Part of my work on my own campaign setting, Balmortis, is rewriting many of the core races to better fit into my setting. The orcs have been finished for some time, but I haven't yet gotten around to posting them, just wanted to post a little introduction to the setting along with them (going to post it in the homebrew setting place).
Orc
Orcs are not a natural race in Balmortis, instead they were created by the elves as a living weapon to utilize against both the goblins and the Shining City, created with guidance from Ulan Agarr in the guise of the hedonistic god Singe. Bred in captivity to be brutal front-line troops, orcs have many specialized alterations done to them by the creators to make them better fighters.
Appearance: Orcs are big and muscular creatures, created to look fierce and terrifying to better intimidate the enemy. They are humanoids, usually standing six feet tall when fully grown, with leathery green skin. Since they have a tendency to grow excess skin relatively early in their life compared to most creatures, adult orcs are usually heavily wrinkled. Living a life of warfare and constant training, all orcs have a tendency to be covered in scars. While they have a face recognizable as humanoid, they have several features that makes them stand apart from other humanoids. They have a thick, protruding forehead made of dense bone, a wide, flat nose and a pair of enlarged fangs protruding from their lower jaw. Their ears are small and stunted. Orcs do not have any facial hair, and the hair on their bodies is so thin and short that it is barely visible. Their eyes are quite large compared to their head, with colors ranging from brown to black. Their hands appear to be slightly larger than is the norm for humanoids, compared to the rest of the body.
Orcs have had numerous changes done to them that sets them apart from most other humanoids. Instead of having their blood veins located outside their muscles, the veins are located at the very core of their muscles, making it very hard to cause an orc to bleed. Even if an orc is made to bleed, the blood is thick and will coagulate very rapidly. Their major nerves are also protected inside their bodies, running in furrows located inside their bones. Virtually all bones inside an orc have been reinforced, making them bulky and very dense. Especially the skull of an orc is extremely strong, being almost three times as thick as that of a human. The design of the orc is one of redundancy, as orcs have spares of the majority of their vital organs lying dormant inside their bodies, including a spare heart and liver. If an organ is destroyed in combat, it will be shut down and the spare organ will be activated, enabling the orc to continue fighting. The majority of the limbs are also made with redundancy in mind, having small storage holds containing compressed air and nutrients that allows them to continue functioning even if they are almost completely severed from the rest of the body. The skin on the top and side of their hands has been significantly reinforced to make it harder for enemies to disarm them. Perhaps the biggest difference between an orc and all other humanoids is their brain. Usually when a creature is injured, it will feel a sensation of pain. This is not true for orcs, when they are damaged they instead feel a dull ache, even if they sustain critical injures, an ache that is quickly drowned in the sensation of euphoria and enjoyment that orcs feel in battle. When not in battle, injury is merely a nuisance to orcs. This naturally has a significant effect on the behavior of orcs, especially when they are in danger. Naturally, the complexity and redundancy of the orcish body means that they need significantly greater amounts of food compared to most other creatures of a similar size.
Orcs have a natural lifespan of forty to fifty years, if not killed in combat or while hunting. Their accelerated metabolism ages orcs faster than humans. Female orcs have a tendency to be slightly less bulky than the males. Normally, the orcish gestation period is roughly five and a half months, the females usually giving birth to two or three children at a time. Orcs usually reach sexual maturity at an age of ten years and an orc is considered an adult when they turn fourteen.
Psychology: Orcs have been created to be a servitor race to the elves, a living warmachine. Even though the orcs have since rebelled against their elven masters and created societies of their own, they still have in them a wish to serve. They are simply happier in situations where they have someone giving them orders, be it other orcs or other humanoids. As long as the master they serve is able to feed them, arm them and lead them with competence, orcs will remain very loyal and devout servants. Secondly, orcs have also been instilled with a desire for organisation, a wish to live and operate under ordered conditions. Orcs living by themselves will therefore have a tendency to develop a strict hierarchy in their clan, with each member of the clan having a very specific and fixed function that he performs in the society. While orcs have been known to fight amongst themselves to demonstrate authority, this infighting never amounts to actual mutiny. If an orc wishes to challenge a leader, he will do so by demonstrating his superiority in combat. These duels are hardly ever to the death, instead ending when one combatant is rendered unconcious. Rarely is there any animosity between two orcs after a duel, once supremacy has been established the inferior orc will abide to the unity of his clan and follow the orders of his superior. When not fighting, duelling or training, orcs enjoy spending their time devouring lavish meals or listening to music. For some reason, orcs are greatly fascinated by music and will whenever possible have musicians playing around their villages or camps when resting. Some have argued that this great love of music was placed in the orcs so that their elven masters would have a way of rewarding them if they performed well. Even though orcs love food, they seem to disdain drinking. With their solid metabolism, orcs are usually capable of drinking great amounts of alcohol without feeling any effect, yet they still prefer to avoid doing so. Since alcohol has a tendency to lead to both a decreased combat capabilities, as well as unruly behavior, orcs avoid it whenever possible. Occasionally, during special celebrations, orcs will drink a sweet, bitter wine made of grapes and honey, the lai wine. Rarely will this lead them to actually getting drunk, as they mostly enjoy it due to the taste more than anything else.
