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View Full Version : [Hackmaster] What if Half-orcs were built differently?



LibraryOgre
2020-07-14, 07:53 PM
So, I want to explore one of the more problematic races of Hackmaster, and play a little bit with remaking them so they’re a bit less of a stereotype. So they don’t have massive penalties to mental stats. The only races to have unbalanced stats in the PH are Sil-karg, half-orcs, and pixie-fairies… and pixie-faeries take a significant hit to strength due to being three apples tall.

To address a possible objection, especially after I wrote up Grevan and said “Well, not everyone is going to be balanced… Grevan are just amazing creatures.” It is very true, and I stand by it… grevan have huge benefits, with incredible attributes, partially because they’re Huge creatures interacting with a Medium-sized world. But I feel it should be different with half-orcs, who are a standard race in the core. They are not an odd add-on race, meant to allow for weird situations. They are a standard assumption of the game and, as such, I think they should not be way out of line with the expectations of the other races. Half-orcs as written aren’t unplayable, but they’re pretty much ALL bad choices, with every attribute but Dexterity severely affected by their race in a way few other races really are. So, I think they need to be re-written to be more broadly playable.

To start, the default half-orc:

***
Ability adjustments
+2 Strength
-2 Intelligence
-3 Wisdom
+2 Constitution
-3 Looks
-3 Charisma

Half-Orc Pros
*low light vision
*One free purchase of the Listening skill
*Size medium for HP (i.e. 10 hp + CON + class roll)
*Gain Tough Hide as free talent plus additional free talent from following: Fast Healer, Long Distance Running or Pain Tolerant
*Free Hiking/Road Marching Proficiency
*Native Human Language

Half-Orc Cons
*Everyone hates them (in human and halfling societies, half-orcs suffer a –20% reaction roll penalty; in dwarven, elven and gnomish societies, they suffer a –40% reaction roll penalty)

Preferential talent access
May purchase the following Talents at 50% BP cost
Poison Resistant
Resolute
Tough as Nails

Class Costs
Fighter: 20 Assassin: 25 Fighter/Thief: 25
Thief: 25 Barbarian: 35 Cleric: 35
Fighter/Mage: 50 Mage/Thief: 50 Ranger: 50
Mage: 75 Rogue: 75
***

Off the bat, the half-orc has some problems. Strength and constitution bonuses are big benefits, but they also have a -2 to Intelligence, a -3 to Wisdom, as well as a -3 to Charisma paired with the double-hit of a -3 to Looks. Why is it a double hit? Because a penalty to Looks is also a penalty to Charisma, so they have a net -4 to Charisma, on average. Even with a +2 to Strength and a +2 to Constitution, they’re facing a penalty of 11 points to attributes on the sheet, and about 13 points of penalty in actuality, once their Charisma penalty from looks is factored in. Net? 7 to 9 points of penalties. This is on top of their penalties due to racial preference, where they are hated or disliked by every other race on the chart (except grel, who are more tolerant of them than even sil-karg).

They do have some benefits. As mentioned, Strength and Con bonuses are nothing to sneeze at. They also have bonus talents; Tough Hide is worth 40 points, and their selectable are worth 10 (Fast Healer), 10 (long Distance Runner), or 20 (Pain Tolerant), so 50-60 bonus points of talents. Their free mastery of listening and free hiking/road marching proficiency are not much different than what other races are given.

So, in total, we’re looking at 7-9 net attribute points of penalties, opposing 50-60 bonus points of Talents. Those talents are significant, but, in my opinion, still leave the half-orc hanging. To improve an attribute that is 9/99 or below by 1 full attribute point is 10 BP (1 per 10 fractional build points). So, if we translate the bonus points from Talents into attribute points, it goes from a 7-9 point deficit to a 1-4 point deficit… still pretty significant. So, let’s look at that, and try to correct it.

My first thought? Completely eliminate that Charisma penalty. Half-orcs are often bold and brash; they’re not wilting and unable to command respect, save from the folks who dislike them for their race. They do not need a hard charisma penalty; that is built in via the Racial Preference adjustments to Reaction checks, and the inherent penalty due to their lower Looks. So, remove the Charisma penalty. That leaves us with 4-6 points actual deficit in ability scores.

