Help with Half-Orc fluff

[shiram]

So I want to build an half-orc babarian, and I'm trying to create a story for him.
But I also want him to be less evil and chaotic than is usually represented.
And I am missing some information, which I am having troubles findind.

Basically, are all Half-Orcs result of rape? Is it always human female that carry the child??

I'd like my half orc to have been raised with humans, most likely in some kind of church or monastery that would instill him with great morale and values.

The one thing I found interesting was something like this. An half orc female had an alter self spell casted on her, and she met and fell in love with a human, but after they consumed their love, the spell broke.

How else are half-orc conceived?

[Diarmuid]

If you're strictly talking about fluff, it can be whatever you want it to be. There's nothing saying that half-orcs have to be orc father/human mother. I think that's the most generally accepted coupling as an Orc male is more likely to be attracted to a human female than vice versa.

You want a half-orc raised in a church, Bam...your half-orc was raised in a church.

As long as your fluff doesnt contradic something the DM has established for the world you're playing in, you should be fine.

[shiram]

As long as your fluff doesnt contradic something the DM has established for the world you're playing in, you should be fine.

I am the DM actually, and he will be my pc, but as I am playing with people that are more experienced in DnD I just want to make sure that he will fit in and have a believable story.
But basically, it is to setup his backstory, and try to have him mesh with the other PC's.

[Cog]

You might find this relevant. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0555.html)

[McSmack]

The sky's the limit, especially if it's your game. He could have two half-orc parents. He could be an orphan and how no idea about his lineage. He could be a powerful dragon who got polymorphed into a half-orc.

You can do intesting things to change the traditional half-orc stereotype. Perhaps his parents were two half-orc barbarian adventurers who fell in love?
Or he comes from a community of half-orcs living out on the frontier, away from the prejudices of other races? Go with whatever sounds good to you.

[shiram]

Thanx McSmack, I guess I was also looking for inspiration for his backstory, and was setting limits for myself.
I really like your ideas and might use them. I was also curious to know if there we're any established concepts not covered in the books.

[Sarco_Phage]

You want a half-orc raised in a church, Bam...your half-orc was raised in a church.

Oooh oooh, and make this guy his foster father!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pGIwjzMySB8/TUl2N1UjK0I/AAAAAAAAADY/xWvDsthZmq0/s1600/claudefrollo.png

[Ravens_cry]

Half Orc from loving parents is completely an option. Maybe Mama Orc liked her men a little smoother, a little smarter, less hairy. Maybe Papa Human liked his woman a bit less. . . delicate.
Personally, I always found the rape aspect rather unpleasant and never used it in a half orc charachter, of which I have had several. A child of half orcs, a half orc foundling raised by others, the sky is indeed the limit.

[Sarco_Phage]

The way your half-orc grew up is also important. Was he part of a generally accepting community, a neutral one, or one that feared Orcs? The way people treated him for the first 14 years of his life is crucial to his character.

[Malimar]

I've been considering lately a half-ogre, whose origins involves a wandering female ogre bard who left a trail of human men with broken hearts and/or pelvises in her wake. (The ogre bard left the baby half-ogre at the next temple she came to, and it grew up to be a paladin.) It makes more sense than the idea of a human female successfully bearing a half-ogre baby!

So yeah, non-cliches are workable.

[Sr.medusa]

If a church raise him, ¿why is he barbarian? I mean, it's more fun a Half-orc parangon/paladin, ¡paladín rage!

[shiram]

If a church raise him, ¿why is he barbarian? I mean, it's more fun a Half-orc parangon/paladin, ¡paladín rage!

I guess I could go Pally, but I meant for him to be the meat shield so barbarian was my choice, also did not want to fuss around with alignement too much.

I was also going to address why he becomes a barbarian, mostly he got restless and went out in the world, but would get bullied and picked on for being an half-orc. One of the party players would then find him, and instruct him to stand up for himself, and having no proper fighting training before, he would fall into the barbarian category. Something like that, but more fleshed out, it would tie him to the party, and give them backstory to share.

Thanks to all that I have replied, your comments are helping me alot!

[KillianHawkeye]

did not want to fuss around with alignement too much.

