On the matter of half-orcs

[Mallus]

Forget half-orcs... you should see the new genesis of trolls .

 

[Spatula]

Half orcs are pretty obviously derived from the man-orcs of Saruman.

I've always considered them to be a manufactured race which breeds true (after all, in a world where owlbears and halfdragon-anythings is possible, creating a race which was halfway between man and orc seems trivial).

Eberron had an interesting take on the issue, where the shadow marches had a population of men and orcs who get along just fine and sometime decide to make babies together because of love (just like with half-elves). This is another fine way to handle the situation.

Indeed, the whole idea of rape being behind a whole race seems the most ridiculous concept imaginable, as far as I'm concerned.

Yep. The rape background in 1e always seemed like a strange addon, given the Tolkien roots of the race. And it's not only rather silly (every half-orc is a product of rape?), it's also inappropriate for a game in a world where a staggering percentage of women are sexually abused. In a game group with no women, that may not be an issue, but the game aspires to appeal to a wider audience than that.

In Eberron, half-orcs are also their own people, so maybe they're the product of an orc and a human pairing, but it's more likely that you'd just have two half-orc parents. That doesn't square very well with the stock CE orcs in 4e, though.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I think having rape be the exception rather than the rule is okay. For my part, I'm going to make half-orcs be the result of the experiment of some demon prince in ages past. Seeing the destructive tendencies of orcs and the corrupting qualities of humans, the demon prince sought to rarefy both by breeding the races and infusing the product with demonic influence. The result was too good - while they were a race of cunning, powerful, and ruthless warriors, many also retained enough of their essential humanity and orcish tenacity to make them question their servitude. The demon prince was overthrown in a bygone age by a faction of his rebellious forces, and the half-orcs have lived more or less free ever since.

Basically, I'm thinking of making them like the Night People from Blue Rose. I like this origin story because it make half-orcs a demon-themed race, like how tielfing are the devil-themed race.

 

[Alas]

I like the multiple-choice origin options for half-orcs for two reasons:

1. I had something similar set up for tieflings in my previous Eberron campaign
2. In my personal experience, character origin only matters if the player invokes it, and racial origin only matters if the DM invokes it.

Really, I never had a problem with rationalizing half-orcs. When I was younger I was too naive to give it much thought, and as an adult I have complete faith (if that's the right word) in the willingness of the fictional human male to schtup any fictional thing.

 

[Obryn]

I find the argument that D&D needs more rape to be completely baffling and a little nauseating.

-O

 

[OchreJelly]

I think their stance on the new origins is well tempered. Giving multiple options of the origin leaves open the question on what the true origin is. They are wise to not make rape the default option since they are designing it for the broadest player base.

If a player wants that as his background he has that option (with any race for that matter), but not having it hardwired into the race is a good thing.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

i find the argument that d&d needs more rape to be completely baffling and a little nauseating.

-o

f.a.t.a.l. Ftw!

 

[Henry]

Ok, so an orc raped a human woman. Horrible, we get that.

What makes you think it worked that way? Those female orcs are pretty strong, and after a hard day of raiding...

 

[Raven Crowking]

From RCFG Preview #1 (2008):

Half-orcs are the product of human and orcish bloodlines. This may be because one parent is a human and the other an orc, or because one or both parents are half-orcs. The orcish bloodline tends not to appear after even a few generations, so half-orcs seldom appear as a surprise. Although most firstgeneration half-orcs are the product of orcish raids on human lands, some (especially among later generation half-orcs) are products of more loving relationships. Some orcish tribes follow human leaders; these often intermingle with orcs.​

RC

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Given the human propencity to be attracted to all kinds of bizarre and unusal people/activities, I don't know why half-orcs can't come from consensual behaivior. I know why rape was originally used as on origin, but given what you can find on the internet these days I think people are becoming more accustomed to alternate lifestyles and activities such that consensual Human/Orc mating wouldn't be that surprising.