D&D 5E Orcish Magic Belt

[pukunui]

Hi all,

I've got an orc war chief, and I'd like to give him a magic belt. I'm looking for something cool and suitably orcish. Something that the PCs can loot from his dead body but might think twice about donning themselves because it looks kinda gross and/or has a drawback in addition to its awesome bennies.

It needs to be something that makes sense not only for the type of item but also as something an orc chieftain would proudly wear. A champion's belt of some kind. Or an orcish equivalent to the belt of dwarvenkind.

If your orc war chief had a magic belt, what powers would it have?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Kilt of Dwarfskin
A kilt made of the skin of a dwarven warlock, with a sporran made of his beard.
The skin is tattooed with mystic symbols (or you could introduce rune magic here), and bestows the following benefits:
- Cannot be knocked prone
- Advantage on grapple checks
- +1 STR
- Dwarves must make a CHA save v DC15 or be Frightened for 1d6 rounds
- The kilt mutters in Dwarvish when within 100' of Dwarves, Gnomes, Svirfneblin, and Duergar

 

[Ath'kethin]

It attracts the unshakable devotion and physical attraction of a half dozen orcish women.

Hmm. Less sexist, maybe just the unshakable devotion and physical attraction of a half dozen orcs?

 

[pukunui]

I think I might have found something among the Treasures of the Pristine City. The gravenhelm has a cool ability: if you recite an orcish poem while wearing the helm, you can cause a melee weapon you are holding to deal an extra 2d6 damage to the target, while you take 1d6 damage yourself, until the start of your next turn. You can do this three times per day.

I could see that working as a magic belt property too.

 

[PnPgamer]

a belt that you can use to enter into a rage, as per barbarian ability(limited uses per day, restored at dawn). Also works as belt of protection 1-3. requires attunement. Attuned by non-orcish causes the rage happen automatically when feeling threathened.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6786484]PnPgamer[/MENTION]: That's a cool idea. I was just thinking along similar lines myself in terms of barbarian rage and having a side effect that only affects non-orcs. The only thing is, the PC most likely to use the belt wears heavy armor (and has the heavy armor feat), so wouldn't be able to use the rage feature.

Instead, how about this:

- You must attune to the belt to gain its benefits. If you are not an orc (or a half-orc), you must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma check to attune to it. Even if you succeed, you emit a sour stench noticeable from up to 10 feet away.
- While wearing the belt, you can use the barbarian's Reckless Attack feature.
- Gruumsh's Blessing: When you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + your character level (minimum of 1).
- Because the belt is made from the skin of a dwarven battlerager, you have disadvantage on all Charisma checks made to interact with dwarves.

 

[Unwise]

I have used this before:

Belt of Masculinity:
- Can only be worn by females
- Changes sex to Male
- Brings height or build to upper end of racial limits
- Brings str up to 16 and con up to 14 if they are lower
- Wearer becomes physically attractive, a real adonis

The players found it very amusing that the orc chief that they had been battling all this time was really a woman in disguise. The orc was very smart and had great battle plans, that is what made her so dangerous. The problem was nobody listened to her because orc society had very strict gender roles, so she found a way around it and led the orcs to victory.

It was flavourful, but the players are good enough RPers not to change gender just for a stat bonus. It was not designed as treasure, so make sure to include some real loot too.

 

[pukunui]

I think I've got it:

Orc Champion's Belt
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

This thick leather belt is fashioned from tanned dwarf skin. While wearing this belt, you gain the following benefits:
Reckless Attack. As a bonus action, you can gain advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength until the end of your turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until the start of your next turn.
Gruumsh's Blessing. When you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + your character level (minimum of 1).
Enmity of the Dwarves. While wearing this belt, you have disadvantage on all Charisma checks made to interact with dwarves.
Gruumsh's Curse. If you are not an orc, attuning to this belt causes Gruumsh to curse you for your insolence. Removing the belt fails to end the curse on you, and you cannot end your attunement to the belt until the curse is broken, such as with a remove curse spell.
As long as you remain cursed, you cannot benefit from Gruumsh's Blessing. In addition, whenever a hostile creature damages you, you must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or go berserk. While berserk, you must use your action each round to attack the creature nearest to you with a melee attack. If you can make extra attacks as part of the Attack action, you use those extra attacks, moving to attack the next nearest creature after you fell your current target. If you have multiple possible targets, you attack one at random. You are berserk until you start your turn with no creatures within 60 feet of you that you can see or hear.

 

[Unwise]

[MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION] is your intention for this to be just flavourful, or do you consider this to be treasure? I can't see any PC wearing that, or being allowed to wear that. It is fine as a flavourful thing that they see then put in their packs and never use, but if it is treasure, then the curse is too harsh or the benefit not enough. Any PvP curse is just not something the group will be happy with, even if it gives great power to one person.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=98008]Unwise[/MENTION]: It's intended as treasure. There are two half-orc PCs in the party. One is a fighter, the other a cleric of Freya who is obsessed with earning glory in battle. I imagine either one of them would want this, and the curse won't affect them.