More Orcs!

[Jack99]

Linky

I like that they give us some new options for the orc racials, instead of the surge one, which makes for some possibly long fights. I especially like the +4 to damage when bloodied. I think I will adopt that for the orcs in my campaign.

Overall it looks like a good article, but I must admit that I went over it quite fast.

 

[Harlekin]

Linky

I like that they give us some new options for the orc racials, instead of the surge one, which makes for some possibly long fights. I especially like the +4 to damage when bloodied. I think I will adopt that for the orcs in my campaign.

Overall it looks like a good article, but I must admit that I went over it quite fast.

I agree, warrior's surge was one of the worst racial powers. I will certainly use one of the new options.

 

[Festivus]

Creature Incarnations is one of my very favorite article series... I hope to see many more of them in the future.

I particularly liked the hounds swarm, ideas popped into my head the moment I read the stat block on them for an encounter I was needing to build.

 

[Zaukrie]

I too think these are my favorite articles in the new Dragon so far. Good, useful stuff with a decent amount of fluff. I'd buy a book full of monsters laid out this way......

 

[Nebulous]

I too think these are my favorite articles in the new Dragon so far. Good, useful stuff with a decent amount of fluff. I'd buy a book full of monsters laid out this way......

A year-end compendium of print monsters would be shweet. OR...monsters and traps and hazards!

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Something seems wrong to me about Grumish Ferver, Does the orc only get one attack with it? or is it something he skips an attack to use, and then gets it till the end of encounter, and if the second is true, why doesn't it say till EoE


I just seems to be confusingly written

 

[Gargoyle]

Something seems wrong to me about Grumish Ferver, Does the orc only get one attack with it? or is it something he skips an attack to use, and then gets it till the end of encounter, and if the second is true, why doesn't it say till EoE


I just seems to be confusingly written

I think the way it's supposed to work is that the orc spends a standard action to get the bonus on subsequent attacks, which persists as long as he's bloodied.

I envision the orc screaming in rage at the heavens instead of attacking. Probably will freak out the players the first time you use it.

 

[chaotix42]

I envision the orc screaming in rage at the heavens instead of attacking. Probably will freak out the players the first time you use it.

Exactly the way I imagined it too. "GRUUUUUUUUUUUUMSH!"

Hey WotC, could we get an errata that adds "... until the end of the encounter"? I know you guys are watching.

 

[Badwe]

As someone who played the crap out of warcraft 2: tides of darkness, I have always found orcs a fascinating and enjoyable set of villains. This definitely helps flesh out a larger number of possible orc encounters, as well as creating the potential for differentiating tribes of orcs based on their racial trait. Also, the alchemist/pyromaniac and the beastmaster seem to offer good options for mixing in other monsters with orcs to keep the encounter set diverse. My first inkling when reading the beastmaster was to use the dire wolf from the MM (since in my own orc encounters I’d already employed them as mounts), but the swarm was a nice touch. My only quip is that, if we follow the advice from Open Grave, the group of hounds should really be large rather than medium and be referred to as a “throng”. Minor complaints, though, I really enjoyed this article. Now all we need are some decent half-orc monsters to complete the “hobgoblin empire controls orc tribes” trope.

 

[WotC_GregB]

I know you guys are watching.

We see all.

I think the way it's supposed to work is that the orc spends a standard action to get the bonus on subsequent attacks, which persists as long as he's bloodied.

Yes, and the bonus should be until the end of the encounter. Not sure what happened there.

Now all we need are some decent half-orc monsters to complete the “hobgoblin empire controls orc tribes” trope.

Coming soon to a Monster Manual near you!