While orcs have a reputation for being cold-hearted and cruel, their alignment is rarely evil. Orcs are almost as varied in alignment as humans, and there are a great number of both neutral and good orcs to be found. Their societies have a tendency to adapt to its surroundings, so while a clan of orcs that serves an evil master may evolve to become predominantly evil, the opposite can also happen with a clan that serves a good master. While many good and neutral orcs exist, it seems that the race has a slight disposition towards becoming evil, not because they have an inherent evil in them when born, but because it appears to be the simplest choice for orcs. Being slightly unintelligent and unemotional, it is often easier to turn an orc towards evil than good, simply because goodness has a tendency to be harder to explain and reason for. While it is easy for a master to explain to the orcs that they need to plunder a village because the master needs something the village owns, it is much harder to explain to an orc that trade and mutual respect will lead to better results. Being a militant and physically strong race, orcs are used to taking what they need. It is said that the easiest way to control a crowd is by speaking to the lowest common denominator, and this is even more true for orcs. When orcs live by themselves, the will tend to be mostly neutral in alignment.
Orcs are virtually always lawful, having been created to easily follow orders, to organize themselves in a strict hierarchy. The race simply feels more comfortable when each member has a very specific place and role in society. A few orcs, especially those brought up amongst non-orcs, may become neutral in law vs. chaos range. Orcs will virtually never become chaotic, it goes against everything in their nature.
Society: A typical orc society is divided into three distinct factions. The largest faction in an orc society is the warrior class. These are the orcs that train daily to deal with any foes their clan might meet, they duel and hone their skills to perfection. The leader of an orc clan is usually the leader of the warrior class as well. The second faction is the shaman class, the spiritual leaders of the orc clans. The shamans are responsible for ensuring that due reverence is paid to the ancestors of the clan, that the yearly ceremonies and celebrations are performed and that whatever deity the orcs worship is honored and tributed daily. The shamans also have two secondary functions in the orcish village. Firstly, it is the shamans that are responsible for brewing the lai wine used on special occasions. Secondly, it is the shamans that train musicians and singers to entertain the clan. Orcs have a love for music played in relatively high pitch, so the majority of orcish musicians learn to master either the flute, pan pipe or accordion. Unfortunately, orcs are never excellent musicians and if a clan is capable of capturing a member of another race that has a greater capacity for playing music, they will utilize the slave for entertainment. The last faction in orc society are the artisans, the class responsible for crafting goods, weapons, armor and instruments used by the rest of the clan. While the warrior class is the most dominant and powerful faction in virtually all orc clans, it accepts the purpose of the two other classes and rarely interferes with their work. A clan chief will virtually always have a representative from both the shaman and artisan class around him at all times, sometimes the leader of the respective classes. When orcs are found in the service of non-orcs, they will still have a tendency to organize themselves internally in a fashion similar to the organization of clans. For example, a small group of orcs acting as mercenaries or guards for another race will still develop into these three factions, sometimes having only a single member of their group responsible for all spiritual matters and a single member responsible for craftsmanship, which includes repair and maintenance of the groups weapons and armor.
