D&D 5E Elf-Orc Grugach

[Haldrik]

Elf + Orc = Grugach

Choice of +2 and +1 to any of Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom.

As communities, a prominent Grugach culture tends to be tree dwellers, sleeping and traveling speedily among branches, in forests adjoining open flatland. Their weapons and tools are stone but magically enhanced by ritual, and are skilled in setting hunting traps, as a tool proficiency. They consider adopted beasts to be fellow members of their clan and communicate with these family members as if Speak With Animals. Families are led by clan elders, who rarely include a beast, but such is known.

Other Grugach cultures also exist.

As individuals, a Grugach might grow up as a member of any Elf or Orc culture.

Grugach are any Medium size, fom 4 feet to 7 feet, similar to Eladrin, like human on average but more variant. Those of the same clan tend to be the same height, whether short or tall or human average. They tend toward slightly grayish white skin and red hair.

 

[DND_Reborn]

So, are you just reusing the name? Because in older editions these were just "wild" elves, and have nothing to do with being part-orc.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I dig it.

 

[Haldrik]

@dnd4vr



The Elf-Orc Grugach is moreso a synthesis across all of the editions of D&D.

In 1e, the Grugach aka Wild Elf, is like Wood Elf, except even stronger. More xenophobic, even more nature oriented. But note the normal Intelligence.

However, via 2e Forgotten Realms, the 3e "Wild Elf" becomes tougher than other elves, but lower Intelligence and lacking any special Strength. In 3e, +Dex −Int.

By 4e, the Wild Elf and Wood Elf merge into the "Elf", contra "Eladrin", and all Elf are uniformly +Dex +Wis. (Altho +Dex +Int later becomes possible, this strays from the Wild Elf flavors across editions so far.)

Now in 5e Forgotten Realms, the "Wood Elf" includes the Wild Elf and continues the merge of the 4e Elf, and remains +Dex +Wis.

The original 1e Wild Elf with the exceptional Strength is long gone.


Thus the Elf-Orc Grugach is a way within 5e Forgotten Realms, to return to the original concept. Strength. The Elf parentage continues the love of nature, plants, animals, especially trees, and the Dexterity acrobatics. Plus elven magic. The Orc parentage continues a culture of hunting and gathering, paleolithic tools, anti-civilization, roaming, and Strength athletics. Meanwhile the Orc culture of rage within the Elf culture of aloofness, morphs into an aggressive xenophobia.

Looking at the 1e Grugach druidry, it seems worthwhile to invite the +2 and +1 to any of Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom. This likewise continues the 4e Wild Elf with the Wisdom bonus, and success at druidry.

The Wood Elf is rural and occasionally ventures far into the wilderness, where tribal Elf and tribal Orc sometimes cooperate to survive a harsh environment, especially during unusual scarcity. Grugach culture descends from such an ancient tribal merger.

Even in the 1e Greyhawk setting, the Elf-Orc Grugach retcons seemlessly. Little was known about them, and they look Elven ... but stronger and ... wilder. It feels plausible to "clarify" that Grugach ancestry in fact comes from Elf-Orc parentage. Compare how the Drow in the 1e MM was vague but clarified later in Fiend Folio. Also compare the Elf-Orc to the 1e Elf-Human that is likewise treated as an Elf group, while being of dual parentage. For obvious reasons, more was known about Elf-Human ancestry. Less was known about Elf-Orc ancestry.


The dual-parentage Grugach blends well to rebuild the 1e Grugach tropes within the 5e Forgotten Realms setting. It also covers the tropes across all of the editions of D&D.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@dnd4vr

The Elf-Orc Grugach is moreso a synthesis across all of the editions of D&D.

In 1e, the Grugach aka Wild Elf, is like Wood Elf, except even stronger. More xenophobic, even more nature oriented. But note the normal Intelligence.

However, via 2e Forgotten Realms, the 3e "Wild Elf" becomes tougher than other elves, but lower Intelligence and lacking any special Strength. In 3e, +Dex −Int.

By 4e, the Wild Elf and Wood Elf merge into the "Elf", contra "Eladrin", and all Elf are uniformly +Dex +Wis. (Altho +Dex +Int later becomes possible, this strays from the Wild Elf flavors across editions so far.)

Now in 5e Forgotten Realms, the Wood Elf continues the merge of the 4e Elf, and is +Dex +Wis.

The original 1e Wild Elf with the exceptional Strength is long gone.

None of these have anything to do with orcs, though. They have things to do with tough and strong, but other races than orcs are also tough and strong. In 5E, mountain dwarves, for instance, are just as strong and tougher with +2 to STR and CON. Dwarves are also known for being xenophobic.

Thus the Elf-Orc Grugach is a way within 5e Forgotten Realms, to return to the original concept. The Elf parentage continues the love of nature, plants, and animals, especially trees, and the Dexterity acrobatics. The Orc parentage continues the hunting and gathering, paleolithic tools, anti-civilization, and Strength athletics. Meanwhile the Orc culture of rage within the Elf culture of aloofness, morphs into an aggressive xenophobia.

Looking at the 1e Grugach druidry, it seems worthwhile to invite the +2 and +1 to any of Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom. This likewise continues the 4e Wild Elf with the Wisdom bonus, and success at Druid.

The dual-parentage Grugach blends well to rebuild the 1e Grugach tropes within the 5e Forgotten Realms setting. It also covers most the tropes across all of the editions of D&D.

