Eternally Blue: A Homebrew Setting

[John4]

Why not just use Hobgoblins instead of Orcs?

Good question.

My reasoning is that orcs already breed with humans, and therefore have cultural contact with them. Since the half-orcs come from somewhere (and I would prefer to keep the game PG-13 for the most part), why not have it be a nominally neutral group of orcs rather than forced intercourse?

Why not make the orcs a playable race, then? Well, their stats as written in the Bestiary make them a suboptimal choice for a PC race, so some tweaking is necessary. I would have to do the same for hobgoblins, since they're a superoptimal choice as a PC race right now (+2 Dex/+2 Con, no -2 to anything, Darkvision, and a +4 to Stealth checks works out to be a little more powerful than the rest of the playable races).

I mean, I could call the half-orcs "half-hobs" or "half-goblins", but it seems to me just as easy to plant the orcs in the game as a playable race and call it a day.

D'you think I'm missing something there? (On reflection, that question could be considered snarky or sarcastic without a vocal tone to carry metadata about my emotional state. It's not; I really do want feedback!)

 

[Glade Riven]

Nope, was just curious. I was considering something similar with my own setting, but I decided it was best just to leave a recommendation for players to play a half-orc. Another quick hot-fix would be to have all PC orcs use half-orc stats, maybe with a replacement of an AGP trait.

 

[John4]

"AGP trait"? I'm familiar with the rest of it, but I don't recognize that term. Sorry.

As far as having the orcs use half-orc stats, sure, that'd work. Still, the half-elves have different stats from their elven parents, and I like the idea of having the half-orc stats differ from both of their parent races. The adaptability coming from the human half and the ferocity and extrahuman stuff coming from their orcish heritage. It just seems to fit, to me.

 

[Glade Riven]

Sorry, typoed. APG, as in Advanced Player's Guide. It has alternative racial traits for the core races.

 

[John4]

Ah, yes. Typos. The bane of my own existence.

I have the APG, but haven't looked through it as closely as I might like. I'll take a look at the racial alternatives. Maybe there's one in there that might fit.

Thanks for the idea!