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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8253850" data-attributes="member: 8461">Because it's fascinating for what it says if you read between the lines, at least to me.Recently, I went back and re-read the AD&D 1E PHB, DMG, MM, and Deities & Demigods for the pertinent information about orcs, and realized something that I hadn't fully grasped before. Both the DMG (page 38) and Deities & Demigods (page 9) outline how clerics and druids receive higher-level spells from progressively more powerful sources. 1st- and 2nd-level spells come from their religious teachings alone, needing no higher faith. 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-level spells come from the servants of their deity (which Deities & Demigods tells us may be as strong as demigods themselves). 6th- and 7th-level spells come from their deity personally (which D&Dg also clarifies further, saying that lesser gods can grant 6th-level spells and greater gods can grant 7th-level spells).So far, so good, right?Now, the Monster Manual is silent on the issue of orcs and divine spellcasters. But D&Dg only has one god for orcs, that being Gruumsh. In fact, this is the case for all PC demihumans, since they wouldn't get their pantheons expanded until a series of articles from Roger Moore in Dragon magazine in 1982. So what you have is a large number of human deities who are very interested in currying favor among humans, but none of whom are actually the racial creator god of humans; contrast this with the small number of demihuman creator deities who don't care very much about their creations.Why do I say that they don't care about their creations? Well, let's look at the PHB and DMG. The DMG section on Tribal Spellcasters (p. 40) notes that, at most, shamans will be able to cast clerical spells of 4th level. So in other words, the indicated races - bugbears, giants, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, lizardmen, and orcs - are basically being given a few spells by the servants of their deity, with their deity apparently not wanting to personally bother with them. Even the divine servants seem begrudging in what they grant, since the section specifies that only certain spells will be given. (Ettins, ogres, troglodytes, and trolls are disregarded even by their gods' divine servants, since they can't become shamans of greater than 3rd level, which means they can't progress above 2nd-level spells, which you'll recall are granted from religious practices alone).Now, take a look at the level-limit restrictions in the PHB (page 14):<img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.failsquadgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/RaceCHRT2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />All of a sudden, we can see that there's a lot of subtext going on here! While it's no surprise that all the gods want human servitors, most don't seem to trust half-elves very much, with their servants barely granting them access to 3rd-level spells; only nature gods are content to fully welcome them into the fold (i.e. as druids).And half-elves are the success story among demihumans. No god wants halfling clerics at all for some reason, and the servants of nature gods will only give them modest spells. The same thing is true for elves, dwarves, and gnomes who become clerics (and can't become druids at all); apparently their gods can't be bothered to give them any divine magic, and their servants will only grant them a modest number of spells (albeit a wider selection than humanoid shamans receive); that they can only be NPCs (that's what the parentheses around the numbers means) suggests that those demihuman gods have religious strictures against adventuring, to boot.But half-orcs? They're shut out by everyone. Only able to progress to 4th level as clerics, they can't ever receive more than 2nd-level spells, the kind you get from religious rites only. Even full-blooded orcs can coax a few spells out of Gruumsh's servants, but half-orcs are apparently too human for Gruumsh's servitors, and too orc for those of the human gods.Half-orcs, under the game rules, are spiritually unclean.It's a fascinating look at the world as presented under the game rules, far more than a bland "anyone can be any class to any level" take that later editions have, and this kind of reading between the lines to reveal hidden truths about the game world is why I still hold earlier editions of D&D in such high regard.</blockquote>

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