Also, of course you can do as you want, but as it currently is the crossbreed of an orc and any non-orc results in either another orc or a "half-orc". So, I would see your Orc-Elf as simply a Half-Orc. I see no need for anything more, but that's just me. If it works for you, have fun!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

None of these have anything to do with orcs, though. They have things to do with tough and strong, but other races than orcs are also tough and strong. In 5E, mountain dwarves, for instance, are just as strong and tougher with +2 to STR and CON. Dwarves are also known for being xenophobic.



Also, of course you can do as you want, but as it currently is the crossbreed of an orc and any non-orc results in either another orc or a "half-orc". So, I would see your Orc-Elf as simply a Half-Orc. I see no need for anything more, but that's just me. If it works for you, have fun!

I'd much prefer to have mechanical distinction for it, and erase the "always orcs or half-orcs" simplification from my games.

 

[Haldrik]

None of these have anything to do with orcs, though. They have things to do with tough and strong, but other races than orcs are also tough and strong. In 5E, mountain dwarves, for instance, are just as strong and tougher with +2 to STR and CON. Dwarves are also known for being xenophobic.



Also, of course you can do as you want, but as it currently is the crossbreed of an orc and any non-orc results in either another orc or a "half-orc". So, I would see your Orc-Elf as simply a Half-Orc. I see no need for anything more, but that's just me. If it works for you, have fun!

In a 5e Forgotten Realms context, the Orc parentage explains the extreme Strength of the Grugach. Also it explains the aggressive anti-civilization culture.

In 5e Forgotten Realms, the Orc and the Elf rarely produce children because both the Gruumsh faction and the Corellon faction mutually despise such union. But it can happen, even if there is much ignorance concerning it. Ostensibly, the Grugach ancestry either never knew these religions or else rejected them.

Grugach seem more animistic anyway. This likewise can include animal reverence and sacredness of wilderness vegetation.

The Orc-Elf recombines well to produce traditional Grugach traits.

The claim that Orc parentage is so dominant to produce a Half-Orc that suppresses the Elf parentage, is unreliable and comes from deceptive Gruumsh faction propaganda.

And the point of the Elf-Orc Grugach is to return the 1e Grugach plausibly.

 

[Haldrik]

As it currently is the crossbreed of an orc and any non-orc results in either another orc or a "half-orc". So, I would see your Orc-Elf as simply a Half-Orc.

In 5e, Orc hybrids preserve different traits depending on different parentages. The 5e Orc-Ogre is officially the Ogrillon, a Half-Ogre (different from a Half-Orc). There is no reason to require the Orc-Elf to resemble the Orc-Human. The 5e MM Orc entry mentions Orc-Human and Orc-Dwarf in addition to other "crossbreeds", but never mentions Orc-Elf who seem likely to be killed at birth by the Gruumsh faction. Thus a statblock for an Elf-Orc remains unknown in 5e so far. The Grugach supplies this missing Elf-Orc statblock for 5e.

Moreover, it is worth pointing out, the Elf-Orc Grugach includes Grugach cultural (!) traits.

The Grugach culture cultivates nature magic, animal communication, arboreal habitat, trap-setting, xenophobia, and a tree-brachiating gymnastics that combines Str and Dex skills, and so on. The Grugach is a distinctive union of Elf and Orc, culturally, in addition to a tendency toward the Non-Human physical characteristics of each parentage.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Why not just use Wood Elf subrace and put a higher score into Strength? It sounds like other than the stat boost, most of the differences are cultural, like the difference between human barbarian tribes and more civilised nations.

 

[Haldrik]

Why not just use Wood Elf subrace and put a higher score into Strength? It sounds like other than the stat boost, most of the differences are cultural, like the difference between human barbarian tribes and more civilised nations.

The Wood Elf is the apparent elven ancestry of the Elf-Orc Grugach.

The Grugach is close to Wood Elf. But there are enough tweaks to the traits, that it seems worth its own entry for the sake of clarity.



Elf
Ok: Darkvision
Ok: Fey
Ok: Trance
Ok: Perception
Tweak: Language: ONLY Speak With Animals (even to communicate with Grugach!) (other language from background)
Tweak: Alignment (often Chaotic Neutral)

Wood
Ok: Fleet of Foot
Tweak: +2 and +1 to choice of two from: Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom
Tweak: Creature Type: Humanoid (elf-orc)
Tweak: Spear and bow proficiencies (no sword proficiencies)
Needs Fix Anyway: Mask of Wild

Also I want all Grugach to have a Climb Speed across vegetation (but not for walls). Maybe, swap Spear and Bow for the Climb Speed. But then mention, that Grugach prefer their magically enhanced stone blades for spearheads and arrowheads, and handblade tools, can choose these in place of class weapon proficiencies, and typically avoid metal weapons even if acquired from loot.

Backgrounds (!) can supply many Grugach traits.
Grugach Trapper: Tool Proficiency for Hunting Traps, Snares and Pits, Stealth skill, etcetera
Grugach Beast Kin: Special animal companion as family member, Nature skill for animal handling, riding, etcetera
Grugach Blade Maker: Ritual to magic stone blades for tools and weapons, etcetera
Grugach Herbalist: Medicine skill, plant lore, etcetera

Grugach backgrounds can add a language (typically elf, orc, common, or sylvan) for a proficiency.

Much of Grugach "culture" can utilize the background design space.



So, the Grugach traits are close to the Wood Elf traits, but there is enough customization to benefit from a comprehensive presentation that includes the Grugach cultural backgrounds.