why orc pc?

[TerraDave]

TerraDave, i think i dont quite get it...what do u mena by official? the core books?

cause you cold play in 2ed with the complete humanoid handbook

Ahh. I see. I had stopped following those by the time that (and seemingly 100s of others) had come out.

 

[GreatLemur]

My guess? The heroic orcs of Warcraft III and WoW are far more recent than Drizzt, and far more diversified, so we don't get "Thrawn-clones" in any proportion comparable to "Drizzt-clones".

Hell, never mind Warcraft; it's Warhammer that makes me wanna play an orc.

...But it's certainly Drizzt (and, to a large extent, drow fans*) that makes me freaking revile drow PCs.



*Do a Google search for "drow tales" if you want to know what I mean by this. I ain't giving you a link, 'cause I ain't going there at work.

 

[rossik]

*Do a Google search for "drow tales" if you want to know what I mean by this. I ain't giving you a link, 'cause I ain't going there at work.

its kinda...cute

 

[Asmor]

Drow also have a rabid anti-following of people, thanks to everyone's favorite ranger. So many people have decided to play a good Drow that the concept is now a de facto cliche.

 

[The_Gneech]

I keep seeing the topic for this thread and thinking it says, "Orc Pie" -- which is either a neat Monte Cook reference, or something that ogres think of as a hearty meal.

-The Gneech

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

My guess? The heroic orcs of Warcraft III and WoW are far more recent than Drizzt, and far more diversified, so we don't get "Thrawn-clones" in any proportion comparable to "Drizzt-clones".

Woah woah woah...

Thrawn-Clones? That's Star Wars, Klaus! Thrawn is the blue-skinned, red-eyed Chiss Grand Admiral from the Heir to the Empire books by Timothy Zahn.

Methinks you were looking for "Thrall-clones".

/nitpick

 

[Eltharon]

I've never actually heard of a Thrall clone. All the orcs I've had the (mis?)fortune of meeting have been incredibly strong, incredibly tough, and incredibly dumb. No funny black armor or big hammer either.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

2) The hubby is playing a drow PC in a game currently and decided to break the "naturally chaotic good outcast shunned by his people and the rest of the world equally" mold.

If you let yourself be convinced that there is a mold, they have already won!

 

[Klaus]

Woah woah woah...

Thrawn-Clones? That's Star Wars, Klaus! Thrawn is the blue-skinned, red-eyed Chiss Grand Admiral from the Heir to the Empire books by Timothy Zahn.

Methinks you were looking for "Thrall-clones".

/nitpick

Didn't you know? Thrawn was a half-Gamorrean! aranoid:

Yes, "Thrall-clones".

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Thrall would be extremely difficult to stat up. He has a unmodified stat of 14+ for each ability score, making him ridiculously powerful before his levels are taken into account. He's huge - Orgrim Doomhammer was described as huge, but Thrall was even bigger, so it seems he has a base Strength of 18. And he's completely ambidextrous, and quite intelligent, and wise enough to make a powerful shaman, and yeah he's a good leader as well. He's also tough, but I can't recall the exact description.

He was so well-trained as a gladiator he defeated the high level human warrior known only as "Sergeant" ... at age six. He also beat Warsong's three best warriors, while they were armed and armored and he was caught off-guard. I think even Drizzt couldn't match him in pure cheesiness (at a young age, that is).

He's practically a Mary Sue. If "Lord of the Clans" the novel were even slightly less awesomely written I'd probably be quite upset about the Thrall character, actually. He's next to impossible to replicate, and can only be done so at high level ... and there aren't any good rules for fighter/shaman/leaders so his stats would still end up weak. (Sort of like the 3.x Drizzt, Artemis Entreri and Elminster stats.) A Drizzt-clone is easy to stat up because you only really need to be a good-aligned drow and not worship Eilistraee. (Eilistraeens are their own cliche!)

Another reason Thrall-clones aren't found in DnD are stat differences. Orcs from Warcraft should have bonuses to Strength and Wisdom and maybe Con, along with penalties to Dex, Intelligence* and maybe Charisma. This is quite a bit different from the 3.x orc, which has penalties to Wisdom!

*Thrall has a naturally high Int score, before you apply the orc penalty.