In orcish society there are always far more males than females. When the race was created, the elves who created it needed warriors and nothing else. Therefore, there is a racial disposition towards giving birth to more males than females. Usually, two males will be born for every female in an orc clan. While this might prove to be a problem in a human society, the orcs have evolved to take this into account. Being a war faring race, orcish clans will have a tendency to loose a significant amount of males in combat, evening out the female to male ratio in the clan. In a clan that isn't engaged in war, the orcs have solved the problem of having a greater number of males by allowing female orcs to take several mates. While this would create strife and jealousy in a human society, the orcs never fight each other over their females. It is considered natural and acceptable for many males to form companionships with a single female. This has the advantage that there will virtually almost be someone around to mate with the females, even when a large part of the clan is out waging war or hunting. Females prefer a mix of partners, taking husbands from both the warriors and the craftsmen and shamans of their clan. While having a strong warrior as husband gives social standing, a craftsman or shaman will usually be home far more than a warrior, so a mix of the two is ideal for the strong females in a clan. While some might call orcish society chauvinistic, with very few females becoming warriors or hunters, the females actually have far more influence on the everyday life of a clan than the males. The orcs even have a superstition that it is bad luck not to take the advice of a woman. One of the first things that an outsider needs to know when dealing with orcs, is that it is much worse making an enemy of a female than a male. A male orc that feels offended will merely challenge the offender to a duel to settle the issue. A female orc will often develop a grudge against offenders and with the control the females have over the males, this will often result in far more long-term problems for the offender than if they offended a male.
Art: Many are of the impression that orcs have little or no culture, being a simplistic and artificial race. This is far from true, and there are many art forms that orcs enjoy. In addition to their love of music, orcs also enjoy both painting and storytelling. It is common in orc society to paint large murals on their buildings, murals often depicting famous battles that the orcs have fought in. While these pictures tend to be crude compared to the art produced by many other races, they are almost sacred to the orcs. Storytelling is also a valued art form in orc society. The orcs in particular have a love for highly exaggerated stories featuring historic legendary warriors. Especially stories in which some of the present orcs are given small roles in the story are found enjoyable, despite the obvious anachronism that occurs when a present person is placed in a story occurring millenniums ago. When telling a good story, lying is not frowned upon.
Orcs are also fond of decorating their armor and shields with symbols. Not only will orcish armor display the symbols of the orc's clan, it will often display the family and social standing of the orc as well. A typical orc will often put a small symbol at the edge of their shield when they kill an opponent in combat as a showcase of their accomplishment. The orcish alphabet has symbols for virtually all existing races in Balmortis. The symbol for many races even have small variations depending on the abilities of the member of said race. For example, the symbol for human has small variations depending on if the human is a warrior, a mage, a priest or an archer. It is therefore possible to read an orc's shield like a very elaborate history of the enemies the orc has killed. Some of the greatest orc warriors in history have killed so many enemies that one shield was incapable of holding all the symbols. In these cases, the warlord would bring servants to the battlefield carrying additional shields to showcase his accomplishments. The shield the warlord himself wields in combat would only showcase the most powerful opponents slain. According to orc legend, the greatest warrior of their race, Aruul Aruk, would bring a hundred servants into combat to carry his shields.
Combat: Orcs are terrifying opponents in war. Having been created for war, the orcs have a wide host of abilities which makes them more suitable for armed conflict. Their entire society revolves around conflict. The first mistake most opponents make when facing orcs, beyond having an orcish enemy to begin with, is to underestimate the orcs. While it is true that orcs are not of superior intellect, they have had thousands of years of military training and they know virtually all tactics and strategies employed in war. While orcs are more than capable of preparing elaborate strategies involving ambushes, flanking maneuvers or feints, they prefer direct confrontation when possible, relying on their great physique and skill to get them through. If an orcish war band encounters an enemy, it will prefer to simply charge the opponent, using thrown weapons such as axes or spears, immediately before they clash into the enemy ranks. Spellcasters, especially arcane spellcasters, will be targeted first and the orcs will try to hit such individuals with their thrown weapons as soon as possible. If the orcs themselves are bringing spellcasters to a conflict, they will often make them wear the same armor and weaponry as the rest of the warband to make them harder to identify as spellcasters. If the orcs are facing a great number of archers, they will form a shielwall to protect them as they move across the battlefield. If the orcs have access to mobile troops, such as cavalry, they will send these troops around the enemy to cut of escape and to disrupt spellcasters or archers who hide behind melee troops. Orcs have also grown accustomed to being subject to hit and run tactics, especially from races who favor ranged weapons. When they meet a foe that utilizes hit and run, orcs will often counter this tactic by employing camouflage to prepare an ambush, having a small number of orcs remain visible to the opponent to act as a decoy while the remaining force hides in the direction from which they expect an attack.
