Half orc and half dwarf (dworc) bard character help (3.5 ed)

[littlebuster101]

Hi, I'm completely new to D&D and I'm going to be playing with my buddy and his older brother (whom will be the DM). So far I'm pretty nervous about playing, because I don't fully understand all the stats and junk for creating a character.

I would like to make a half orc/half dwarf. I understand this probably is going to be complicated. I also would like him to have a high charisma, I understand that both the orcs and dwarfs have like a -2 charisma stat. How would I get that up or can I get that up? I'm not trying to make him a maxed out character I just wanted to make an interesting character.

(EDIT)
To make things a bit clearer.
1. I would to make a half-orc/half-dwarf character. I would like help with the mechanics. My DM says it's alright.

2. Then from there I would like his class to be a bard.

I do apologize for this topic not being clear. I'm new to this still lol

[ATHATH]

Would being a Dwarf with the Half-Ogre template (http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/half-ogre.shtml) work for you? Are you playing with the LA buyoff rules?

What class(es) are you playing? What classes are the other players playing? How new are the other players and the DM to the game?

What books are you allowed to use?

Also, pro-tip for newer players who are using the internet to assist them: Don't trust anything from a site called dandwiki; most of the stuff there un-marked homebrew.

[Particle_Man]

FWIW, the d20 setting Midnight has a half-orc/half-dwarf race (dworgs) you could look at.

But yeah, you are doing it the hard way if you are picking a race with a CHR penalty and a class that has most of its abilities based on Charisma. I admire that. Best of luck!

[OldTrees1]

Hi, I'm completely new to D&D and I'm going to be playing with my buddy and his older brother (whom will be the DM). So far I'm pretty nervous about playing, because I don't fully understand all the stats and junk for creating a character.

I would like to make a half orc/half dwarf. I understand this probably is going to lie complicated. I also would like him to have a high charisma, I understand that both the orcs and dwarfs have like a -2 charisma stat. How would I get that up or can I get that up? I'm not trying to make him a maxed out character I just wanted to make an interesting character.

1) What are the details of this half orc/half dwarf race that the DM created for your character? I presume it has a -2 cha penalty.

2) If you are using pointbuy to determine your stats, you can put a 16 in Cha. A -2 penalty would drop that to 14 which is still quite a charming character(good enough to be a Bard). You will be able to increase the Cha further every 4th level and by some magic items when you get high enough level.


Sounds like you will have an interesting character. Have fun!

[littlebuster101]

Would being a Dwarf with the Half-Ogre template work for you? Are you playing with the LA buyoff rules?

What class(es) are you playing? What classes are the other players playing? How new are the other players and the DM to the game?

What books are you allowed to use?

Also, pro-tip for newer players who are using the internet to assist them: Don't trust anything from a site called dandwiki; most of the stuff there un-marked homebrew.

1. Im not sure if I want to change race quite yet.
No, we are not playing with the LA buyoff rules.

2. I was planning to start of as a bard. and maybe in the future work up to something. I'm not sure what yet to be honest.
My buddy is playing a tiefling necromancer (I believe..). I know that the other guys have had more experience that me, since I've never played before. (i'm sorry this is not a lot of information. I was just trying to get something down for my character before I go over there. I wont know my other stats until then either, since the DM wants me to roll when i'm there.)

3. We are using the 3.5 edition player's handbook

[littlebuster101]

FWIW, the d20 setting Midnight has a half-orc/half-dwarf race (dworgs) you could look at.

But yeah, you are doing it the hard way if you are picking a race with a CHR penalty and a class that has most of its abilities based on Charisma. I admire that. Best of luck!

Thank you for the useful info. i'll show my DM the dworgs race and see what he thinks. I do hope this works out well though.
I can still use it if we are playing the 3.5 ed right?

[Particle_Man]

It might take a little tweaking as Midnight has its own special rules specific to the setting. Check with your DM.

Another, faster, option is just to take the stats of a dwarf and say you have a little orc in your ancestry, or take the stats of a half-orc and say you have a little dwarf in your ancestry.

[denthor]

If you are nervous why start with such a difficult creation you first time out?

[Sian]

If you are nervous why start with such a difficult creation you first time out?

Yeah, it sounds like you've barely learned your way around a easel, but want to paint the next Van Gogh right this moment

[littlebuster101]

If you are nervous why start with such a difficult creation you first time out?

It was my buddy's idea and I just went with it. I also did not want to show up without knowing anything.

[littlebuster101]

Yeah, it sounds like you've barely learned your way around a easel, but want to paint the next Van Gogh right this moment

The idea was presented by my buddy. I thought it was a great idea, and I went with it. I also did not know this was going to be complicated for making and a race like this....

[littlebuster101]

It might take a little tweaking as Midnight has its own special rules specific to the setting. Check with your DM.

Another, faster, option is just to take the stats of a dwarf and say you have a little orc in your ancestry, or take the stats of a half-orc and say you have a little dwarf in your ancestry.

Alright ill try going with that. Although i'm starting to feel like its going to be to complicated at the moment. but i still want to keep him. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I did not think it was going to be this complicated...

[Particle_Man]

Maybe try a half-elf bard instead? They don't have a CHR penalty and have some skill bonuses (diplomacy, gather information) that help with being a friendly, charismatic kind of character (called a "face" in the biz).

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#halfElves

[littlebuster101]

[QUOTE=Particle_Man;21837290]Maybe try a half-elf bard instead? They don't have a CHR penalty and have some skill bonuses (diplomacy, gather information) that help with being a friendly, charismatic kind of character (called a "face" in the biz).


