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View Full Version : Help Building an Orc Tribe [PF]



BigKahuna
2013-06-30, 10:16 AM
This is a DM-Only Thread - Tom, Michael, Peter and Joel now is the time to stop reading.

I've been trying to build up a Orc Tribe of over 100 members led by a powerful Scarred Witch Doctor (Witch Archetype which casts off Constitution) that my players are set to encounter in a spooky forest. While I have made a number of stat blocks for the various Orc squadrons that the players may encounter if they are not careful, I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with the buildings and infrastructure of the tribe. All suggestions are welcome, though my setting is in the Victorian Era and Orcs are thought to have been driven out of the setting over 800 years ago (the players are aware this is not the case). Also, in case it is not obvious, this tribe is meant to be quite savage and may have taken slaves.

Jbr208
2013-06-30, 10:41 AM
Infrastructure would depend on how the tribe functions. They live in a "spooky forest," so are they sedentary, or within the scope of the forest are they nomadic? How do they get food? What sorts of tools do they use? Do they have access to metal, or do they stick to stone, bones, sinews and wood? They're led by a witch, how central is that mysticism to their way of life in practice? What are the tenets and special observations within the mystic religion/cult?

Also, what kind of forest is it? Evergreen, deciduous? That will have an impact on what is available to eat, since evergreens tend to choke out most other plant life based on my low level understanding of botany. What's the climate like, frigid, temperate, tropical, humid, dry? Did the orcs occupy an abandoned fort or other ruin perhaps? All of these would alter the buildings and camp/town layout.