In large-scale conflicts, orcs will often have very flexible formations where the front-line is constantly being replaced from the rear. Since orcs have the ability to quickly rejuvenate from injuries, the orcs that are wounded in combat will move to the rear of their formation to recoup while fresh troops takes their place. A very few orcs have even been known to feign their own death, pretending to fall over dead when a blow is struck, only to allow them to rejuvenate while their kinsmen continue the battle. Most orcs disdain this tactic though, deeming it to be dishonorable.
Orcs as characters
* +2 Strength, +4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Being a race created for warfare, orcs are incredibly strong and tough. Unfortunately, their creators had no need for thinkers, and orcs therefore have a tendency to be somewhat unintelligent and crude.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Orc land base speed is 30 ft.
* Bonus feat: Orcs gain the Toughness feat for free.
* Darkvision: Orcs can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and orcs can function just fine with no light at all.
* Fast recovery: Orcs are able to recover very quickly from wounds, gaining Fast Healing 1.
* Heavy Body: Since orcs have denser bones and muscles, they are hard to physically move, granting them a +2 bonus when performing or defending against Bull Rush, Grapple and Overrun attempts. Orcs, due to their heavy body, suffer a -5 penalty to all Climb and Swim checks.
* High Metabolism. Orcs, with their large bodies and redundant design, require twice as much food and water as a normal humanoid of the same size.
* Last Stand: Orcs are not easy to subdue, they will only become disabled if brought to -5 Hit Points or less. An orc still dies when brought to -10 Hit Points.
* Reinforced Hands: Since orcs have thicker skin protecting their hands as well as strong hand muscles, they are notoriously hard to disarm. An orc gains a +2 bonus to the opposed attack roll when trying to resist Disarm attempts.
* Stalwart Combatant: Being tough and virtually immune pain, orcs suffer only half subdual damage.
* Tough Body: Due to their innate tenacity and the redundancy in their design, orcs are less vulnerable to critical hits. The critical hit range of any opponent attacking an orc is reduced by one point.
* +3 morale bonus on saving throws against fear. Orcs, being incapable of feeling strong pain, are not prone to being intimidated or scared by anything.
* Natural Armor +2
* Automatic languages: Common and Orc. Bonus languages: Any
* Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass orc’s fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
* Level Adjustment +1
Orc
Orcs are not a natural race in Balmortis, instead they were created by the elves as a living weapon to utilize against both the goblins and the Shining City, created with guidance from Ulan Agarr in the guise of the hedonistic god Singe. Bred in captivity to be brutal front-line troops, orcs have many specialized alterations done to them by the creators to make them better fighters.
Appearance: Orcs are big and muscular creatures, created to look fierce and terrifying to better intimidate the enemy. They are humanoids, usually standing six feet tall when fully grown, with leathery green skin. Since they have a tendency to grow excess skin relatively early in their life compared to most creatures, adult orcs are usually heavily wrinkled. Living a life of warfare and constant training, all orcs have a tendency to be covered in scars. While they have a face recognizable as humanoid, they have several features that makes them stand apart from other humanoids. They have a thick, protruding forehead made of dense bone, a wide, flat nose and a pair of enlarged fangs protruding from their lower jaw. Their ears are small and stunted. Orcs do not have any facial hair, and the hair on their bodies is so thin and short that it is barely visible. Their eyes are quite large compared to their head, with colors ranging from brown to black. Their hands appear to be slightly larger than is the norm for humanoids, compared to the rest of the body.
Orcs have had numerous changes done to them that sets them apart from most other humanoids. Instead of having their blood veins located outside their muscles, the veins are located at the very core of their muscles, making it very hard to cause an orc to bleed. Even if an orc is made to bleed, the blood is thick and will coagulate very rapidly. Their major nerves are also protected inside their bodies, running in furrows located inside their bones. Virtually all bones inside an orc have been reinforced, making them bulky and very dense. Especially the skull of an orc is extremely strong, being almost three times as thick as that of a human. The design of the orc is one of redundancy, as orcs have spares of the majority of their vital organs lying dormant inside their bodies, including a spare heart and liver. If an organ is destroyed in combat, it will be shut down and the spare organ will be activated, enabling the orc to continue fighting. The majority of the limbs are also made with redundancy in mind, having small storage holds containing compressed air and nutrients that allows them to continue functioning even if they are almost completely severed from the rest of the body. The skin on the top and side of their hands has been significantly reinforced to make it harder for enemies to disarm them. Perhaps the biggest difference between an orc and all other humanoids is their brain. Usually when a creature is injured, it will feel a sensation of pain. This is not true for orcs, when they are damaged they instead feel a dull ache, even if they sustain critical injures, an ache that is quickly drowned in the sensation of euphoria and enjoyment that orcs feel in battle. When not in battle, injury is merely a nuisance to orcs. This naturally has a significant effect on the behavior of orcs, especially when they are in danger. Naturally, the complexity and redundancy of the orcish body means that they need significantly greater amounts of food compared to most other creatures of a similar size.
