D&D 5E How Are Orcs Different In Your World? (+)
Weiley31
Legend
And then I started thinking about Hedgehogs, Idris Elba, Austrian Steamed Goat Milk lattes, and foxes.
Voadam
Legend
In 3e I turned them a bit more Tolkien by having them be subtype goblin and orcish being a dialect of goblin. Still the traditional orc and goblin pantheon enmity with Gruumsh and Maglubiyet, but very related. I also played around with the LE/CE nature of orcs by having an army of a half million orcs attack the planar gate city of Rigus that connects Concordant Opposition to Acheron and which I populated with hundreds of thousands of hobgoblins.
In pathfinder I went 40K Ork with them being green skinned, using "choppas" and leaning in on biological aggression.
I remember one pathfinder fight going "Seven damage, you decapitate the Ork! [the PC grinned and cheered] Now on its turn it swings at you . . .[PC gives a startled double take]" The orc extra round of fighting after being knocked to negatives paid off narratively very well.
I also had a thing where the orcs the party met came from multiple cultures but kept worshipping one eyed gods. Gruumsh, Odin, Balor, Vecna, Talos, etc.
In my 5e Carrion Crown adventure path conversion I had orcs be a big cultural and historical influence with multiple conquering of Ustalav or parts of it and being repulsed to the Belkzen badlands throughout the timeline with a major military border being a big deal for the Ustalavan principality. One of the PCs was a half-orc, culturally and narratively a full orc from the badlands who worked for an Ustalavan professor as a secretary. Class barbarian, background secretary. She modelled her orc culture on Klingons which I went with and we had great fun with it.
In my current 5e Iron Gods Thundarr the barbarian/Mad Max style adventure path conversion game orcs are a big faction in the second module which I am running now and the ones they have been dealing with have been pretty straight and traditional, with a religious switch from a normal orcish pantheon to a cult following an insane AI monster truck. It fits the Beyond Thunderdome feel of the part of the AP we are in.
In pathfinder I went 40K Ork with them being green skinned, using "choppas" and leaning in on biological aggression.
I remember one pathfinder fight going "Seven damage, you decapitate the Ork! [the PC grinned and cheered] Now on its turn it swings at you . . .[PC gives a startled double take]" The orc extra round of fighting after being knocked to negatives paid off narratively very well.
I also had a thing where the orcs the party met came from multiple cultures but kept worshipping one eyed gods. Gruumsh, Odin, Balor, Vecna, Talos, etc.
In my 5e Carrion Crown adventure path conversion I had orcs be a big cultural and historical influence with multiple conquering of Ustalav or parts of it and being repulsed to the Belkzen badlands throughout the timeline with a major military border being a big deal for the Ustalavan principality. One of the PCs was a half-orc, culturally and narratively a full orc from the badlands who worked for an Ustalavan professor as a secretary. Class barbarian, background secretary. She modelled her orc culture on Klingons which I went with and we had great fun with it.
In my current 5e Iron Gods Thundarr the barbarian/Mad Max style adventure path conversion game orcs are a big faction in the second module which I am running now and the ones they have been dealing with have been pretty straight and traditional, with a religious switch from a normal orcish pantheon to a cult following an insane AI monster truck. It fits the Beyond Thunderdome feel of the part of the AP we are in.
Gradine
The Elephant in the Room (she/her)
Though one time I did a setting with the ancient Greek pantheon, where each race was shepherded by a specific deity. Athena chose the the Orcs to uplift and they were experiencing an industrial boom in a setting that was otherwise tipping into the Renaissance era.
Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
I did the same for my world's Orcs (that I detailed a bit in the OP) but combined it with Talentan Halflings. If Halflings riding dinosaurs is awesome, surely Orcs riding dinosaurs is even more awesome.
Baron Opal II
Hero
I don't have orcs.
I do have the "vatborn". They're humanoid, grey-skinned humanoids grown in large copper vats. They are the culmination of alchemical and philosophic lore, utilizing guided spontaneous generation. With the fall of the Shapers of Flesh and Form, others have learned the process. On occasion, one in twenty, a sport grows that can be twice a large as the others (ogre). They are a lesson on the inadvisability of bio-weapons, since they can now build their own generation pits. They are masculine in build, but are neither male or female.
Inspirations came from the Two Towers movie and the awesome, award winning book Celestial Matters by Rich Garfinkle.
I do have the "vatborn". They're humanoid, grey-skinned humanoids grown in large copper vats. They are the culmination of alchemical and philosophic lore, utilizing guided spontaneous generation. With the fall of the Shapers of Flesh and Form, others have learned the process. On occasion, one in twenty, a sport grows that can be twice a large as the others (ogre). They are a lesson on the inadvisability of bio-weapons, since they can now build their own generation pits. They are masculine in build, but are neither male or female.
Inspirations came from the Two Towers movie and the awesome, award winning book Celestial Matters by Rich Garfinkle.
QuentinGeorge
Legend
I think I remember this question asked a while back. Here’s a slightly expanded version of my answer.
In my world, orcs and goblinoids are one people, called “Orschans”, with a varied appearance and size. Their origin is from an ancient empire, thousands of years ago. This empire had a new dynasty rise to power, who caused a religious schism. The old believers, who held fast to the ancient worship of demon lords like Orcus, fled the empire after a persecution to the south, where they adopted the name “Orschan”, ie, “Children of Orcus”.
