Fixing the Half-Orc

[Klaus]

Until you remember that dwarves have all that and more.

A lot of people have mentioned dropping the Cha penalty, but I'd rather drop the Int penelty. Probably partially because I dislike playing chacters with a low Int, but also it seems to fit the mood to me more. Crude bute cunning.

"Crude brute cunning" better describes a character with Low Int (crude), High Str (brute) and High Wisdom (cunning). Think of it this way: animals, in special predators like wolves, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) have Int 2, but Wis circa 12. Wisdom handles keen senses and awareness.

 

[Capellan]

They seem to make good barbarians, as expected, but suffer really big drawbacks in nearly every other class. They make pretty good fighers, but the INT penalty hurts with the selection of certain feats. They can make passable monks, rangers, and druids, but the lack of skill points due to the INT penalty really hampers them in these classes. The remaining classes only get worse from there.

Personally, I've found Half-Orc Clerics to be very effective

Half-Orcs probably are a little short-changed on the racial benefits front (especially compared to Dwarves - but that's more an issue with the Dwarf than the Half-Orc), but they can make quite playable characters.

I'd consider letting a half-orc choose one of two options:

Half-orcs raised by humans receive one bonus feat at 1st level

or

Half-orcs raised by orcs apply their Strength modifier to Intimidate checks, in addition to their Charisma modifier. Additionally, these half-orcs get a +2 bonus to saving throws against disease.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Turanil, I like your version, except I'd give the increased carrying capacity I came up with instead of stability. Other than that, your version sounds good. I especially like the Diplomacy and Gather Info checks instead of a Cha penalty. It's much more appropriate.

Also, I'd just like to say that even more important than half-orcs being weak is the fact that they are *boring*. There is no reason to play them other than to munchkin out your barbarian character. They have no personality, no fun, unique abilities like a human, dwarf, or halfling. Just dullness...

 

[Feldspar]

Turanil, I like your version, except I'd give the increased carrying capacity I came up with instead of stability. Other than that, your version sounds good. I especially like the Diplomacy and Gather Info checks instead of a Cha penalty. It's much more appropriate.

I agree, I think I'll use that for Genasi as well. It never sat well with me that Genasi should be suboptimal sorcerers when they have a perfect reason for having innate natural spell ability from their elemental heritage. I'd rather give them a penalty to most Cha based checks (but not for something like UMD) rather than a straight Cha penalty.

Also, I'd just like to say that even more important than half-orcs being weak is the fact that they are *boring*. There is no reason to play them other than to munchkin out your barbarian character. They have no personality, no fun, unique abilities like a human, dwarf, or halfling. Just dullness...

That's kind of what I was hoping to address with my Weapon Affinity rule; it makes them better (from the standpoint of being proficient) with weapons than any other race. Its not much but it does give them something to hang their hat on.