Im not sure quite yet. I wanted to stick with the Half orc/Half dwarf idea my buddy had, but I did not know it was going to be this complicated. I might scrap the idea for now and go with a Half-orc Druid instead. But ill keep the other one in mind, because I still want to use it in the future.

[Sian]

well ... The closest thing in my memory is from Dwarves Deep (AD&D Forgotten Realms fluff-book), which explicitly states that all Half-Dwarves are mechancially the same as dwarves (although it also states that only Elfs, Gnomes, Halflings and Humans can crossbreed with Dwarves, most significant difference being that they (if the nondwarven half is Elven or human) would be a tall dwarf. And if a Halfbreed breeds with something other than a pureblood Dwarf (in which case the result is a Pureblood Dwarf), It would still be a Half-Dwarf that mechanically is a dwarf ...

Dwarven DNA is extremely dominant :D

[OldTrees1]

Im not sure quite yet. I wanted to stick with the Half orc/Half dwarf idea my buddy had, but I did not know it was going to be this complicated. I might scrap the idea for now and go with a Half-orc Druid instead. But ill keep the other one in mind, because I still want to use it in the future.

Ok just to clear the air:
Do you have a half orc / half dwarf race but are asking about creating a bard character?
If so: Start with 14+ Cha after racial modifiers and you should be fine. It is not complicated at all(the forum merely misunderstood the topic).

Were you asking the forum to make a half orc / half dwarf race?
If so: There is no official way to make such a race and so you will want to ask your DM. However the forum will be able to give you plenty of homebrewed examples.

[littlebuster101]

Ok just to clear the air:
Do you have a half orc / half dwarf race but are asking about creating a bard character?
If so: Start with 14+ Cha after racial modifiers and you should be fine. It is not complicated at all(the forum merely misunderstood the topic).

Were you asking the forum to make a half orc / half dwarf race?
If so: There is no official way to make such a race and so you will want to ask your DM. However the forum will be able to give you plenty of homebrewed examples.

It was a little bit of both. The first I wanted was to make a half-orc/half-dwarf character. I wanted some mechanic examples for that and then I would modify from there. My DM had already said it was good idea and that he was cool with it.

The second thing is that I wanted him to be a bard. Then from that try to raise his charisma. ( and I can't roll my stats until I'm with my group.) I hope this helps. Sorry for the inconvenience

[Sian]

Well, unless you get a pre-packaged race from your DM, I'd highly suggest to start out with something less exotic (and something that plays less against type in terms of racial stats vs preferred stats for class(es)

[Particle_Man]

Another thought: Try a human. Say you have a little dwarf blood and a little orc blood in your ancestry somewhere. Then either through spending skill points (as a human you will have more skill points anyhow) or through a reasonable intelligence score, you can learn the dwarf and orc languages.

[OldTrees1]

It was a little bit of both. The first I wanted was to make a half-orc/half-dwarf character. I wanted some mechanic examples for that and then I would modify from there. My DM had already said it was good idea and that he was cool with it.

The second thing is that I wanted him to be a bard. Then from that try to raise his charisma. ( and I can't roll my stats until I'm with my group.) I hope this helps. Sorry for the inconvenience

1)Neither of these is official, so make sure to pass them by your DM for approval.
Here I tried to simplify by having some positives and negative cancel out

+2 Str, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60ft.
Base land speed: 20ft. However they are not slowed by medium/heavy armors or loads.
For all effects related to race, counts as both a Dwarf and an Orc

Here I tried to preserve the main positive and negative traits and remove the excess

+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60ft.
Base land speed: 30ft. However they are not slowed by medium/heavy armors or loads.
Light Sensitivity: Orcs are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. A dazzled creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, Search checks, and Spot checks.
For all effects related to race, counts as both a Dwarf and an Orc



2)
Well you are likely to roll at least a 16. Put that into Cha (16-2=14) and that will be high enough for a Bard. Every 4th level you can increase it by 1 and you will be on the lookout for Cloaks of Cha +2/+4/+6 as you level up.

[littlebuster101]

Another thought: Try a human. Say you have a little dwarf blood and a little orc blood in your ancestry somewhere. Then either through spending skill points (as a human you will have more skill points anyhow) or through a reasonable intelligence score, you can learn the dwarf and orc languages.

Thank you, I'll keep these in mind. I'm not sure why i'd try to go with something as risky as this lol. I'm going to chat with my DM today and show him all these options and see what he thinks is best.

[littlebuster101]

1)Neither of these is official, so make sure to pass them by your DM for approval.
Here I tried to simplify by having some positives and negative cancel out

+2 Str, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60ft.
Base land speed: 20ft. However they are not slowed by medium/heavy armors or loads.
For all effects related to race, counts as both a Dwarf and an Orc

Here I tried to preserve the main positive and negative traits and remove the excess

+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha
Darkvision 60ft.
Base land speed: 30ft. However they are not slowed by medium/heavy armors or loads.
Light Sensitivity: Orcs are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. A dazzled creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, Search checks, and Spot checks.
For all effects related to race, counts as both a Dwarf and an Orc



2)
Well you are likely to roll at least a 16. Put that into Cha (16-2=14) and that will be high enough for a Bard. Every 4th level you can increase it by 1 and you will be on the lookout for Cloaks of Cha +2/+4/+6 as you level up.

These sound good thank you. I'll run these by my DM to what he is okay with. Again thank you, I didn't mean to pick such a weird race and what not.

[OldTrees1]

These sound good thank you. I'll run these by my DM to what he is okay with. Again thank you, I didn't mean to pick such a weird race and what not.

While a Dwarf/Orc is as weird as an Elf/Dwarf, I have a feeling it comes from and/or will make an interesting character concept. Creativity is good!

Have fun!

[Particle_Man]

Hey at least you would have darkvision. ;)