On the matter of half-orcs

[JoeGKushner]

Part of the problem with making half anything a race.

 

[Xyxox]

Come here, my snuggly green cutie-pie!

 

[Spatula]

So, I've read the PHB2 will have gnomes, half-orcs, devas, and goliaths. Has the fifth race been disclosed yet?

Shifter, isn't it?

 

[TarionzCousin]

So, I've read the PHB2

Did WotC ship early to Tasmania again?

 

[Felon]

Read the whole sentence Tarion, right up to the period.

 

[Felon]

Shifter, isn't it?

Is it? I don't have a DDI subscription.

 

[Jack99]

Is it? I don't have a DDI subscription.

It is.

 

[S'mon]

The problem, IMO, is that D&D has orcs without the background Tolkien gave them--Tolkien's Orcs are monsters in the literal sense, Elves (or possibly Men or hominid beasts) warped in body and mind by the dark arts of Morgoth, Sauron, Saruman, and others who have rebelled against Eru and His Music. D&D orcs are typically on the same order of being and nature as any other sapient race, and thus not necessarily driven towards evil in the same way that Morgoth warped the Orkor.

I typically treat orcs as hideous man-swine crossbreeds created by dark forces to bring ruin on the world. Aligned races work best with Good & Evil progenitor deities.

 

[S'mon]

On another note, why would orcs rape humans? Humans probably look ugly to orcs.

Like Runequest broo, they'll rape anything; or at least anything humanoid (broo aren't that fussy). Most of the offspring are basically orcs, per 1e MM, around 10% favour the human (etc) side; hence half-orcs.

The D&D humanoids are not separate species in the modern scientific sense, they're more like magically created sub-species. We know from the paleontology that there were human-neanderthal cross-breeding, and probably human-archaic homo sapiens crossbreeding elsewhere too.

As in the real world, it's quite possible for a group to find another group fits closely to its own standards of beauty. Beauty is not defined racially, it seems to be more about stuff like waist-hip ratios, body fat %, glossy hair, shoulder width and other universal stuff that make an 'attractive male' or 'attractive female', whatever the race. West African men and east-Asian women are often considered physically attractive by members of other races because they're genetically predisposed to fit closest to these universal standards.

In D&D humans traditionally find elves particularly attractive; likewise orcs may find humans attractive, possibly moreso than fellow orcs.

 

[arscott]

Given the human propencity to be attracted to all kinds of bizarre and unusal people/activities, I don't know why half-orcs can't come from consensual behaivior. I know why rape was originally used as on origin, but given what you can find on the internet these days I think people are becoming more accustomed to alternate lifestyles and activities such that consensual Human/Orc mating wouldn't be that surprising.

This. I'm fine with WotC being squeamish about rape, but do they really need to be that squeamish about a guy or gal with an Orc fetish?

I also feel like all of these "ew that's gross" reactions work in the opposite direction for half elves. Why would an elf ever stoop so low?