My next target? The Wisdom penalty. Half-orcs are not known for their fine sense of empathy, it is true, but Wisdom is “a combination of how practically a person thinks, her good judgment, willpower, strong headedness and how well she can sense the emotions and feelings of others.” Willpower, strong-headedness, and practicality are hallmarks of the standard half-orc. Furthermore, “While they are much stronger than the average human, unlike orcs they have full control over their tempers and violent side.” (PH, p 32). There’s no self-control problem for half-orcs. They should be “selectively vicious”, as page 33 of the PH exhorts their player. Eliminate the Wisdom penalty, or reduce it to -1 and the Intelligence penalty to the same; a bit more brash and less educated than a human in similar circumstances, but not, effectively, subtracting a die from each. With a +2 to Strength, +2 to Con, but a -1 to Intelligence and Wisdom, and a -3 to Looks, they have a net -1 to their attributes, and their impressive bonus Talents are offset by the severe penalties to Reaction Rolls.

The end result is still a powerful figure, and somewhat pigeon-holed. But they are not so terribly burdened under several points of un-recompensed attribute penalties… and they are in line with their flavor text as wily and self-controlled.


Now, to a second consideration: Half-orcs as raised.

We know from the PH that playable half-orcs are, explicitly, the 10-20% of half-orcs who can marginally pass for human. They might not be the best-looking humans in the world, but you don’t look at them and think “Orc”, you think “Woah, ugly.” Half-orcs who don’t take after their mother are considered no different than full orcs. However, the PH has one observation that I feel is very much in error. From page 31, “A half-orc character will always have an human
mother and have been born and raised in human lands.” It goes on to say that all half-orcs are the result of rape (without using the word). But this, I think, is in error. Not that there are a plethora of human men lusting after orcish women, or human women who crave an orkin husband, but, rather, that there will be half-orcs who are born from the joining of two half-orcs, or a human and a half-orc, and that these will not always be unwelcome pairings.

Consider a first generation half-orc; a product of the aforementioned violent congress between orc and human. They grew up in human society. They may speak little to no orcish, because who would teach them? Unless they have turned to adventure, they will act much as humans do; go to work, go to the pub, go home to sleep. Because of the racism in Tellene society, as evidenced by the Racial Preferences modifiers to reaction rolls, they are likely to congregate with other half-orcs, which will include both male and female half-orcs. You get groups of men and women together, and you’re likely to have pairings and relationships; you get half-orcs together with humans, and eventually one will ace his Reaction Roll and find themselves a human to settle down with. And, knowing that they are having children with a half-orc, the child is less likely to be killed by their parents as an abomination. There will be wanted children, be they human or half-orc. And, I think, it is far more likely that Tellene will host generations of half-orcs, born to half-orcs, than it is likely that sufficient half-orcs will be born… and survive… due to rape. If one follows the NPC generation tables on page 159 of the GMG, half-orcs are as common as gnomes, or twice as common as elves, in human lands.

So, there are going to be two factors working on half-orcs and their raising… how human are they, and were they raised as the unwanted product of rape, or the result of half-orcs, living in human society, wanting to have children? The second, I think, comes down to the results of their background due to Priors and Particulars (though, of course, I’ve rewritten those, too… twice… since they default tables carry forward the rape-only theory of half-orc genesis)... a half-orc with favorable results from Priors and Particulars likely had a good childhood, such as it was. The PH doesn’t really answer the first; it more or less ignores the possibility that a half-orc will ever be taken for anything other than a half-orc, except in cases of the Disguise skill. I propose the following chance that half-orcs will be mistaken for humans:

“Half-orcs might pass for human; based on their Looks after Step 5 of character creation, they have a 7% chance per point of Looks to pass as human in most circumstances. Subsequent changes to Looks (due to quirks and flaws, effects of criticals, or points spent to increase Looks at level up) do not affect this chance. It is rolled only once. If able to pass for human, they may do so with an Unskilled Disguise check. Half-orcs who cannot or will not pass for human have a terrible reputation. They receive a -8 reaction penalty from dwarves and gnome titans, a -10 reaction from pixie-faeries, and a -4 from almost everyone else (these are the penalties from Racial Preferences, as laid out in the PH and GMG). Only Grel and other half-orcs do not intensely dislike them. “Passing” half-orcs who are discovered must immediately reroll encounter reactions with this penalty.”

