D&D (2024) The Half Orc. Are they still needed?

[DND_Reborn]

Barbarians and Cavaliers were still allowed in a lot of games I played, even when everyone had bought all the 2e books and used them. Though I had one guy play a Cavalier subclass Paladin and immediately after I banned that version of the class. I knew one guy who sweet talked the DM into letting him play a 1e Ranger.

Yeah, I recall some times of confusion when one player used the 1E classes for such things but another used kits or whatever in 2E...

Of course, I remember even having two versions of Paladins in 1E, the Fighter-Version and the Cavalier-Version. The fighter-version got renamed "Holy Warrior" and the cavalier-version kept the name "Paladin:.

 

[Charlaquin]

This is an explanation I use for settings where I want the mixed species to exist, but I want them to be relatively rare.

Yeah, and given that half-elf and half-orc are categorized as Uncommon races in the PHB, I think that fits with the intent behind them at the beginning of 5e. I’m guessing thing that the concept of common vs. uncommon races is going the way of the racial ASI come 2024.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, and given that half-elf and half-orc are categorized as Uncommon races in the PHB, I think that fits with the intent behind them at the beginning of 5e. I’m guessing thing that the concept of common vs. uncommon races is going the way of the racial ASI come 2024.

Rarity is really a function of individual campaigns and doesn't really have a place in the PHB.

I'd still love to see an official human only campaign setting, or one with other specific available and unavailable PC races. Such a setting's mere existence would "prove" that no, not every setting has to be a kitchen sink and allow anthropomorphic koala bears.

 

[MGibster]

D&D can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but no game can be all things to all people. In all the time I've spent playing D&D, the only time I had a gnome character was when I wanted to play a multi-class thief-illusionist. It's been well over 30 years (by Helm, I'm old). From my perspective, they could remove gnomes from the PHB and I would barely notice it. Maybe replace it with something people actually play? But this will make some people mad. You're always going to make some people unhappy though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You know, since we only used 2E as a hybrid with 1E, I never even noticed half-orc wasn't in 2E! To us, they never left...


They aren't though. The half-orc has half the features of the full orc and half the features of something else.

With 4 features for orc, for instance, there are 6 combinations of two features each (more if you include the weak duplicates option) for the orc-side of a half-orc alone, plus all the combinations of features for all the other races that could constitute the other half of the half-orc.

This makes the vast varieties of half-orc vastly different from orc--hardly "redundant".

Well, to reiterate:


Cheers!

Yeah, in Level Up both orcs and humans have multiple traits to choose from (and you easier homebrew more). So any way you slice it, there are many combinations that would all count as "half-orc". Pick the one that feels right to you.

 

[Mind of tempest]

D&D can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but no game can be all things to all people. In all the time I've spent playing D&D, the only time I had a gnome character was when I wanted to play a multi-class thief-illusionist. It's been well over 30 years (by Helm, I'm old). From my perspective, they could remove gnomes from the PHB and I would barely notice it. Maybe replace it with something people actually play? But this will make some people mad. You're always going to make some people unhappy though.

honestly, gnomes are less annoying than halflings, it is impossible to fit halflings in a setting without them becoming something else in the process, they survive by being Tolkien, cottegecore and the busted lucky mechanic.

 

[Blue Orange]

FWIW, I'm of mixed heritage (sort of) and enjoyed seeing the half-options.

And of course, half-elves and half-orcs are called that among humans. Among elves, half-humans are known by a long, musical, beautiful array of vowels that translates to 'big hairy snub-eared people who die fast'. Among orcs, half-human is known by a short word, usually translated as 'smallteeth', but containing negative (but not entirely so) connotations of trickery, cleverness, cowardice, and weakness.

(I'd say in a lot of ways, elf : human :: human: orc, at least with the sort of standard fantasy portrayals.)

 

[Reynard]

What really probably needs to go away more than any specific species is monoculturalism.

 

[Eltab]

D&D can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but no game can be all things to all people. In all the time I've spent playing D&D, the only time I had a gnome character was when I wanted to play a multi-class thief-illusionist. It's been well over 30 years (by Helm, I'm old). From my perspective, they could remove gnomes from the PHB and I would barely notice it. Maybe replace it with something people actually play? But this will make some people mad. You're always going to make some people unhappy though.

i decided to create an Arcane Trickster / Trickery Cleric. The only race that let me get a + modifier to all the relevant checks and spell saves was Gnome. That is the only Gnome character I've ever played. Nothing against Gnomes, just that my ideas for 'a fun character' run in other directions.

 

[Mind of tempest]

i decided to create an Arcane Trickster / Trickery Cleric. The only race that let me get a + modifier to all the relevant checks and spell saves was Gnome. That is the only Gnome character I've ever played. Nothing against Gnomes, just that my ideas for 'a fun character' run in other directions.

what is your idea of a fun character then?