Monday, November 30, 2015

Considering the Half-Orc (again)

I received positive feedback on my Holmesian half-orc post the other day, which is cool (because I liked it myself), but I find myself wondering if it's enough. Enough to make players consider the possibility of playing a half-orc, I mean.

Because, as it stands, the only real advantage we see here is the ability to play an assassin with infravision. Since there's no multi-classing in my Holmesian vision (leaving out the special case of elves), there's nothing else you get with this species of semi-human that you can't get from, say, playing a half-elf...and the half-elf doesn't carry the same reaction penalty as the half-orc. That's not much of an incentive, especially as my version of an assassin is one that relies, in part, on its ability to get close to a target...something a good reaction roll could definitely help with.

SO...the half-orc needs another bone, in my opinion. Here's what I'm thinking: half-orcs receive a +1 bonus to reaction rolls (no penalty) when interacting with monstrous (non-player) humanoids of an "evil" persuasion: orcs, goblins, trolls, bugbears, etc.

This could make any half-orc PC (of any class) a bit more interesting to play, as well as opening a door that encourages social interaction, and it also increases the possibility of a motley crew of strange henchmen and followers (though the half-orcs' low CHA score would still limit the number of followers in their war bands). What do you think...too much? I definitely prefer something like this to giving them some orc-specific exotic weapon specialty.

"Let's discuss this like civilized folk."

8 comments:

  1. Hi from a long time lurker and fan, JB. I just wanted to give my thumbs up to this version of the half-orc. Last month I did a bunch of thinking and blogging on orcs and their ilk, and I really think that one of the great potentials for half-orc characters is to open up the border between 'normal' player races and monsters and play around with it. Your evil humanoid reaction bonus is a great mechanic to encourage that. If you don't mind the plug, you can read my two cents on the half-orc here:

    https://powerwordkill.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/orctober-part-2-half-orc-half-biscuit/

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    1. @ PWK:

      Glad you like it. It's nice to get the perspective of a true Old School half-orc player...I've known a couple, but not many. And like you, I dislike the 3E+ versions of the race.

      WH green skins are fine for that world (and a green army looks nice on the battle table), but I don't want green orcs in my dungeon.

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  2. What is the half orc Charisma penalty, -2? You could ignore the penalty and hard cap for monstrous humanoids and other half orcs only. AD&D does this for dwarves and half orcs.

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    1. @ Darn:

      I'm familiar with the "dwarf charisma" rule of AD&D but dislike it for a couple reasons, the main one being that it changes what should be an objective stat to a subjective one. Human strength isn't different from elf strength, nor is gnomish intelligence different from that of a halfling...why should charisma operate differently?

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  3. I like the idea of the +1 reaction bonus when dealing monstrous humanoids. Additionally, you could allow half-Orcs to use their Strength score instead of their Charisma score when determining their reaction bonus when dealing with monstrous humanoids so they would get +1 plus a modifier for Strength. That would make sense if the base assumption is that monstrous humanoids value physical strength over eloquence especially when it comes to their leaders. It also mirrors the fiction where these types of critters are often led by the strongest.

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    1. @ M.Steve:

      Yeah, I've done something like this in the past (using STR as a reaction modifier), and considered it but, as with the "dwarf charisma" rule mentioned above, it starts screwing around with what should be an objective mechanic, making it function differently in different circumstances. And it downplays the value of charisma, making it a true "dump stat."

      If you want to use strength as a modifier to "intimidation attempts," perhaps based on the morale mechanic (I've done this before, notably with Cry Dark Future), okay. But don't disregard the worth of true charisma and leadership, even (or especially) in the monstrous humanoid tribes. A 16 charisma in a character of orcish blood is as rare as an 18 among humans...and it is precisely this lack of bearing and presence that prevents humanoids from becoming an organized force.

      At least, that's how I look at it.
      ; )

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    2. You are looking at it correctly. I can appreciate the desire to keep Charisma an objective mechanic especially since enough special cases leads to rules bloat and you'd think I would have noticed my suggestion would undermine the power of the Charisma attribute considering how much time I spent figuring out how to keep it from being a dump stat in the games I run.
      I like where you are going with the half-Orc. My first AD&D character in the early Eighties was a half-Orc and they are my favorite race as a player but I definitely prefer the AD&D version over the dumbed down half-Orcs of 3.x.

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