Half-Orcs aren't restricted to any particular alignment. What's there to fuss around with? :smallconfused:

[Curious]

Because Paladins are shoe-horned into LG. :smalltongue:

[Ravens_cry]

Because Paladins are shoe-horned into LG. :smalltongue:
Core Paladin maybe, but there is other options (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm) for those so inclined.

[slaydemons]

about the orc male to human female its definitely not like that it could be human raiders or bandits who attacked an orc village one of the men was drunk so he raped a orc, thats how genji (forget the spelling) from one of my favorite story came into being in, the story thieves of blood.

[KillianHawkeye]

Because Paladins are shoe-horned into LG. :smalltongue:

Yeah, but there's nothing stopping Half-Orcs from being Lawful Good, so I don't see what the aforementioned fussing is about. It's not even a particularly abnormal alignment unless they were raised by full-blooded Orcs, which isn't the case here.

[Haarkla]

If a church raise him, ¿why is he barbarian? I mean, it's more fun a Half-orc parangon/paladin, ¡paladín rage!
Could be a barbaric church.

After all many barbarians are intensly religious.

[Xuc Xac]

In many rural communities, a sturdy wife who won't die during unassisted childbirth is better than a pretty one who's fragile. And men who are strong and tough who know how to put meat on the table and keep the wolves from the door are highly valued too. Humans in frontier communities would probably be rather accepting of orcs. There might be some prejudice and bigotry on both sides, but practicality will win out in many situations. There's no need for rape.

[shiram]

Half-Orcs aren't restricted to any particular alignment. What's there to fuss around with? :smallconfused:

Well If he would change alignment for a reason or another, he'd lose his Pally powers, but I guess the same applies to barbarian as well.
Also, I like the idea of him having fits of rage, and barely controlled anger, and there are better alignment suited for that than those reserved for Pallies.

But that is moot, as I would not have him as a Pally anywyays.
But just overall I must say I dislike the alignment system, and might take some liberties with it.

[Runestar]

There is a city in forgotten realms which boasts a significant half-orc population, IIRC. Think the Zhentarim had quite a bit of influence inside, and their orc army actually helped defend the city from danger on more than one occasion. Thus, the locals had a fairly good impression of the orcs.

When the Zhents left, the remaining orcs integrated quite well into society. They were treated rather well (the govt wanted to ensure their loyalty in case the Zhents returned), and quite a number of half-orcs resulted from human/orc pairings. :smallsmile:

[Prime32]

Or you could use the half-orc stats and say he's a particularly smart orc or brutish human.

Well If he would change alignment for a reason or another, he'd lose his Pally powers, but I guess the same applies to barbarian as well.
Also, I like the idea of him having fits of rage, and barely controlled anger, and there are better alignment suited for that than those reserved for Pallies.

But that is moot, as I would not have him as a Pally anywyays.
But just overall I must say I dislike the alignment system, and might take some liberties with it.Question: What alignment was Sir Lancelot of the Lake?

[shiram]

Or you could use the half-orc stats and say he's a particularly smart orc or brutish human.
Question: What alignment was Sir Lancelot of the Lake?

I already said he would be an half-orc, so I'm not sure what you mean.
As for Lancelot, I've no clue, as I have not read the Arthur books in quite some time, and his depiction will vary from author to author.
Besides, alignment is not the reason why I posted here, it only got sidetracked into it.

[Ravens_cry]

In many rural communities, a sturdy wife who won't die during unassisted childbirth is better than a pretty one who's fragile. And men who are strong and tough who know how to put meat on the table and keep the wolves from the door are highly valued too. Humans in frontier communities would probably be rather accepting of orcs. There might be some prejudice and bigotry on both sides, but practicality will win out in many situations. There's no need for rape.
Or maybe it was an arranged marriage to forge a peace treaty between the two communities. Sure, they didn't like each other at first, but they found they actually liked, even loved, each other after a while. Who plays what part is up to you.