Orcs have a natural lifespan of forty to fifty years, if not killed in combat or while hunting. Their accelerated metabolism ages orcs faster than humans. Female orcs have a tendency to be slightly less bulky than the males. Normally, the orcish gestation period is roughly five and a half months, the females usually giving birth to two or three children at a time. Orcs usually reach sexual maturity at an age of ten years and an orc is considered an adult when they turn fourteen.
Psychology: Orcs have been created to be a servitor race to the elves, a living warmachine. Even though the orcs have since rebelled against their elven masters and created societies of their own, they still have in them a wish to serve. They are simply happier in situations where they have someone giving them orders, be it other orcs or other humanoids. As long as the master they serve is able to feed them, arm them and lead them with competence, orcs will remain very loyal and devout servants. Secondly, orcs have also been instilled with a desire for organisation, a wish to live and operate under ordered conditions. Orcs living by themselves will therefore have a tendency to develop a strict hierarchy in their clan, with each member of the clan having a very specific and fixed function that he performs in the society. While orcs have been known to fight amongst themselves to demonstrate authority, this infighting never amounts to actual mutiny. If an orc wishes to challenge a leader, he will do so by demonstrating his superiority in combat. These duels are hardly ever to the death, instead ending when one combatant is rendered unconcious. Rarely is there any animosity between two orcs after a duel, once supremacy has been established the inferior orc will abide to the unity of his clan and follow the orders of his superior. When not fighting, duelling or training, orcs enjoy spending their time devouring lavish meals or listening to music. For some reason, orcs are greatly fascinated by music and will whenever possible have musicians playing around their villages or camps when resting. Some have argued that this great love of music was placed in the orcs so that their elven masters would have a way of rewarding them if they performed well. Even though orcs love food, they seem to disdain drinking. With their solid metabolism, orcs are usually capable of drinking great amounts of alcohol without feeling any effect, yet they still prefer to avoid doing so. Since alcohol has a tendency to lead to both a decreased combat capabilities, as well as unruly behavior, orcs avoid it whenever possible. Occasionally, during special celebrations, orcs will drink a sweet, bitter wine made of grapes and honey, the lai wine. Rarely will this lead them to actually getting drunk, as they mostly enjoy it due to the taste more than anything else.
While orcs have a reputation for being cold-hearted and cruel, their alignment is rarely evil. Orcs are almost as varied in alignment as humans, and there are a great number of both neutral and good orcs to be found. Their societies have a tendency to adapt to its surroundings, so while a clan of orcs that serves an evil master may evolve to become predominantly evil, the opposite can also happen with a clan that serves a good master. While many good and neutral orcs exist, it seems that the race has a slight disposition towards becoming evil, not because they have an inherent evil in them when born, but because it appears to be the simplest choice for orcs. Being slightly unintelligent and unemotional, it is often easier to turn an orc towards evil than good, simply because goodness has a tendency to be harder to explain and reason for. While it is easy for a master to explain to the orcs that they need to plunder a village because the master needs something the village owns, it is much harder to explain to an orc that trade and mutual respect will lead to better results. Being a militant and physically strong race, orcs are used to taking what they need. It is said that the easiest way to control a crowd is by speaking to the lowest common denominator, and this is even more true for orcs. When orcs live by themselves, the will tend to be mostly neutral in alignment.
Orcs are virtually always lawful, having been created to easily follow orders, to organize themselves in a strict hierarchy. The race simply feels more comfortable when each member has a very specific place and role in society. A few orcs, especially those brought up amongst non-orcs, may become neutral in law vs. chaos range. Orcs will virtually never become chaotic, it goes against everything in their nature.