Given the penalty half-orcs keep for Looks, this will vary between a 7% chance (for the lowest of Looks) and a 105% chance (for the rare half-orc managing a 15 Looks, after adjustment). A half-orc who does not pass (either because they fail the initial roll and cannot, or simply choose not to) will face racism; a half-orc who does pass, and is discovered, may face backlash for their “trickery”.

These changes, I feel, creates a better half-orc who is more fun to play. They can still be the brutes that the initial PH casts them as, but they have more depth possible, because they are not reliant on exceptional rolls to break out of the roll in which society casts them. The new half-orc is below.

***
New Half-Orc at a Glance

Ability adjustments
+2 Strength
-1 Intelligence
-1 Wisdom
+2 Constitution
-3 Looks

Half-Orc Pros
*low light vision
*One free purchase of the Listening skill
*Size medium for HP (i.e. 10 hp + CON + class roll)
*Gain Tough Hide as free talent plus additional free talent from following: Fast Healer, Long Distance Running or Pain Tolerant
*Free Hiking/Road Marching Proficiency
*Native Human Language
*Passing: Half-orcs might pass for human; based on their Looks after Step 5 of character creation, they have a 7% chance per point of Looks to pass as human in most circumstances. Subsequent changes to Looks (due to quirks and flaws, effects of criticals, or points spent to increase Looks at level up) do not affect this chance. It is rolled only once. If able to pass for human, they may do so with an Unskilled Disguise check.

Half-Orc Cons
*Half-orcs who cannot or will not pass for human have a terrible reputation. They receive a -8 reaction penalty from dwarves and gnome titans, a -10 reaction from pixie-faeries, and a -4 from almost everyone else (these are the penalties from Racial Preferences, as laid out in the PH and GMG). Only Grel and other half-orcs do not intensely dislike them. “Passing” half-orcs who are discovered must immediately reroll encounter reactions with this penalty.

Preferential talent access
May purchase the following Talents at 50% BP cost
Poison Resistant
Resolute
Tough as Nails

Class Costs
Fighter: 20 Assassin: 25 Fighter/Thief: 25
Thief: 25 Barbarian: 35 Cleric: 35
Fighter/Mage: 50 Mage/Thief: 50 Ranger: 50
Mage: 75 Rogue: 75
***

LibraryOgre
2020-07-18, 01:39 PM
Ok, got some feedback on them,

New Half-Orcs, Revised

Ability adjustments
+2 Strength
-2 Intelligence
-2 Wisdom
+2 Constitution
-3 Looks

Half-Orc Pros
*low light vision
*One free purchase of the Listening skill
*Size medium for HP (i.e. 10 hp + CON + class roll)
*Gain Tough Hide as free talent plus additional free talent from following: Fast Healer, Long Distance Running or Pain Tolerant
*Free Hiking/Road Marching Proficiency
*Native Human Language
*Passing: Half-orcs might pass for human; based on their Looks after Step 5 of character creation, they have a 7% chance per point of Looks to pass as human in most circumstances. Subsequent changes to Looks (due to quirks and flaws, effects of criticals, or points spent to increase Looks at level up) do not affect this chance. It is rolled only once. If able to pass for human, they may do so with an Unskilled Disguise check.

Half-Orc Cons
*Half-orcs who cannot or will not pass for human have a terrible reputation. They receive a -8 reaction penalty from dwarves and gnome titans, a -10 reaction from pixie-faeries, and a -4 from almost everyone else (these are the penalties from Racial Preferences, as laid out in the PH and GMG). Only Grel and other half-orcs do not intensely dislike them. “Passing” half-orcs who are discovered must immediately reroll encounter reactions with this penalty.

Preferential talent access
May purchase the following Talents at 75% BP cost
Poison Resistant
Resolute
Tough as Nails

Class Costs
Fighter: 20 Assassin: 25 Fighter/Thief: 25
Thief: 25 Barbarian: 35 Cleric: 35
Fighter/Mage: 50 Mage/Thief: 50 Ranger: 50
Mage: 75 Rogue: 75
***

So, the new revisions roll back the Intelligence penalty to -2, and the same with the Wisdom penalty. Following the example of half-elves (who get common elven talents at 75% instead of 50%), they pay a bit more for Poison Resistant, Resolute, and Tough as Nails (75% cost rather than 50% cost). This leaves them with a -3 point attribute deficiency, -5 when you take into account the average Charisma penalty from the looks penalty, which about equals up to 50-60 points of bonus talents they get.