[EccentricCircle]

orcs are generally portrayed as being uncivilised savages with a broadly evil alignment.
but this need not be the case. I tend to treat the common perception of what an orc is like as an accepted view, a stereotype that doesn't hold true in reality. the orcs actually have their own culture, their own religions (which are not evil) their own beliefs and laws. these may not be the same as those of the humans. and they may seem strange or be hard to understand., but they are no less civilised.
prehaps the perception of orcs as brutes originated when a band of orcs raided a human village two generations ago, those were the only orcs anyone had ever seen so the people naturally assumed that they were bloodthirsty savages. they didn't think that back home the orcs probably had farmers, and carpenters and priests. it didn't occur to them that [I]humans[I/] also raid other lands from time to time.

maybe the human nation was at war with the orc nation and so propaganda depicted them as evil slavering brutes. maybe the orcs think much the same thing about humans.

maybe orcs aren't as ugly as people claim. or maybe they see humans as being just as ugly if not more so.

as a half orc I would want to look beyond the predjudices of the people around me and try to learn about my peoples culture.
they may not have libraries but prehaps they have an oral tradition. prehaps after being raised in a church you set out to find someone who could teach you the shamanic traditions of the orc Barbarian Chiefs. primal warriors who humans tend to call barbarians but who may well have more in common with the clerics who raised you.

of course this only works if you or another DM is happy to challenge the standard assumptions about how the D&D world works. but it can make for a great campaign.

[Ravens_cry]

I am working on an orc nation that lives in harsh, wind swept cliffs on the north western coast of the main continent. All the place names are based off badly pronounced Welsh in a guttural accent. What are they famous for? Fishing schooner captains and sailors. They were once the riders of the wind on hippogryphs, but the local empire pushed them out their former territory. They still have some barbaric habits and traditions and they are a grim and bitter people, but they are not Chaotic Evil nutcases.
The empire isn't evil either, it is expansionist and prideful, even racist, but it brings rule of law and technology, both magical and mundane, to all in it's rule. In the end it comes down to people. I hope to focus more on smaller issues, like murder mysteries, bandits raiding carvans, and cultural tension issues, rather then epic clashes between darkest evil and whitest good on a grand scale.

[mabriss lethe]

There's no need to be pigeonholed into barbarian either. You can take levels in Half-Orc paragon to get a non-alignment specific rage. (the paragon class is a race specific base class and only 3 levels long, so there's plenty of room for other classes) You still qualify for most rage related feats (especially extra rage.) and can even use them in lawful aligned classes if that's your schtick.

Consider the Desert Half-Orc variant as well. +2 Con, -2 int instead of normal half orc modifiers. Low light vision instead of dark vision, a bonus vs hot environments and the Run feat. I like them a bit more than the standard Half-orc. They make very entertaining bards.

Both of these are in Unearthed Arcana and can be found in the Variant Rules section of the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/)

[Jopustopin]

So I want to build an half-orc babarian, and I'm trying to create a story for him.
But I also want him to be less evil and chaotic than is usually represented.
And I am missing some information, which I am having troubles findind.

Basically, are all Half-Orcs result of rape? Is it always human female that carry the child??

I'd like my half orc to have been raised with humans, most likely in some kind of church or monastery that would instill him with great morale and values.

The one thing I found interesting was something like this. An half orc female had an alter self spell casted on her, and she met and fell in love with a human, but after they consumed their love, the spell broke.

How else are half-orc conceived?

How are half-orcs conceived? How realistic do you want your fantasy. In Eberron they are usually conceived purposefully (arranged) in house Tharashk. But in almost all other settings... well it depends on how realistic you want your fantasy. Consider two renditions of how Half-Ogre's are conceived and ask yourself which do you think is more realistic.


If you read the Half-Ogre in the Races of Destiny book it actually says something like this:
"In peaceful times, ogres value humans’ intelligence and adaptability, while humans value ogres’ strength and toughness."
The half-ogre in Races of Ansalon however says something like this:
"Of all the races of Ansalon, half-ogres are arguably among the most tragic. In almost every case, violence and despair are part of a half-ogre’s life from his earliest moment. Most are born to human mothers raped by ogre slavers or ogre raiding parties."
[hr]
I feel that Orcs are pretty much every trait that cold possibly be unattractive put into a race. They are aggressive, violent, subjugate their females, sexual contact is almost always forced, they are evil by nature, they are the moral equivalent of two-year-old humans. For more fun facts about Orcs read "The Slayers Guide to Orcs"

