Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009850" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steven Creech, Exec. Chairman, d20 Magazine Rack Sizing Up the Target Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs is the sophomore effort from newcomer Bad Axe Games. Written by Benjamin Durbin, this 62-page trade paperback size book retails for $9.95. Half-Orcs is designed primarily for the player rather than the GM and it offers some interesting classes for the half-orc. First Blood Half-orcs tend to favor the barbarian class and the book focuses on that. Nearly everything here is based on the assumption that your half-orc is starting out as a barbarian. Almost every feat listed requires the ability to rage. Tribal/Totem focus choices offer characters additional options but carry them down a specific path in that they tend to retain certain savage qualities. New skills are presented with one of the better ones being Craft Savage Weapon, which allows a player to manufacture bone or stone weapons. Another new concept is the breeding and crossbreeding of different animals and beasts. Using a simple system of skill checks, half-orc players may attempt to breed animals in unusual combinations. Ten new prestige classes are offered with each focusing on a different barbarian multiclass combination. Each entry covers the character’s role in half-orc society, his role within the adventuring party, how nearly the same results can be obtained from multiclassing rather than using the prestige class, and then a breakdown of the PrC itself.Critical Hits Careful thought went into the game mechanics of the book. Balance is evident although a couple of classes gain some rather potent abilities at upper levels. The information regarding skills and the comparing of specific prestige classes to multiclass combinations is quite original. I like the Moulder PrC and the way they develop their own animal companion. Critical Misses The book really only focuses on one aspect of the half-orc in that the barbarian class must be a part of the equation. It fails to give alternative or new takes on half-orcs as a race. Every half-orc need not be a barbarian at heart capable of berserker rages at the drop of a hat. On the back cover, there is the claim that this book “is the definitive sourcebook for half-orc characters of every kind.” If this claim is going to hold water, then there should be material that gives GMs and players choices other than a multiclassed barbarian. Perhaps the words “definitive” and “every” should be dropped from future books. Coup de Grace Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs is a better book than its predecessor on dwarves. The overall game mechanics, for the most part, are balanced. There are a few such as Improved Enraged Casting and Ruthless Assault that come close to going over the top. It’s good to see some solid multiclass and PrC info for players, but I wish they didn’t all have the barbarian as their fundamental base. Still, for the dollar, it’s a good buy if you are looking for something that fits the half-orc stereotypes. To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

Verification