LoneWolf23
First Post
I bought both the Slayer's Guide to Orcs and Wrath and Rage, the Green Ronin book of Orcs and Half-Orcs, and both have some very good material.
First of all, both have similar, yet somewhat different approaches to depicting Orcs:
-Wrath and Rage focuses a lot on the "Angry at the World" aspect of Orc culture as an explanation for their evil. Mothers of Rage, Rage Smiths, Rage-based feats... even their depiction of the Orc one-eye god focuses on the "We was wronged, and now we're mad!" aspect.
-The Slayer's Guide focuses less on Orcish anger and more on their day-to-day lives, in all their brutal, hedonistic gory glory. In this book, Orcs aren't angry at the world, but are just evil because they know no restraint on their desires.
Wrath and Rage has a lot more "crunchy" stuff: Feats, Spells, Domains, Prestige Classes, even Monsters and Templates and two different Orc religions. Compared to that, Slayers' Gude to Orcs is less padded, but what it does contain is very good: suggestions on what to equip Orc adversaries, how they fight and should be portrayed in a campaign, and some examples of Orc NPCs and Adversaries. It only has one Prestige Class, the Battle Shaman, which is never the less a good addition.
All in all, Wrath and Rage and The Slayer's Guide to Orcs make good complements to one another. Either one is good seperatly, but having both will allow a DM to really flesh out his orcish culture. Heck, I'm thinking of adapting elements of Wrath and Rage for Goblinoid Culture in general.
I did browse "Heroes of High Renown: Half-Orcs" in stores, but found it lacking, as it focuses mostly on prestige classes and multi-class options for Barbarian characters. Heck, you could adapt this book for Barbarian Elves, and it would still work.
Hmm... Barbarian Elves, now there's a concept...
First of all, both have similar, yet somewhat different approaches to depicting Orcs:
-Wrath and Rage focuses a lot on the "Angry at the World" aspect of Orc culture as an explanation for their evil. Mothers of Rage, Rage Smiths, Rage-based feats... even their depiction of the Orc one-eye god focuses on the "We was wronged, and now we're mad!" aspect.
-The Slayer's Guide focuses less on Orcish anger and more on their day-to-day lives, in all their brutal, hedonistic gory glory. In this book, Orcs aren't angry at the world, but are just evil because they know no restraint on their desires.
Wrath and Rage has a lot more "crunchy" stuff: Feats, Spells, Domains, Prestige Classes, even Monsters and Templates and two different Orc religions. Compared to that, Slayers' Gude to Orcs is less padded, but what it does contain is very good: suggestions on what to equip Orc adversaries, how they fight and should be portrayed in a campaign, and some examples of Orc NPCs and Adversaries. It only has one Prestige Class, the Battle Shaman, which is never the less a good addition.
All in all, Wrath and Rage and The Slayer's Guide to Orcs make good complements to one another. Either one is good seperatly, but having both will allow a DM to really flesh out his orcish culture. Heck, I'm thinking of adapting elements of Wrath and Rage for Goblinoid Culture in general.
I did browse "Heroes of High Renown: Half-Orcs" in stores, but found it lacking, as it focuses mostly on prestige classes and multi-class options for Barbarian characters. Heck, you could adapt this book for Barbarian Elves, and it would still work.
Hmm... Barbarian Elves, now there's a concept...
