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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Illuminati" data-source="post: 2009961" data-attributes="member: 6961">Wrath and Rage is a guide and tool kit for making orcs and half orcs for the d20 system.  Similar to the Sword and Fist, Tome and Blood, etc. prestige class books with a their abundance of advice for making more interesting or effective characters, Wrath and Rage goes beyond this by really bringing to life the often neglected or maligned half-orc species with new and fitting ideas and twists.Wrath and Rage is 80 pages long, which is a bit short for something that goes for $16.95.  However, the price is definitely worth it (assuming you're interested in half-orcs and orcs).  The cover art is definitely evocative, with rich red lettering that makes the book stand out.  And kudos to the interior artist, Toren Atkinson, for some of the finest b&w illustrations I've seen so far for a d20 product.  Atkinson manages to create a wide variety of orcish caricatures that simply blow away some of the cheesy artwork I've seen done of humanoids in the past.  Gruesome, savage, or outright disgusting (see the Honored Host PC), these are a fantastic highlight to the well-written text.The book begins by offering advice on not only how to play an orc or half-orc, but also alternatives for racial concepts.  This is a great section because it allows you to portray orcs in a different light than the same old stereotypes.  One especially brilliant idea, I thought, was the Cancer, which suggests orcs are brutal race in constant evolution, and their tenacity at breeding and spreading across the earth (like a cancer) makes them far more interesting than just simple fodder for low-level adventuring parties.The feats section offers quite a variety of feats, many of which are related to or reliant upon the barbarian rage ability.  There are some excellent and evocative feats here that play well upon the orcish angle while also being very useful as well; Bite, Defensive Rage, Gullet (odd, but useful for an orcish assassin or thief), Little People, Pass For Human, Scent, and Thick Skin come to mind.  A few are a little strange or perhaps a bit overpowered (I'd personally opt to leave Whirlwind Rage out of my games), but nothing so unbalancing as to detract from the overall content of this chapter.The prestige classes offer a similar diversity, with some uniquely female-oriented PCs like the Bride of He-Who-Watches and the Mother of Rage.  This latter PC is pretty stomach churning to read, but by the time you're ready to read the Mother you've probably already read the Honored Host – and lost your appetite anyway.  Don't think these are cheesy or obnoxious classes either; they make a great deal of sense and really help to bring out the character of the bestial, bleak, and monstrous orcish race.The only exception I had to this was the Rage Smith, the abilities of which just seem odd to me.  I can't imagine taking a prestige class that, at 5th level, allows the character to kill himself to power a magical artifact.  It's an interesting idea, but not one that seems to jive with a prestige class.The next chapter offers new creatures as well as templates for making virtually any creature "half-orc" (that is, originally bred with an orc), or "anathema" (distorted reflections of normal creatures created by the negative energies and taint of the orcish race's presence in the area).The next two chapters deal with a new take on orcish deities (a variant pantheon), and new domains and spells.  The new domains are extremely fitting for the theme of orcs; the best examples that come to mind include the Command, Curse, Poison, and Savagery domains, all of which give very useful abilities to orcish clerics that choose them.The section on exotic weapons and magic items continue the theme expertly, though in at least one case I was disappointed (the battering axe is a bit odd, and I don’t think the subdual damage for missing rule was necessary).  But this is only one minor drawback in an otherwise excellent section filled with combat drugs, new magical armor and weapon properties, etc..  Of a particularly fitting invention are the magical scars, which just seem perfect to me for orc characters.Finally, in the last few pages, the developers also chose to include quick tables for NPC orcs with various class levels to them, not unlike the NPC tables in the DMG.  Very useful, and a great finale for an extremely flavorful book that successfully brings orcs to life.</blockquote>

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