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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Valchrys" data-source="post: 8022201" data-attributes="member: 7025262">I've read through this thread and I still don't get what makes an orc an orc. The answer I see most often is that orcs are defined by their culture, which is kind of a non-answer as a DM would then have to ask what is the culture of orcs? Which is a pretty big question. The official solution, taken from Eberron, seems to be the orcs will not be defined in the future. They guy who wrote Eberron clearly thought about orcs but he doesn't tell us why they are the way they are. Is it genetics? Is it magic? Is it a curse? Is it divine mandate? Not important questions for a PC, maybe, but these are good things to know for a NPC.VGtM gives a clear answer, orcs live in constant terror of their gods. That's a pretty good theme to use as a jumping off point for creating a new NPC's, especially on the fly. So, if I have three orc guards, one can be honorable, one cruel and one dishonest but they're all linked by their shared mythology. They were made by Gruumsh and they will return to Gruumsh. In FR, at least, gods create culture by creating people to reflect their values. This maybe shallow but, in terms of making a game for Sunday, it's a very useful tool.And tools are what I want for my $50 per book. Not undefined races that play like funny looking humans. I don't really care what happens on the PC side of things. But if official orcs are going to be undefined and I have to do all the work to create their culture, what am I paying WotC to do?</blockquote>

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