Half-Orc race, and Orc racial feats

[darkadelphia]

One of my players wants to convert an old Half-Orc concept to 4e. If nothing else, we could just make it as an Orc character, but I figured I'd give house-ruling a Half-Orc a try. I'd like constructive criticism--especially towards balancing this option towards available races. One thing to keep in mind, having two stats in the same defense has been given as a reasoning for more powerful racial abilities (in the case of Orcs, Warforged and Eladrin). My general goal was to make a class as good as Orc, but tone down some of its combat abilities in favor of general utility, though the feats below can make up for that.

Furthermore, in regards to the feats, I attempted to balance the Orc feats (roughly) against the Elf feats, since that should make the Dual Heritage feature roughly as valuable for Half-Orcs as it is for Half-Elves.

Half-Orc
Average Height: 5'9"-6'4"
Average Weight: 165-225 lbs

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, Giant
Skills Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Streetwise
Dual Heritage: You can take feats that have either orc or human as a prerequisite (as well as those specifically for half-orcs), as long as you meet any other requirements.
Group Intimidation: You grant allies within 10 squares of you a +1 bonus on Intimidation checks.
Half-Blood's Vigor: You may use the half-orc racial power Half-Blood's Vigor as an encounter power:

Half-Blood's Vigor:
Your barbaric heritage makes you unkillable.
Encounter * Healing
Standard Action
You spend a Healing Surge.


HEROIC FEATS

Beast's Stomach
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: When outdoors, you can gather food for yourself within five minutes without any need for foraging or rations.

Brutal Heritage
Prerequisite: Half-Orc
Benefit: When you use your Half-Blood's Vigor racial power, you may immediately make a basic melee attack as a free action.

Relentless Pursuit
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You need only 4 hours for an extended rest. You also gain a +1 Feat bonus to Endurance rolls.

PARAGON FEATS

Orc Tactics
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to hit on charge attacks.

 

[darkadelphia]

As a note, I was partly inspired by an earlier post by sdt, but took a different spin on racial abilities and feats.

 

[sdt]

I like "Relentless Pursuit" it counters the elves' not sleeping thing nicely; I'll probably steal that for my group. I find it difficult to make home rules for this stuff because it's natural to make them too good and takes awhile to get it correct.
In any case, I like your half-orc; the Vigor scales up in power naturally; you could make a feat that would allow them to use it as a minor action but that may piss off the dwarves too much.

 

[darkadelphia]

Yeah, I specifically kept it a standard to make it feel different than Dwarves. Dwarves are able to bounce back faster, but Orcs do it more often.

For Relentless Pursuit, I was thinking of the Orcs carrying Merry and Pippin to Isengard and thought it just "felt right."

I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback.

 

[chris.m.durham]

I started to write a response about how I liked the idea but thought it was probably unbalanced, but then I looked again and noticed that Vigor was an Encounter power. That's right in line I think.

My only problem is you've more or less made him just a brute with very little to flesh him out. He's strong and very tough, but needs something - even something minor - on the other side of the page to give him character.

The other thing I'd do is give a choice between streetwise and nature for the +2 bonus. Supports different builds better.

 

[darkadelphia]

I started to write a response about how I liked the idea but thought it was probably unbalanced, but then I looked again and noticed that Vigor was an Encounter power. That's right in line I think.

My only problem is you've more or less made him just a brute with very little to flesh him out. He's strong and very tough, but needs something - even something minor - on the other side of the page to give him character.

The other thing I'd do is give a choice between streetwise and nature for the +2 bonus. Supports different builds better.

Interesting thoughts--this is actually my "fleshed-out" response to the brutish orc in the monster manual (who gets nothing to help him do anything except be a monster in melee combat).

I see where you're coming from with the nature streetwise difference. I've emphasized the brutish city dwelling half-orc with this proposed houseruled race, and left the "nature-y" orc bits to feats. It's an interesting idea to allow the PC to choose between streetwise and nature, though it's unprecedented (no other race gets to choose skills for their racial bonuses). Perhaps Beasts's Stomach should also give the character +1 to nature rolls?

 

[chronoplasm]

Do you mind if I add some ideas of my own?

Pretty Cute, for an Orc-Blood
Prerequisite: Orc, Charisma 13+
You get a +2 to diplomacy and you grant allies within 10 squares of you a +1 to diplomacy checks.

Idiot Savant
Prerequisite: Orc, Intelligence 10-
Choose Arcana, Religion, or History
You are trained in the chosen skill and you grant allies withing 10 squares of you a +1 to checks for the chosen skill.

 

[darkadelphia]

Do you mind if I add some ideas of my own?

Pretty Cute, for an Orc-Blood
Prerequisite: Orc, Charisma 13+
You get a +2 to diplomacy and you grant allies within 10 squares of you a +1 to diplomacy checks.

Idiot Savant
Prerequisite: Orc, Intelligence 10-
Choose Arcana, Religion, or History
You are trained in the chosen skill and you grant allies withing 10 squares of you a +1 to checks for the chosen skill.

haha, I like the names for those feats. I'm not sure if it matches my flavor conception of orcs, but it might be helpful for building Orcs who are something other than Fighters, Rangers or Brutal Rogues.

 

[chronoplasm]

haha, I like the names for those feats. I'm not sure if it matches my flavor conception of orcs, but it might be helpful for building Orcs who are something other than Fighters, Rangers or Brutal Rogues.

I could also see Orcs as Warlords.
Also, consider this:
Orcs get a +2 to Strength and Constitution, right?
That is really good if you want to create a Cleric or a Paladin.
What if you built up the Orc's religious side?

 

[sdt]

The LOTR books kind of emphasized the Orcs as having an amazing endurance (at least for running away) that is what I thought of when I saw Relentless Pursuit. Idiot Savant is great too.