Society: A typical orc society is divided into three distinct factions. The largest faction in an orc society is the warrior class. These are the orcs that train daily to deal with any foes their clan might meet, they duel and hone their skills to perfection. The leader of an orc clan is usually the leader of the warrior class as well. The second faction is the shaman class, the spiritual leaders of the orc clans. The shamans are responsible for ensuring that due reverence is paid to the ancestors of the clan, that the yearly ceremonies and celebrations are performed and that whatever deity the orcs worship is honored and tributed daily. The shamans also have two secondary functions in the orcish village. Firstly, it is the shamans that are responsible for brewing the lai wine used on special occasions. Secondly, it is the shamans that train musicians and singers to entertain the clan. Orcs have a love for music played in relatively high pitch, so the majority of orcish musicians learn to master either the flute, pan pipe or accordion. Unfortunately, orcs are never excellent musicians and if a clan is capable of capturing a member of another race that has a greater capacity for playing music, they will utilize the slave for entertainment. The last faction in orc society are the artisans, the class responsible for crafting goods, weapons, armor and instruments used by the rest of the clan. While the warrior class is the most dominant and powerful faction in virtually all orc clans, it accepts the purpose of the two other classes and rarely interferes with their work. A clan chief will virtually always have a representative from both the shaman and artisan class around him at all times, sometimes the leader of the respective classes. When orcs are found in the service of non-orcs, they will still have a tendency to organize themselves internally in a fashion similar to the organization of clans. For example, a small group of orcs acting as mercenaries or guards for another race will still develop into these three factions, sometimes having only a single member of their group responsible for all spiritual matters and a single member responsible for craftsmanship, which includes repair and maintenance of the groups weapons and armor.
In orcish society there are always far more males than females. When the race was created, the elves who created it needed warriors and nothing else. Therefore, there is a racial disposition towards giving birth to more males than females. Usually, two males will be born for every female in an orc clan. While this might prove to be a problem in a human society, the orcs have evolved to take this into account. Being a war faring race, orcish clans will have a tendency to loose a significant amount of males in combat, evening out the female to male ratio in the clan. In a clan that isn't engaged in war, the orcs have solved the problem of having a greater number of males by allowing female orcs to take several mates. While this would create strife and jealousy in a human society, the orcs never fight each other over their females. It is considered natural and acceptable for many males to form companionships with a single female. This has the advantage that there will virtually almost be someone around to mate with the females, even when a large part of the clan is out waging war or hunting. Females prefer a mix of partners, taking husbands from both the warriors and the craftsmen and shamans of their clan. While having a strong warrior as husband gives social standing, a craftsman or shaman will usually be home far more than a warrior, so a mix of the two is ideal for the strong females in a clan. While some might call orcish society chauvinistic, with very few females becoming warriors or hunters, the females actually have far more influence on the everyday life of a clan than the males. The orcs even have a superstition that it is bad luck not to take the advice of a woman. One of the first things that an outsider needs to know when dealing with orcs, is that it is much worse making an enemy of a female than a male. A male orc that feels offended will merely challenge the offender to a duel to settle the issue. A female orc will often develop a grudge against offenders and with the control the females have over the males, this will often result in far more long-term problems for the offender than if they offended a male.
Art: Many are of the impression that orcs have little or no culture, being a simplistic and artificial race. This is far from true, and there are many art forms that orcs enjoy. In addition to their love of music, orcs also enjoy both painting and storytelling. It is common in orc society to paint large murals on their buildings, murals often depicting famous battles that the orcs have fought in. While these pictures tend to be crude compared to the art produced by many other races, they are almost sacred to the orcs. Storytelling is also a valued art form in orc society. The orcs in particular have a love for highly exaggerated stories featuring historic legendary warriors. Especially stories in which some of the present orcs are given small roles in the story are found enjoyable, despite the obvious anachronism that occurs when a present person is placed in a story occurring millenniums ago. When telling a good story, lying is not frowned upon.