Here in an attempt to reclaim what was lost their intellectuals delved deep into the science of “fleshweaving”. Even before the religious schism that brought them there, it was a magical science common in the empire, bringing forth a whole bunch of “Beastfolk” (ancestors of lizardfolk, minotaurs, tabaxi – basically any man/animal hybrid species in D&D), but now they sought to combine all the work done before to elevate themselves into something more than human.
The result was the creation of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins etc. Those who became orcs had some elvish ancestry, the transformed gnomes became goblins, etc. Outsiders took the new forms of the Orschans as confirmation that they were “ugly inside and out” and let that justify unending wars of racial hatred, seeing the Orschans as “fallen”. For the Orschans, however, all they noticed is that they were now bigger and stronger, with their minds as sharp as ever – so how were they not superior to what came before?
In the modern period “Orscha” is a giant cosmopolitan empire. It indulges slavery and cruelty, but there are also more “liberal” areas as well. The Orschans are as varied a people as any other race.
I don’t have any fey connection to my goblins – except when you count some distant elvish ancestry in the orcs.
In my world, orcs and goblinoids are one people, called “Orschans”, with a varied appearance and size. Their origin is from an ancient empire, thousands of years ago. This empire had a new dynasty rise to power, who caused a religious schism. The old believers, who held fast to the ancient worship of demon lords like Orcus, fled the empire after a persecution to the south, where they adopted the name “Orschan”, ie, “Children of Orcus”.
Here in an attempt to reclaim what was lost their intellectuals delved deep into the science of “fleshweaving”. Even before the religious schism that brought them there, it was a magical science common in the empire, bringing forth a whole bunch of “Beastfolk” (ancestors of lizardfolk, minotaurs, tabaxi – basically any man/animal hybrid species in D&D), but now they sought to combine all the work done before to elevate themselves into something more than human.
The result was the creation of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins etc. Those who became orcs had some elvish ancestry, the transformed gnomes became goblins, etc. Outsiders took the new forms of the Orschans as confirmation that they were “ugly inside and out” and let that justify unending wars of racial hatred, seeing the Orschans as “fallen”. For the Orschans, however, all they noticed is that they were now bigger and stronger, with their minds as sharp as ever – so how were they not superior to what came before?
In the modern period “Orscha” is a giant cosmopolitan empire. It indulges slavery and cruelty, but there are also more “liberal” areas as well. The Orschans are as varied a people as any other race.
I don’t have any fey connection to my goblins – except when you count some distant elvish ancestry in the orcs.
jgsugden
Legend
Orcs originated when Gruumsh corrupted dwarves with infernal traits. They were enslaved to his whims, bound by the loyalty of the Devilish blood, but driven to rage by Gruumsh himself. They were not free willed creatures capable of making decisions by themselves - they were fodder for him to use as he saw hit. That state persisted for 3000 years.
Then, the Gods discovered the power that could be garnished from freely given worship by free willed mortals. Gruumsh realized that he had a potential massive boon in power if all of his minions were to worship him ... so he set about decades of debauchery and revelry for his minions. This culminated in a great festival in which he set them all free ... and proceeded to find that less than half of his former minions were willing to sorship him once freed. This resulted in a schism of the orcish people that resulted in many wars and small splinter groups of orcs spreading throughout the realms. While Gruumsh managed to hold onto several nations of orcs in his willing service, there were also orcs spread acros the world that were free to find any path they wished. This resulted in orcs joining as members of many nations, tribes and free cities. That situation has continued for 3500 more years.
As a result - as is true with almost all heritages in my game - an orc can be anything, but there are certain areas where they thrive together under the watchful eye of their Patron (or Matron) Deity.
While it is not mandated, a common theme seen in orcs is organized chaos. While highly chaotic on an individual level, they tend towards unified goals that will result in large numbers of orcs all working towards similar goals - often in an uncoirdinated and chaotic storm of action all moving in the same direction, but stepping all over each other as they go.
However, the massive nations made mostly of orcs are quitte varied, with some being fairly stereotypical nations of barbarian tribes, and others being highly honorable and militaristic nations with advanced technology.
Then, the Gods discovered the power that could be garnished from freely given worship by free willed mortals. Gruumsh realized that he had a potential massive boon in power if all of his minions were to worship him ... so he set about decades of debauchery and revelry for his minions. This culminated in a great festival in which he set them all free ... and proceeded to find that less than half of his former minions were willing to sorship him once freed. This resulted in a schism of the orcish people that resulted in many wars and small splinter groups of orcs spreading throughout the realms. While Gruumsh managed to hold onto several nations of orcs in his willing service, there were also orcs spread acros the world that were free to find any path they wished. This resulted in orcs joining as members of many nations, tribes and free cities. That situation has continued for 3500 more years.
As a result - as is true with almost all heritages in my game - an orc can be anything, but there are certain areas where they thrive together under the watchful eye of their Patron (or Matron) Deity.
While it is not mandated, a common theme seen in orcs is organized chaos. While highly chaotic on an individual level, they tend towards unified goals that will result in large numbers of orcs all working towards similar goals - often in an uncoirdinated and chaotic storm of action all moving in the same direction, but stepping all over each other as they go.
However, the massive nations made mostly of orcs are quitte varied, with some being fairly stereotypical nations of barbarian tribes, and others being highly honorable and militaristic nations with advanced technology.
Voadam
Legend
Ties in with AD&D LE orcs and 3e-5e CE orcs. Nice.
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