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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 2658244" data-attributes="member: 3051">I did something nearly identical for my custom Half-Ogre, -2 to most CHA-related skills but +4 to Intimidate (but my race has a -4 CHA already, so this actually goes to -4/+2).  But, there's a couple slight problems to consider:> There are CHA-based skills that shouldn't be penalized.  Use Magic Device is the best example of this; being ugly and unpopular shouldn't make you less able to use a wand.  So, I'd leave it as the explicit "-2 to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information".  Perform is iffy; appearance would make a difference for certain types of performing (acting, for instance), but others shouldn't really be penalized so much (the music ones?).  Actually, the best solution would be to make UMD not be CHA-related, but that's a more significant change since it'd alter the check DCs.> I'd apply to penalties to relations with orcs as well.  While Humans would look at the Half-Orc and see the monstrous side, a true Orc seeing one would probably focus on the weak human aspects.Really, this sort of thing should apply to ANY half-breed when the two races involved don't get along; you'd be ostracized from both directions.  If a half-Elf/half-Dwarf were in the rules, I'd say the same for them.  Half-Orcs just happen to be the only core race to fit this description.> On the flip side, the bonus to Intimidate shouldn't affect Orcs, or any monster race for that matter.  After all, why would THEY be afraid of a half-breed?  The Intimidate bonus should really only affect Humanoids.> +4 to Intimidate might be a bit much, when you've removed the race's CHA penalty.  Orcs aren't really THAT intimidating; Human soldiers fight them all the time and win one-on-one.  The +4 is more appropriate for a Half-Ogre or Half-Dragon type of thing, I'd go with +2 for Half-Orcs.As to the Barbarian vs. Ranger thing, I guess it depends more on your campaign.In my last campaign, for instance, the "Barbarian" fighting style (more commonly referred to as "Berserker" or "Trancer" in-game) is more like a manifestation of raw Chaos (in the same way that Monks use a pseudomagical form of Law to fight).  As a result, MANY people have this class, not just illiterate primitives.In the campaign I played in before that, the Orcs had a full civilization.  They were a bit ruthless, they didn't treat prisoners well, and they were pretty decentralized, but they weren't primitive monsters by any means.In both cases, it just seemed that the Barbarian class wasn't really as good a fit as we wanted, so we switched the Half-Orc favored class to Ranger.  Under the core PHB settings I'd agree that Barbarian is the best fit for them, but I'd just suggest being flexible on this.</blockquote>

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