Orcs are also fond of decorating their armor and shields with symbols. Not only will orcish armor display the symbols of the orc's clan, it will often display the family and social standing of the orc as well. A typical orc will often put a small symbol at the edge of their shield when they kill an opponent in combat as a showcase of their accomplishment. The orcish alphabet has symbols for virtually all existing races in Balmortis. The symbol for many races even have small variations depending on the abilities of the member of said race. For example, the symbol for human has small variations depending on if the human is a warrior, a mage, a priest or an archer. It is therefore possible to read an orc's shield like a very elaborate history of the enemies the orc has killed. Some of the greatest orc warriors in history have killed so many enemies that one shield was incapable of holding all the symbols. In these cases, the warlord would bring servants to the battlefield carrying additional shields to showcase his accomplishments. The shield the warlord himself wields in combat would only showcase the most powerful opponents slain. According to orc legend, the greatest warrior of their race, Aruul Aruk, would bring a hundred servants into combat to carry his shields.
Combat: Orcs are terrifying opponents in war. Having been created for war, the orcs have a wide host of abilities which makes them more suitable for armed conflict. Their entire society revolves around conflict. The first mistake most opponents make when facing orcs, beyond having an orcish enemy to begin with, is to underestimate the orcs. While it is true that orcs are not of superior intellect, they have had thousands of years of military training and they know virtually all tactics and strategies employed in war. While orcs are more than capable of preparing elaborate strategies involving ambushes, flanking maneuvers or feints, they prefer direct confrontation when possible, relying on their great physique and skill to get them through. If an orcish war band encounters an enemy, it will prefer to simply charge the opponent, using thrown weapons such as axes or spears, immediately before they clash into the enemy ranks. Spellcasters, especially arcane spellcasters, will be targeted first and the orcs will try to hit such individuals with their thrown weapons as soon as possible. If the orcs themselves are bringing spellcasters to a conflict, they will often make them wear the same armor and weaponry as the rest of the warband to make them harder to identify as spellcasters. If the orcs are facing a great number of archers, they will form a shielwall to protect them as they move across the battlefield. If the orcs have access to mobile troops, such as cavalry, they will send these troops around the enemy to cut of escape and to disrupt spellcasters or archers who hide behind melee troops. Orcs have also grown accustomed to being subject to hit and run tactics, especially from races who favor ranged weapons. When they meet a foe that utilizes hit and run, orcs will often counter this tactic by employing camouflage to prepare an ambush, having a small number of orcs remain visible to the opponent to act as a decoy while the remaining force hides in the direction from which they expect an attack.
In large-scale conflicts, orcs will often have very flexible formations where the front-line is constantly being replaced from the rear. Since orcs have the ability to quickly rejuvenate from injuries, the orcs that are wounded in combat will move to the rear of their formation to recoup while fresh troops takes their place. A very few orcs have even been known to feign their own death, pretending to fall over dead when a blow is struck, only to allow them to rejuvenate while their kinsmen continue the battle. Most orcs disdain this tactic though, deeming it to be dishonorable.
Orcs as characters
* +2 Strength, +4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Being a race created for warfare, orcs are incredibly strong and tough. Unfortunately, their creators had no need for thinkers, and orcs therefore have a tendency to be somewhat unintelligent and crude.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Orc land base speed is 30 ft.
* Bonus feat: Orcs gain the Toughness feat for free.
* Darkvision: Orcs can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and orcs can function just fine with no light at all.
* Fast recovery: Orcs are able to recover very quickly from wounds, gaining Fast Healing 1.
* Heavy Body: Since orcs have denser bones and muscles, they are hard to physically move, granting them a +2 bonus when performing or defending against Bull Rush, Grapple and Overrun attempts. Orcs, due to their heavy body, suffer a -5 penalty to all Climb and Swim checks.
* High Metabolism. Orcs, with their large bodies and redundant design, require twice as much food and water as a normal humanoid of the same size.
* Last Stand: Orcs are not easy to subdue, they will only become disabled if brought to -5 Hit Points or less. An orc still dies when brought to -10 Hit Points.
* Reinforced Hands: Since orcs have thicker skin protecting their hands as well as strong hand muscles, they are notoriously hard to disarm. An orc gains a +2 bonus to the opposed attack roll when trying to resist Disarm attempts.
* Stalwart Combatant: Being tough and virtually immune pain, orcs suffer only half subdual damage.
* Tough Body: Due to their innate tenacity and the redundancy in their design, orcs are less vulnerable to critical hits. The critical hit range of any opponent attacking an orc is reduced by one point.
* +3 morale bonus on saving throws against fear. Orcs, being incapable of feeling strong pain, are not prone to being intimidated or scared by anything.
* Natural Armor +2
* Automatic languages: Common and Orc. Bonus languages: Any
* Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass orc’s fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
* Level Adjustment +1