That said, the answer to your question all depends on how you believe half-ogres are created (see above). Do you think that human males admire the ogre's strength? Do you think that female humans admire how... er.. "built" the ogre is? Do you think it's possible for an ogre to admire how smart a human is? It seems (to me) that d&d does not want to confront these serious issues and instead gives us fluff like that found in races of destiny whereas the fluff in Races of Ansalon seems more accurate.
[hr]
Now if you want to avoid these things there are options that you can have. The first is to be born from two half-orc parents. The second is to tell a grand tale of how your dad (the orc) sung beneath your mom's window every night until her heart soared and you were conceived. The third is that you were the product of rape.

However even if you go with the first option (both your parents were half-orcs) you still then have to deal with how they were conceived.

Here is a story for a half-orc barbarian that might be appropriate:

You were born and raised in the jungle by an uncivilized human tribe who worshiped something akin to animal spirits. The mighty lion was emulated by your tribe and for the first fifteen years of your life this is all you knew. The story of how you were conceived was not lost to you. When you were conceived your tribe was divided by orc raiders and many of your woman were captured. Most were not immediately killed and eaten to satisfy other cravings the orcs had. This gave the male members of your tribe time to track them down. Many lives were lost that day, but the fury that took your tribe is still talked about. It is believed that each one of them was possessed by the spirit of the lion. All the orcs lost their lives that day. However you and two others in your tribe are a constant reminder of that day. The reminder is fresh on your mind whenever a member of your tribe looks at you. While you love your tribe, you never quite felt the love in return. The only thing keeping you around was the unconditional love your mother gave you. When she died, of sickness, you no longer felt that you were part of the tribe. So you left.

(feel free to expand on this)

Lion Totem Variant Barbarian (Complete Champion)

[Tvtyrant]

You could also be the descendants of an entire line of half-orcs that were bred in the sands of time as emissaries to bridge the gap between human and orc. They failed at their task and now live in a half-orc exclusive village/town/city/nation where they attempt to reconcile the two halves of their heritage and create a new civilization for themselves.

[shiram]

The game is limited to the 3 core books btw, but exceptions can be made after revision of said exception.
I really like what I read from TvTyrant, and the synopsis that Jopustopin shared is great.
The half-orc would be some sort of anti-hero, struggling to do good to change the opinion of people who despise half-orcs.

I might just have too much stuff I like to fit in his backstory now!
Again thank you all.

[hamishspence]

It really depends on how evil the Orcs are. Remember they're only "Often Chaotic Evil" (not Usually) and (according to MMV) the most common exception is CN.

A nonevil power center might help to skew the Orcs away from CE.

Even the PHB suggests that orcs and human barbarians can sometimes interact peacefully- and that half-orcs can be the result.

Forgotten Realms novels and short stories seem to be moving away from the "orcs are utterly malevolent" trope.

[MightyIgoo]

Your character could have been raised in human barbarian tribe. Barbarians can have values too! Honestly being raised in a monastery doesn't really fit the fluff of barbarians at all. Barbarians are all about getting in touch with that inner rage, going wild and flipping out on your enemies. That's the very definition of chaotic right there. Not a lot of churches are going to be okay with that.

Also, your birth may have been the result of an arranged political marriage between a human and orc tribe.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

One of my characters was an orphan Half-Orc Fighter/Thief that hated orcs with a passion for what they must have done to his poor, dear mother that he never met.

Wasn't 'til he was nearly name level that he found out the orc was his mother.

My other favorite is the Half-Orc born to a noblewoman after a raid. Received the finest nobleman's education and excelled at it, but was forced into adventuring because, as an illegitimate son, he was ineligible to inherit his mother's land and had to watch as his wastrel stepfather and half-brother pissed it away.

[HalfDragonCube]

He could be a powerful dragon who got polymorphed into a half-orc.

You may have some troubles with that when the character walks into an antimagic field.:smalleek:

[Ravens_cry]

You may have some troubles with that when the character walks into an antimagic field.:smalleek:
Ah, but what if the charachter believes they are a Dragon polymorphed into a Half Orc? It is a kind of mental block to deal with the stress of being a child of rather disagreeable circumstances. Of course, if they do happen to walk into a anti-magic feild, it would be quite shattering for their psyche.

