Need A Creative Mind For This Background

[Sugashane]

I am introducing my characters with a NPC to play the role of tank as one of our PCs just enlisted, and that was the role he filled.

I have a half ogre build made up, but he needs to look human, completely human, just oversized. He has been raised among humans, and continued growing at an alarming rate (using Robert Wadlow's growth for him). His bloodline needs to be hidden, as that will come out later in his character arc, and will allow me to give my PCs some challenging decisions to make. But I'd like to have something better than the generic "cursed by the witches" or "the sage believed he would prove useful for the humans" kind of thing.

Anyone have a better reason? After writing up this quest I'm just drawing a blank. Thanks playgrounders!

[Ortesk]

I am introducing my characters with a NPC to play the role of tank as one of our PCs just enlisted, and that was the role he filled.

I have a half ogre build made up, but he needs to look human, completely human, just oversized. He has been raised among humans, and continued growing at an alarming rate (using Robert Wadlow's growth for him). His bloodline needs to be hidden, as that will come out later in his character arc, and will allow me to give my PCs some challenging decisions to make. But I'd like to have something better than the generic "cursed by the witches" or "the sage believed he would prove useful for the humans" kind of thing.

Anyone have a better reason? After writing up this quest I'm just drawing a blank. Thanks playgrounders!

well he's like 12 feet tall, you can say he looks human because the blood line on the human side over powered the ogre. Its really fluff, just fiat it. For the size, a wizard put perma enlarge person on him


I would advise half giant though, look just like human just big. But not a size category bigger Big

[ArcturusV]

One Aside: In DnD there is no "tank"... well unless you count something like a Druid who throws out unlimited bear works to slow down the enemy with an actual wall of bears. Because DnD enemies are human controlled, and smart. If your only purpose is to take damage, they'll just bypass you as not being a threat. Really the role of a Fighter isn't "Tank" it's "Hammer". A fighter who is well built will do more damage than anyone else against a single target, and be able to do it all day long. Your role isn't to take damage, your role is to get in the face of the highest priority target, and smack it so hard that it stops being a priority target and generally more or a puddle of gore at your feet.

That said, to the crux of the issue:

The easiest, silliest somewhat stupid idea? No one knows better. Your Half Ogre might hail frm a human village where humans just tend towards Tall. It happens. Compare where I live, where the average height of a 18 year old seems to be about 6'1", compared to when I lived in Idaho where the average height of an adult seemed to be 5'4". The difference about two hundred miles makes.

So maybe your Half-Ogre just comes from a place where people tend to be tall and broad as the norm. Maybe Ogres are practically unheard of there so they just figured you might have something like 1/32 giant in you, or were just a particularly exceptional kid. It happens. Particularly if there are no Ogres around for some human to go "... waaaait. You look just like..." That and Knowledge (Local) isn't a class skill for most people. So there's a rules justification for their ignorance.

It's simple and stupid. But if your character never saw an Ogre, never heard of Ogres, and people who you lived with tended to be tall and broad (Granted you were just SLIGHTLY more so, but there are always outliers, so you just thought you were one)... why not? Roll with it.

[Psyren]

Epic Disguise (DC 50) can actually reduce your height 50%, making you appear Medium if Large. Someone else could have put the outfit on him.

[Weirdlet]

It's the dirty little secret of the town he comes from, somewhere way up in the mountains. Just like sometimes out on the border men will take orc-wives for sturdiness, in the early days of the settlement's founding there was more mixing of blood with the local non-human tribes. Nowadays it's rare, but every so often something recessive comes up when one family marries another too soon after the last time, and a son or a daughter will start to grow huge.

Nobody likes to talk about it. They just give that fellow the heavier chores, and pretend it's something in the water.

[Zombulian]

One Aside: In DnD there is no "tank"... well unless you count something like a Druid who throws out unlimited bear works to slow down the enemy with an actual wall of bears. Because DnD enemies are human controlled, and smart. If your only purpose is to take damage, they'll just bypass you as not being a threat. Really the role of a Fighter isn't "Tank" it's "Hammer". A fighter who is well built will do more damage than anyone else against a single target, and be able to do it all day long. Your role isn't to take damage, your role is to get in the face of the highest priority target, and smack it so hard that it stops being a priority target and generally more or a puddle of gore at your feet.

That said, to the crux of the issue:

The easiest, silliest somewhat stupid idea? No one knows better. Your Half Ogre might hail frm a human village where humans just tend towards Tall. It happens. Compare where I live, where the average height of a 18 year old seems to be about 6'1", compared to when I lived in Idaho where the average height of an adult seemed to be 5'4". The difference about two hundred miles makes.

So maybe your Half-Ogre just comes from a place where people tend to be tall and broad as the norm. Maybe Ogres are practically unheard of there so they just figured you might have something like 1/32 giant in you, or were just a particularly exceptional kid. It happens. Particularly if there are no Ogres around for some human to go "... waaaait. You look just like..." That and Knowledge (Local) isn't a class skill for most people. So there's a rules justification for their ignorance.

It's simple and stupid. But if your character never saw an Ogre, never heard of Ogres, and people who you lived with tended to be tall and broad (Granted you were just SLIGHTLY more so, but there are always outliers, so you just thought you were one)... why not? Roll with it.

No tanking? Sir, let me introduce the Knight (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060501a&page=2).

[ArcturusV]

Still not "tanking". Because the theory of Tanking involves the enemy attacking you, while your allies pound the hell out of them. But the moment your allies attack an enemy, they break your 'Tanking'. Not to mention in DnD lethality you typically wouldn't have the power to survive say, the 4-12 attacks you'd be taking ever round from enemies. In combat healing and such isn't exactly a huge thing to count on. You're not going to survive taking 12, then 11, then 10, etc, attacks per round while your team whittles down enemies.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Races of Destiny page 150, sidebar Half-Humans and Humanlike Races. Nonhumanoid half-humans are considered Humanoid (Human), qualify for human-only feats and prestige classes, are treated as Human for Bane weapons, Favored Enemy, and similar. It can also serve as a mechanical reason to make him appear completely human, just with the enormity of his ogre parent.

On the topic of tanking, there are plenty of ways to make your opponents perceive you as an immediate threat, while at the same time hindering your opponents from attacking your other party members. Reach, Combat Reflexes, and Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) or Improved Trip can prevent opponents from getting past you, limiting their available targets to only yourself. Dragonborn (Heart) or a Dragonfire Adept dip or any other type of breath attack plus the feat Entangling Exhalation will allow you to cause continual damage to opponents and cause them to become entangled. The condition limits their mobility and imposes a penalty to many checks, including attack rolls and especially ranged attack rolls, again limiting their available targets to yourself, plus presenting yourself as a threat. If your character is the biggest, strongest looking member of the party, less intelligent opponents who praise physical strength will automatically view him as not just the greatest threat, but the greatest potential for reward/praise for whoever kills you. Note that all of these things can be combined on a single character, creating a tank that actually makes sense, rather than taunting opponents MMO-style and in doing so shattering any suspension of disbelief.