D&D 4E 1/2 Orcs in 4E (Rich Baker scoop)

[SPECTRE666]

http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=14765059&postcount=2101

[sblock=Rich Baker]Well, they're not in the Player's Handbook. I'd hope to have them available on DDi pretty soon after the PH hits, though, since players out there with half-orc characters are going to want to be able to convert or re-create their character concept, as the case may be.

Half-orcs are a bit tricky, because they imply a very ugly backstory that we frankly don't want to dwell on very much. I think it's possible to posit a better backstory, like "long ago a god of evil mixed the races of orcs and humans, and to this day atavistic throwbacks are born to each from time to time." We'll see where we get to on that score when we get serious about updating the half-orc. So far we've just had other fish to fry first.

Oh, and regardless of what core D&D does with half-orcs, they've got to be in the Realms at least as a NPC race (or "playable monster" race); they've been in Faerun in 3e and earlier editions, and we wouldn't retcon them out of existence.



Quote:
Originally Posted by kave99
so we know whats up with gnomes and drow, Rich whats the status for 1/2 orc's in 4th ed, it's all kind of vague so far. thank you in advance

__________________
Rich Baker
Senior Designer
Roleplaying R&D
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.[/sblock]

 

[I'm A Banana]

Half-orcs are a bit tricky, because they imply a very ugly backstory that we frankly don't want to dwell on very much.

A little disappointed in their lack of cojones and/or imagination in this regard.

I can understand them not wanting to dwell much on a race created out of, basically, rape. But seriously, not every half-orc child is or should be the child of a rape. They deserve a much bigger scope than that.

I say this as someone who doesn't really like the half-races in the first place, though.

 

[drothgery]

I can understand them not wanting to dwell much on a race created out of, basically, rape. But seriously, not every half-orc child is or should be the child of a rape.

... and almost none in Eberron are.

 

[kennew142]

I was hoping that they would leave half-orcs out of the games and just provide rules for full orc pcs. I don't use half races in my homebrews. I am hoping the MM allows for pure blood orc pcs in 4e.

 

[Badkarmaboy]

Eberron 1/2 orcs (IMHO) had better flavor than regular 1/2 orcs. I can see where the designers are coming from..but seeing how they're paid to be creative-that's what I expect them to do. I'd like to see what they come up with.

 

[Zaruthustran]

In my experience, people chose the half-orc race because they wanted a +2 Str mod. Not because they wanted to explore the roleplaying implications of being a product of rape, or of being an outsider.

I bet that one of the core 4E races will have a Str mod, which will replace the mechanical purpose of the half-orc. The half-orc race will not be missed.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

And the Baker has also scooped that there will be a mystery race X in the FRCS. Half-Orcs maybe?

 

[TerraDave]

Good scoop. (both as in good finding it and posting it, and good news)

As for the +2 strength race. Probably Dragonborn. Actually, with a +2 to two stats (ala the preview elf), it could be Dwarves instead of or in addition to.

 

[Cadfan]

I liked the look of the half-orc. I thought they came miles in terms of the artwork, and I appreciated the inclusion of a semi-savage humanoid.

Unfortunately, half-orcs as a race have a lot of baggage.

I think things would have gone a lot better if they'd skipped the "half" part, and just made them orcs. This would fit my desire for a semi-savage humanoid race, without the "child of rape" implications that have been hanging around for decades, and without triggering my hatred of half-races and the bizarre rules about how they can or cannot interbreed.

Humans + Elves? Yes!
Humans + Dwarves? No!
Humans + Orcs? Yes!
Elves + Dwarves? Absolutely not!
Dwarves + Orcs? Never!
Elves + Orcs? Oh lord no!
Gnomes + Halflings? No one even THOUGHT of that.

So the apparent lesson here is that humans have an extremely plastic genome, as long as they're breeding with someone hawt, or getting raped.

Lame.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I think I'm more disappointed that they are offering up the half orcs in DDI rather then in print. Hopefully that FR race ends up being Half-Orcs or Orcs considering that Gnomes won't appear in print until 2009.