1/2 Orc - A new page for an old race

[redrover]

All: Nice info. Will be checking out the other half-orcs.

erik: This half-orc is not mine, at core it is arcady’s. I just liked the approach so much I wanted to see it finished, and have given it a nudge.

Nivenus: I did add the racial trait Cunning Leader, and will discuss it now.

Unbalanced or Useless: Fair question. We may have a different idea of racial traits. For me, racial traits are elements used to construct a unified vision of a race. I prefer role-models, as opposed to power-ups. (One of my rant issues is the WotC decision to take penalties out of PC race design.)

The first consideration was this: Should the Warlord class be a core class option for a half-orc? My post assumed an answer of yes, for reasons laid out by arcady in this thread.

The second issue was execution. How do you go about doing this, seeing that neither Intelligence nor Charisma are half-orc strengths?

(I rejected just leaving Warlord selection subject to the chance of having a high Cha or Int. The role of war leader of a non-cleric type seems too good a fit for half-orcs to leave it so limited. I really wanted the half-orc to have a solid tripod of options: fighter [barbarian], cleric, warlord. I would be really unhappy to get PH2 and find out they get barbarian, cleric, fighter; too limiting).

Of the two attributes, which is weakest for a half-orc? Traditionally, I feel, while Int has generally been pegged low, Cha most often seemed to have been pegged lower. Thus, the sort of warlord a half-orc would likely be was Tactical, rather than Inspirational.

Allowing a swap of Wis for the Warlord class functions based on Int seemed a close fit with this.

(I rejected just adding a feat to allow Wis to serve as Int. First, a broad feat would create a complete dump stat, which would distort the whole point-building system for characters. Second, a feat would burn one the half-orc’s 1st level feat, leaving him somewhat worse off than a warlord of another race.

(I suppose we might add a clause reducing the Warlord Int-based abilities by any Int attribute penalty as well, but this starts to get a bit fiddly, and I'd rather not consider this step unless actual testing proves the existence of a balance problem.)

So much for the background thinking. If you have another design solution, I’d love to see it.


I’m not sure I understand this statement:

“On the one hand it gives an advantage to warlords that none of the other races [have?] for any of the other classes.”

So does this half-orc build add any power to the Warlord class? I don’t see it. If you do, please suggest post something specific. What does this half-orc build add to the Warlord class that it wouldn’t add to any other class the player picks?

Maybe you mean the number of racial traits becomes unbalanced? Let’s look.

  Dragonborn:       3
  Dwarf:            5
  Eladrin:          6
  Elf:              6
  Half-Elf:         3
  Halfling:         3
  Human:            4
  Tiefling:         3
   
  Half-Orc*         3 + the one under discussion

*My own thought is that this makes the half-orc total effectively 3, since Cunning Leader is a specific gateway into a specific class and adds only some flexibility in career choice. Once a class selection is made, then CL drops out of consideration. It's a feature, not a bug.

The fact that the half-elf/half-orc symmetry takes a hit is unfortunate, but I wouldn’t consider that a balance issue, as such.

Comment?

 

[Armadillo]

I like the design of the Group Tenacity feat, but I'm not sure that it's a fit for the half-orc. Group Tenacity implies that half-orcs are natural leaders of humans, orcs, or whatever group they are with, which is not the traditional image of the half-orc. Their traditional image is more of a person caught between two worlds, struggling to find their place.

All in all, though, this is still a good write-up. My only other comment is that the Orc's Warrior's Surge should probably be a racial power rather than a feat.

What are your thought's for Grummsh's Divine Challenge feat?

 

[redrover]

Armadillo: I could see making Warrior Surge a racial trait. I would suggest replacing the Bonus Encounter Power with the surge in this case. Good point, all non-minion orcs in the MM have the surge, so this makes a lot of sense to me.

I consider Group Tenacity possibly the weakest of the racial feats. While you have a point, this feat does play off the half-elf group perception trait nicely.

Maybe a Daily power (Fear Mark?) could activate an Intimidation/Fear check for opponents directly nominated by individual party members in range of the half-orc--this would let that +1 Intimidation bonus enter play directly at a time chosen by the half-orc. Maybe a successful check (Intimidate vs. Will) would grant combat advantage for the encounter for the nominator against the chosen enemy.

As for the Grummsh divine feat, at this moment I would probably go with converting the Chaos Hammer power to the proper Divine Feat format. It's virtually already in that position anyhow.

I was rather hoping someone would weigh in on the charge distance of 8. Looks like a rather powerful racial ability to me, although I like the way it would interact tactically against the elf move of 7.