Orc

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Orcs are a fantasy race that is used in a number of settings. Compare to Ork. They are generally depicted as barbaric humanoids with green skin. Typically, they are stronger than an average human, though generally less intelligent as well (except in Warhammer Fantasy, Lord of the Rings and the Elder Scrolls, where they are, amusingly, physically inferior to the human race that is a facsimile of the Vikings. Thus proving that beards and axes end all things and that the Vikings can rape anyone).

They enjoy molesting, eating and generally mistreating the Goblins, their smaller cousins. They have relations with Trolls and Ogres, their larger and stupider relatives, whom they con into performing demeaning menial tasks. Their relations with more distant races are more variable - some may work for humans, for example, while others will fight humans on sight. They are also cross-fertile with many other races, leading to the existence of halforcs. The exception to this is Elves. All Orcs hate Elves, and this makes them good people.

Historically, the term was used to describe the Normans invading the Saxon occupiers of Britain in 1066. It is also an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'demon', according to Tolkien, who lifted the word from Beowulf.

Mold-Breakers

As the above suggests, Orcs are typically your generic bad-guys in most fantasy settings. However, there are a couple of notable exceptions.

Spelljammer is an unusual entry on this list, because its unique orcs, or Scro, are still bad guys. It's just that, in an era where orcs were defined as being chaotic, anarchic, disorganized hordes, scro were defined by being cultured, intelligent, disciplined and well-organized soldierly regiments.

Warcraft may be the iconic example of a mold-breaker when it comes to orcs. After making them fairly bogstandard (if a little unusual in that they were also from another planet) in the first two games, the third game gave the revelation that orcs had once been a noblebright culture of shamans and honorable warriors, but were corrupted into savage, bloodthirsty conquerors by an evil shaman and the setting's demonic big bad. The result was the third game focused on their drive to found a new nation for themselves where they could try and rediscover their past. This led to the formation of the Horde faction in World of Warcraft, which took off hugely in popularity because of its then-novel idea of traditionally brutal monster races (orcs, trolls and minotaurs) as an ordinary, viably civilized faction in its own right. There was even a short-lived tabletop RPG (first a D&D 3.5 spin off, then a more "customized" but still fundamentally D&D-cloned WoW version) as a result.

Eberron gave its orcs a status as a relative peaceful race who were once responsible for combating the threat of aberration hordes from beyond the stars, as well as founders of the tradition of druidism in-setting. Even in the present, they tend to live in the swamp-regions and do no harm; they freely mingle with humans and adopt them into their tribes, so half-orcs are not only common, but have an expectation of being born from consensual relationships, rather than the "orc man raping a human woman" expectation of most other D&D settings.

Elder Scrolls Orcs are generally known to be the best smiths in the setting, as well as crazy good soldiers next to the Nords and Redguards. Their skill in fighting with heavy armor has lent them a place as heavy shock legionaries in the Imperial Legions. One Orc even became the continent's best chef.

It's not very common, as one can see, but some DMs have been known to revamp orcs for their own homebrew settings as well.

Orcs in D&D

From 3rd edition on, Orcs have been a playable race in the vast list for Dungeons & Dragons, though their stats and standard portrayal have usually been bad enough to keep most people from ever bothering. Even in 4e, most would probably recommend using half-orc or goliath stats and "reskinning" them into orcs. The Players Handbook in 5e outright states that it's not impossible for an orc to not be chaotic evil, but that Gruumsh, the god that created them, didn't give them as much free will as the normal races, making it more difficult for orcs to avoid being evil. (Half-orcs feel it too, but not as strongly, and it primarily manifests as extremely passionate emotions.)

3.x Orc:

• +4 Strength
• -2 Intelligence
• -2 Wisdom
• -2 Charisma
• Medium size
• Base land speed 30 feet
• Darkvision out to 60 feet
• Light Sensitivity (automatically suffer Dazzled condition in daylight)
• Favored Class: Barbarian

3.5 Scro

• +4 Strength
• +2 Dexterity
• +2 Constitution
• Medium size
• Base land speed 30 feet
• Darkvision out to 60 feet
• Orc Blood (count as orcs for all effect related to race)
• +1 racial bonus to attack rolls vs. Elves of all kinds
• Favored Class: Monk
• Level Adjustment: +2

Warcraft the RPG Orc

• +2 Constitution
• -2 Intelligence
• Medium size
• Base land speed 30 feet
• Low-Light Vison
• Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
• Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
• Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
• +2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Handle Animal (Wolf) and Intimidate are always Class Skills for orcs.
• +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
• Favored Class: Fighter

World of Warcraft the RPG Orc

• +2 Stamina
• -2 Intellect
• Medium size
• Base land speed 30 feet
• Low-Light Vison
• Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
• Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
• Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
• +2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Intimidate is always a Class Skill for orcs.
• +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
• Favored Class: Barbarian

4e Orc

• +2 Strength
• +2 Constitution
• Size: Medium
• Speed: 6 squares
• Vision: Low-light
• Running Charge (+2 to Speed when charging)
• Warrior's Surge (racial encounter power; make a 1[W] + Strength modifier attack with a melee weapon against an opponent's AC and get to spend a healing surge)

Pathfinder Orc

• +4 Strength
• -2 Intelligence
• -2 Wisdom
• -2 Charisma
• Medium size
• Base land speed 30 feet
• Darkvision out to 60 feet
• Ferocity (can keep fighting at zero HP, but is Staggered and loses 1 HP each round automatically)
• Light Sensitivity (automatically suffer Dazzled condition in daylight)
• Weapon Familiarity: Automatically proficient with Greataxe and Falchion, treat any weapon with "Orc" in its name as a Martial weapon.

Green Skin

One usually wonders where the green coloration of Orcish skin came from, in the old myths (i.e., Lord of the Rings) the orcs were established as barbaric, crude brutes, true; but the approximate skin color was never truly established, the Orcs were generally described as filthy and mucky, with darkened skin and bestial countenances. It wasn't until the advent of the Hulk comics, and GW deciding to make their orcs different, that the common skin of the orc became green. Because Warhammer's orcs became so memorable, thousands of copycats have followed suit.

This of course may not truly explain why some orcs in DnD have green skin as well, DnD being around before Warhammer, but the a more precise green coloration in its orcs may have come later. Indeed, earlier DnD art shows a variety of skin colors, some of them sallow yellow and earthy reds. Green may have come about because all the other possible colors simply have clashing connotations, such as a calming blue, or offensive real world racial connotations (black, red, brown, and yellow are right out for a barbaric and evil race of XP bags.) Another theory is that Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the 2 co-founders of games workshop, also had alot of communication with Brian Blume, the developer of D&D, especially in the early days of these 2 companies, so it is entirely possible that certain ideas were mentioned and then copied.

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  gb2kitchen

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  Their stats may not match up, but damnit, they still work.

See Also

• Goblins
• Ork
• Orcs & Goblins