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

[Warpiglet-7]

You could very well be correct.

I am going off of my own experience in the groups I play at and watch, plus things people have posted here and on other sites. Players seem (as I wrote before) more interested in exploring other half-race options than playing half-orcs and half-elves.

Listen—-I get it. I have more traditional D&D leanings and agree with a lot of

As I said, corporate intention. We can do what we want, but over time the headwinds do seem to get stronger.

You could very well be correct.

I am going off of my own experience in the groups I play at and watch, plus things people have posted here and on other sites. Players seem (as I wrote before) more interested in exploring other half-race options than playing half-orcs and half-elves.

Listen—-I get it. I have more traditional D&D leanings.

However, I have learned to live in the gaming now. I think 5e as is—-worth the OtIONS is great.

Where they take it I don’t know but am not optimistic about some things. Yet I feel like my group is hitting another Renaissance with D&D. Our kids are big enough to do their own thing or preferably…join us!

We played 1e all through 2e and I have not regrets. 3.0 essentially to 5e:

Don’t let tomorrow ruin your today. Get your buds and play what ya like for as long as ya like! I never say never. While we played 1e the DM likes the monstrous compendium and some other resources. We just folded it right in…with Devils and Demons (yeah the old fashioned kind!) and had a blast.

I suspect we will do
It again. We like 5e. I bet 5.5 will have some cool ass stuff we use with 5.0. Heck we used to go
To Gen con and get in 1e events long
I to 2e! You’re not alone and can keep your sort of game quite alive. I have worked to not let unwanted change to bring me down and how the same for others.

Just a little pep talk…the game will live
And do OK. Just remember we only have to be current with what we want to be current with

 

[Charlaquin]

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

Well, yeah, that decision was obviously made to imply that the “core 4” races we’re somehow privileged above the others to appeal to the old-school crowd. I’m just saying in the setting that decision implies, it would make sense for horks, omans, hulves, and elmans to be sterile.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Well, yeah, that decision was obviously made to imply that the “core 4” races we’re somehow privileged above the others to appeal to the old-school crowd. I’m just saying in the setting that decision implies, it would make sense for horks, omans, hulves, and elmans to be sterile.

And if you want that "an outcast between two words" vibe, it works a lot better if such mixed species individuals are rare. If they have their own communities and most half-somethings have parents who are also half-somethings then it doesn't quite work.

 

[Charlaquin]

I actually created a random race table meant to reproduce the assumptions of race rarity in the PHB, if anyone has any interest in such a thing. Might at least be useful for the reincarnation spell if nothing else.

1d12+1d4	Race
2	Gnome (forest)
3	Dragonborn
4	Half-elf
5	Elf (wood)
6	Elf (high)
7	Halfling (lightfoot)
8-10	Human
11	Halfling (stout)
12	Dwarf (hill)
13	Dwarf (mountain)
14	Half-orc
15	Tiefling
16	Gnome (rock)

This method gives about a 25% chance of a human, a 16.66% chance of an elf, dwarf, or halfling, a 6.25% chance of a half-elf or half-orc, and a 4.17% chance of a dragonborn, gnome, or Tiefling. In other words, humans are 1.5x more common than the other common races, which are all equally common, and likewise the half-human races are 1.5x more common than the other Uncommon races, which are all equally common at about 1/4 the frequency of the common races.

 

[Faolyn]

Like Whitney Houston sings, you're not every woman. Just because you feel no pressure it doesn't follow that others experience the same thing.

And likewise, even though some people feel pressure it doesn't follow that others are as well.

So you're acknowledging that there might be some pressure to use WotC's rules?

From WotC? No. From players who like rules other than what the DM wants? Sure, but you'll get that no matter what.

 

[MGibster]

From WotC? No. From players who like rules other than what the DM wants? Sure, but you'll get that no matter what.

I never argued where the pressure originated from exactly. Just that when WotC released official rules, there's pressure on a lot of DMs to allow it in their games. Who cares if it's pressure applied by WoTC or players? The point is that it's there and it's not always easy to ignore. Just saying, "it's optional" doesn't really address the problem.

 

[Minigiant]

thane barbarian?

It;s the Barbarian Chief and Barbarian King archtype. The Barbarian who is a Face and has support abilities.

also, clannish folk who live in horrible places is kind of dwarven stuff?

Dwarves are isolationist and conservative.

Half Orcs would be the ones who openly create relations and adopt new trends and technology due to their human ambition and curiosity.

 

[Stormonu]

I take it you a big bruiser player then?

Sometimes, dwarf, goliath, half-orc and dragonborn are high on the list of races I like and paladin is my favorite class.

However, my fondest half-orc character was Savage Avenger, a 1E fighter/assassin who was more sneaky than brawny.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Sometimes, dwarf, goliath, half-orc and dragonborn are high on the list of races I like and paladin is my favorite class.

However, my fondest half-orc character was Savage Avenger, a 1E fighter/assassin who was more sneaky than brawny.

I can't fault a man for knowing what he like, especially given I do not.

 

[JEB]

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.

Theros is an official D&D campaign setting, and it doesn't include any core race besides humans, so Wizards is willing to do settings with restricted options. We also have a few brand-new settings on the way, so who knows how they'll handle this.