, they will grovel and kowtow to them, then rob them blind at the first opportunity. If they outnumber a group of larger humanoids by 2-1 or more they will tend to be much more aggressive, and may attack if not given a sufficient bribe or other reason to avoid violence.
Alignment: Orclings are almost always chaotic, with the majority being chaotic neutral. Those who favor their orc heritage tend to chaotic evil, while those who favor their distant Halfling ancestors tend towards chaotic good.
Orcling Lands: Orclings tend to be found wherever goblins live, as they exterminate the goblins and take over their territory. Some tribes of orclings also war with orcs, attempting to take their land. These orclings are usually mounted on wolves or worgs, and are much more aggressive than the normal orclings. At least one tribe has settled down in Halfling lands, and is less aggressive, and generally more “good” than the rest of their race.
Religion: The chief deity of the orclings is Gruumsh, the leader of the Orcish pantheon. Although in the Orcling tales he is somewhat smaller.
Language: Orclings speak Orc, and Common, with more intelligent ones speaking Halfling.
Orcling Racial Traits
· +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Charisma
· Small: As a Small Creature, an orcling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans and her lifting and carrying limits are ¾ those of a medium character.
· Orcling Base land speed is 30 feet. Orclings are unusually quick for their size, a side effect of their metabolism.
· Darkvision 60 feet.
· Swarmfighting (Bonus Feat): See page 105 of the Complete Warrior. Orclings are used to living, working, and fighting in crowded warrens since birth.
· Hungry (Ex): Orclings have a heightened metabolism and always feel hungry. They need as much food and water as a Medium size creature, and begin starving after a day and a half (see DMG, page 304). Whenever they encounter something new that can fit in their mouth, they have to make a DC 15 will save to avoid trying to taste it.
· Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, an orcling is considered an orc. Orclings, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect orcs as their orc ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by orcs.
· +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against poison or disease. A lifetime of putting anything into their mouth has made them resistant to these hazards.
· Automatic languages: Orc and Common. Bonus languages: Halfling, Draconic, Goblin, and Gnome. Orclings often learn the languages of potential enemies, or potential food.
· Favored Class: Psychic Warrior (or Barbarian of psionics do not exist in the campaign).
Orclings
The race known as orclings resulted when a large warparty of vicious, cannibalistic halflings from a desert world were thrown through an interdimensional portal and ended stranded on another plane. They were attacked by a local orc tribe, and ended up annihilating all the male orcs and taking over their village. Lacking women of their own, they took the orc women as their mates. Soon after they attacked a tribe of Goblins and moved into their caves, taking their women as well. After a few generations a new race of small orc-like creatures swarmed over the land. A significant percentage of them exhibit psionic potential, mostly as psychic warriors.
Personality: Orclings tend to be dominated by greed and hunger. They always want more; more food, more land, more possessions, etc. The less intelligent are always going for short-sighted schemes to make money or steal food, with little self control. Even the more intelligent members of the race are ultimately ruled by these urges, although they are capable of patience, and more complicated, well thought out schemes. Only the wisest members of the race have been able to conquer these urges completely, and their priests are all that give them a semblance of unity and civilization. One common trait is that they consider dead creatures to be food, whether or not the creatures used to be sentient, or even related to them.
Physical Description: Orclings are Small humanoids with green skin, large pointed ears, and small fangs or tusks. They stand about 3-1/2 feet tall, to just less than 4 feet. They are unusually strong for their size, with large appetites, and have no qualms about eating anything that has stopped moving long enough for them to take a bite.
Orcling women bear children frequently, and twins and triplets are common. They reach maturity in about 10 years, and live about 50 years.Their rapidly expanding population, combined with their large appetites and unsavory dietary habits led to their primary tactic in war: the Orcling Swarm. Every few generations their population reaches critical mass, and most of the healthy adults leave en-masse, eating or destroying everything in their path, taking down larger opponents by sheer weight of numbers and focused viciousness. Orcling swarms can make even an orc barbarian horde think twice.
Relations: Orclings tend to attack goblins on sight, and have generally displaced them in the areas where Orclings live (their word for goblin means “food that begs for mercy”). Kobolds and Orclings tend to see each other as rivals for the same territory, and frequently war with each other. However, the two Small races have also been known to band together to fight a common threat from the larger races. Orclings generally consider gnomes and halfings to be soft and weak (and tasty), but good aligned orclings often find them better company than their own kind. Orclings are wary of all the larger races, seeing them as large, clumsy, stupid, and dangerous. When they are outnumbered by a group of larger humanoids, they will grovel and kowtow to them, then rob them blind at the first opportunity. If they outnumber a group of larger humanoids by 2-1 or more they will tend to be much more aggressive, and may attack if not given a sufficient bribe or other reason to avoid violence.
Alignment: Orclings are almost always chaotic, with the majority being chaotic neutral. Those who favor their orc heritage tend to chaotic evil, while those who favor their distant Halfling ancestors tend towards chaotic good.
Orcling Lands: Orclings tend to be found wherever goblins live, as they exterminate the goblins and take over their territory. Some tribes of orclings also war with orcs, attempting to take their land. These orclings are usually mounted on wolves or worgs, and are much more aggressive than the normal orclings. At least one tribe has settled down in Halfling lands, and is less aggressive, and generally more “good” than the rest of their race.
Religion: The chief deity of the orclings is Gruumsh, the leader of the Orcish pantheon. Although in the Orcling tales he is somewhat smaller.
Language: Orclings speak Orc, and Common, with more intelligent ones speaking Halfling.
Orcling Racial Traits
· +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Charisma
· Small: As a Small Creature, an orcling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans and her lifting and carrying limits are ¾ those of a medium character.
· Orcling Base land speed is 30 feet. Orclings are unusually quick for their size, a side effect of their metabolism.
· Darkvision 60 feet.
· Swarmfighting (Bonus Feat): See page 105 of the Complete Warrior. Orclings are used to living, working, and fighting in crowded warrens since birth.
· Hungry (Ex): Orclings have a heightened metabolism and always feel hungry. They need as much food and water as a Medium size creature, and begin starving after a day and a half (see DMG, page 304). Whenever they encounter something new that can fit in their mouth, they have to make a DC 15 will save to avoid trying to taste it.
· Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, an orcling is considered an orc. Orclings, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect orcs as their orc ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by orcs.
· +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against poison or disease. A lifetime of putting anything into their mouth has made them resistant to these hazards.
· Automatic languages: Orc and Common. Bonus languages: Halfling, Draconic, Goblin, and Gnome. Orclings often learn the languages of potential enemies, or potential food.
· Favored Class: Psychic Warrior (or Barbarian of psionics do not exist in the campaign).
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