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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6941886" data-attributes="member: 6787650">I would mourn the change from a worldbuilding perspective, because I think the Int penalty is interesting and makes sense. But from a balance perspective, the implications are minimal. My powergamer instincts say that it doesn't change the set of builds for which Orc is an attractive option.[thinking out loud]I think a more interesting change though would be to keep the Int penalty and add Relentless from the half-orc chassis. Yes, that means that orcs are better at orcing than half-orcs are. So what? Hybrid vigor doesn't have to be a thing.This would imply that you also need to go back to the PHB and tweak all the orcs there too, but if I'm eyeballing the math right it shouldn't change their CR (doesn't make effective HP cross any of the HP boundaries). It does make orcs a little bit more terrifying, especially at low levels, but that's probably a good thing.Adding Relentless would have some balance implications, making the Orc more attractive for Barbarian and melee-type builds. It... might eliminate half-orcs from play, unless your players are really excited about the half-orc critical hit ability. There might need to be some additional differentiation there, something that half-orcs get from their human side besides more Int. Maybe make the orcish version of Relentless a form of battle-rage that drives them berserk at the same time?Blood of Gruumsh: when severely injured, the madness of Gruumsh consumes you, and his music thunders in your veins and sustains your will to live and kill. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You feel an intense urge to destroy things and take pleasure in inflicting pain. Until the end of your next short rest, you are at disadvantage on all ability checks and non-melee attack rolls, and you are immune to fear. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.So, why would you become a half orc then? Because you want more control over your Blood of Gruumsh feature. Relentless is better than Blood of Gruumsh in almost all ways, but you lose out on Aggressive. Seems like a fair trade, no?</blockquote>

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