Easy_Lee
2014-11-24, 11:30 AM
I've seen a lot of discussion on orcs and drow. People wonder why we can play drow but not orcs, if both are assumed evil by FR lore. I hope to shed some light on that.
I have three main points: orcs are evil, half-orcs exist, and half-drow are extremely rare.
Orcs are Evil
Recent changes within FR lore have orcs reverting back to their primal, savage ways. Orcs are now assumed evil and chaotic, with goodly orcs being an extreme rarity. Salvatore is just one of the authors whose writing references this, in his case through character commentary and the antics of the Many Arrows kingdom.
If we assume orcs are almost 100% evil, it's easy to see why they wouldn't be playable. Campaigns full of good guys with one evil player trying to RP tend to turn out pretty bad. "It's what my character would do," said the creepy guy who just killed his party in their sleep and raped the female player. So players playing orcs is discouraged. But do we have an alternative?
Half-orcs exist
And they're all over the place. Players who want to be orcy and paint their mounts red can play half-orc.
5e suggests half-orcs are largely the product of rape. Some question the plausibility of that notion. For those who are skeptical, please consider this quote from Genghis Khan:
"The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms."
It probably sounds familiar; Conan said pretty close to the same thing. It's a barbaric mentality. If we add to that orcs being numerous, fertile, very raidy, and very rapey...It's easy to see how things could get out of hand.
Further add to that half-orcs being generally ugly and uncharismatic. They would be rejected by society, but not killed outright since those societies (elves and humans, mostly) are overall goodly. That kind of person would likely seal out others like him/her. Thus: half-orc colonies making more half-orcs. So while descended from rape, not all half-orcs need be a direct product of it.
But wait, aren't drow evil too? They're probably even more rapey than the orcs, come to think of it. Where are all the half-drow?
Half-drow are Extremely Rare
...because drow tend to kill their impure children. It's all over the evil drow lore. Anyone who isn't drow is inferior, and probably isn't going to survive very long (or get the chance to mate) in drow society.
Drow are popular, in spite of that, so WoTC allows for the rare exception to the evil drow rule. It doesn't hurt that we have a lot more author support for goodly or neutral drow (Drizzt most notably) than goodly orcs. Good orcs just aren't a very popular thing to write about in the FR universe. Most D&D players can't even think of one orcish hero (though they exist).
Those are my thoughts on the subject. I hope that clears things up for a few people.
I have three main points: orcs are evil, half-orcs exist, and half-drow are extremely rare.
Orcs are Evil
Recent changes within FR lore have orcs reverting back to their primal, savage ways. Orcs are now assumed evil and chaotic, with goodly orcs being an extreme rarity. Salvatore is just one of the authors whose writing references this, in his case through character commentary and the antics of the Many Arrows kingdom.
If we assume orcs are almost 100% evil, it's easy to see why they wouldn't be playable. Campaigns full of good guys with one evil player trying to RP tend to turn out pretty bad. "It's what my character would do," said the creepy guy who just killed his party in their sleep and raped the female player. So players playing orcs is discouraged. But do we have an alternative?
Half-orcs exist
And they're all over the place. Players who want to be orcy and paint their mounts red can play half-orc.
5e suggests half-orcs are largely the product of rape. Some question the plausibility of that notion. For those who are skeptical, please consider this quote from Genghis Khan:
"The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms."
It probably sounds familiar; Conan said pretty close to the same thing. It's a barbaric mentality. If we add to that orcs being numerous, fertile, very raidy, and very rapey...It's easy to see how things could get out of hand.
Further add to that half-orcs being generally ugly and uncharismatic. They would be rejected by society, but not killed outright since those societies (elves and humans, mostly) are overall goodly. That kind of person would likely seal out others like him/her. Thus: half-orc colonies making more half-orcs. So while descended from rape, not all half-orcs need be a direct product of it.
But wait, aren't drow evil too? They're probably even more rapey than the orcs, come to think of it. Where are all the half-drow?
Half-drow are Extremely Rare
...because drow tend to kill their impure children. It's all over the evil drow lore. Anyone who isn't drow is inferior, and probably isn't going to survive very long (or get the chance to mate) in drow society.
Drow are popular, in spite of that, so WoTC allows for the rare exception to the evil drow rule. It doesn't hurt that we have a lot more author support for goodly or neutral drow (Drizzt most notably) than goodly orcs. Good orcs just aren't a very popular thing to write about in the FR universe. Most D&D players can't even think of one orcish hero (though they exist).
Those are my thoughts on the subject. I hope that clears things up for a few people.