[Cog]

Or he might turn to the party wizard and demand to know why the wizard is falling for such an obviously illusory antimagic field instead of casting - after all, if it were a real AM field, he wouldn't still be a half-orc.

[Gaius Marius]

The way I created my main Half-Orc character was as "The Defender of the Outcasts". Where Half-Elves can try to strike a balance between their two culture, for elves and humans are somewhat friendly (on average), Orcs and Humans are ennemies, and the children of these two races are outright rejected and pushed out. Your alien half is a mark of eternal shame upon you.

Which is why I played him to HATE to be referred as a "Half-Orc". He wasn't the half of anything, he was whole and proud.

If the GM allows you to play your character and storyline for you to do the best for your people (the apatride Humanorcs), look up "Races of Destiny" for the Prestige Class named "Outcast Champion". I always loved it.

[Ravens_cry]

Or he might turn to the party wizard and demand to know why the wizard is falling for such an obviously illusory antimagic field instead of casting - after all, if it were a real AM field, he wouldn't still be a half-orc.
Yep, further protecting the psyche through obfuscation.

[HalfDragonCube]

If elves had forums, and they played D&D, would there be a similar thread about these mythical half-elf half-humans and their awful origins?

[WMO?]

There is a city in forgotten realms which boasts a significant half-orc population, IIRC. Think the Zhentarim had quite a bit of influence inside, and their orc army actually helped defend the city from danger on more than one occasion. Thus, the locals had a fairly good impression of the orcs.

When the Zhents left, the remaining orcs integrated quite well into society. They were treated rather well (the govt wanted to ensure their loyalty in case the Zhents returned), and quite a number of half-orcs resulted from human/orc pairings. :smallsmile:

I think you are referring to the city of Phsant, in Thesk. All of Thesk (loose confederacy of cities and trading communities along the Golden Way, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars) has a high population of urbanized and accepted orcish settlers, and as a result a relatively large number of half-orcs, decades after the Zhent army they arrived with in the first place ran off the Tuigen Horde.

[Âmesang]

My other favorite is the Half-Orc born to a noblewoman after a raid. Received the finest nobleman's education and excelled at it, but was forced into adventuring because, as an illegitimate son, he was ineligible to inherit his mother's land and had to watch as his wastrel stepfather and half-brother pissed it away.
I've been thinking of having a half-orc character with a somewhat similar backstory — where his noble mother seduced the orcish gardener. He gets raised much like any other noble and bears a rather "prissy" name, so to prove his toughness he bites down on a rock… and, naturally, breaks a tusk… thus earning him the nickname "Rock Biter" which he preferably goes by the day he leaves home to become an adventurer and leave behind the stuffy, aristocratic atmosphere.

Granted, it might work best if his backstory is kept rather secret, have him want nothing to do with "that town," and if he comes back have his mom pop out as a surprise, calling him by his true name. "Wentworth, you've returned!"

[Psyren]

The main thing to remember is that PCs are generally assumed to be exceptional. The vast majority of folks in the game world do not become "adventurers" (and if you walked up to someone on the street and said that was your job, they'd look at you like you belonged in a mental institution most likely.)

The takeaway here is that a PC can have any background you want, even if "normal" members of their race are typically sired a different way. You can be raised in a church/monastery/library/orphanage, adopted by elves, raised by wolves, the product of carnal violence, grow up in a loving and stable home, blessed by angels, cursed by fiends, grown in a vat, have amneeeeesia to kick the can down the road or anything else you can think of.

[WeaselGuy]

I think you are referring to the city of Phsant, in Thesk. All of Thesk (loose confederacy of cities and trading communities along the Golden Way, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars) has a high population of urbanized and accepted orcish settlers, and as a result a relatively large number of half-orcs, decades after the Zhent army they arrived with in the first place ran off the Tuigen Horde.

There's also a Half-Orc settlement in Vaasa, called Palischuk (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Palischuk). Was a key part of the Artemis Entreri/Jarlaxle Baenre spinoff books by R.A. Salvatore.

[zergling.exe]

I'll just point out that this thread is from 2011.