Half-Orc Qs (3.5 E)

[Scarey Nerd]

OK, first thread on GITP, here goes.

I play a Half-Orc Barbarian, and our party is very much a role-playing group, we try to give our characters voices etc. Most people have a fairly strong idea of what their character looks/sounds like, but I am stumped. I don't want to go with the stereotypical bald half-orc that sounds like it has an IQ of 1 (I have 12 int), but equally don't know what I SHOULD be like.

Any thoughts?

[tdjewell]

BRIAN BLESSED!

(Hawkman from Buck Rogers movie, various Shakepeare movies)


Edit - link added
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...n.BRIANBLESSED

[Zach J.]

If you can do it without hurting yourself I imagine that a half-orc barbarian would always have a bit of growl in their voice. I imagine a character like that would always be a little ticked off. You don't have to try to sound like anyone else, just try to sound a little deeper or more angry. That's just a suggestion though.

[Scarey Nerd]

BRIAN BLESSED!

(Hawkman from Buck Rogers movie, various Shakepeare movies)

LOL I'm not so good at Brian Blessed impersonations (I know him from Blackadder series 1 ) Good idea though

[Dogmantra]

Just have him talk like a regular dude, p'rhaps with a slightly raspier voice (I just always pictured Half-Orcs as having kind of raspy voices). I mean, the reason most talk without any semblance of grammar is because they have low INT, and your character doesn't. As for looks, just go with whatever you think is kinda cool. Have him look like a character who just happens to be a Half-Orc. Remember that in real life, not all Scottish people, for example, wear kilts and have incomprehensible accents. Your character's race is just a small aspect of the character, not the whole character.

EDIT: But, y'know, if you want to make him a teenager with braces, glasses, short black hair and tends to wear a white shirt and a red tie, that's a really good idea too.

[Scarey Nerd]

These suggestions are all good, the only things that are definite about Graek (hence the username) are that he is 6'7", very muscular, quite serious and lived rough for almosta decade as a bounty-hunter on the western continent. I'm thinking mainly of his face, as I am unsure what half-orcs look like specifically, the PHB essentially says "They are teh half-orcs"

[Eldariel]

Well, much like Orcs...see page 11 in the PHB for an illustration. They have rather broad faces, lots of facial hair all over the place, those teeth in the lower jaw (though if you don't want 'em, well, you can just have 'em knocked off in some fight), they don't really have a pronounced nose as much as two nostrils and they have very wide jaws.

Given their physical structure, they probably have rather bass voice, especially a particularly large and muscular individual such as yours. Overall, I'd imagine low voices are common for them, and Orc Barbarians probably tend towards some animalistic sounds when raging.


How you roleplay your smarts is, of course, your business; he might try to get around the natural racial stigma with his quick wits. He'll probably be aware of how much trouble being a half-orc can be and thus probably tries to work around that somehow.

Obviously he's a bit faster than average to pick up on things and most likely has at least some intellectual pursuits when not fighting or practicing fighting. I'd definitely make him literate and maybe make him a bit careful of saying anything (unless he has abnormally high charisma too) and more like to observe conversations than to jump straight on in, rather than make a fool out of himself. Of course, he may be acting against his Int initially just from habit/tradition (while constantly wondering why he's doing what he's doing), but that could change over the campaign - this is all up to you, of course. Just throwing around some ideas.

But yeah, for his heritage, you'll obviously want to decide whether he embraces or shuns it and tries to work against or with it, and which side of his heritage does he prefer; does he consider himself a human or an orc? Or does he accept his half-orchood? And what are his relations with his parents; what kind of a match was he the results of, etc.

For a literary example, Wulfgar (from Salvatore's books before he died) is actually a rather well-written example of Barbarian-with-Brainz-and-tradition-to-work-against-them.

[mastermind]

A deep, gravelly voice would be good. Maybe even a few orc curses. (Smart people still swear)

[Optimystik]

If you have it, NwN has great voices. You can imitate them yourself (particularly ones like "Boisterous Bruiser" or "Vicious Fighter",) or play snatches of them from a voice recorder when you want to speak.

[Superglucose]

Man this makes me want to play a smart barbarian and lead my whole party on. A soft-spoken and quiet individual who thinks before he acts and rarely say anything who the party thinks is quite unintelligent and doesn't understand society, but the truth is the reason he's a barbarian is because he does understand society; specifically, he understands how crappy it is.

[the humanity]

have him talk like V.

but high pitched and nasal.

"Yet again, idiots like you have put me into a rage, and now I shall swing my weapon and smite you in the most painful of ways, you horrid gnoll. begone!!!!"

[marjan]

If you have it, NwN has great voices. You can imitate them yourself (particularly ones like "Boisterous Bruiser" or "Vicious Fighter",) or play snatches of them from a voice recorder when you want to speak.

Just don't try High-struck evangelist.

[LibraryOgre]

Generally, with a half-orc, I'd go with a deeper voice, a bit of a growl, and using a lot of colloquial language. Drop g's from the end of gerunds. I might skip "y'all" and go with "yeh" in place of you. "Gonna" instead of "going to".

Yeh gonna be droppin' by?

It provides the appearance of a lack of formal education (not necessarily stupidity, but didn't spend much time in classrooms), and of size and ferocity.

[Ganurath]

Even if you have him speak intelligently, he should still take his time speaking. The prominent lower canines of orcs and half-orcs get in the way of some of the consonents outside their language, so he'd likely take his time to avoid tripping over his teeth while talking. Gs and Js would be big ones, as would the Qs.

[Scarey Nerd]

Thank you soo much guys, this feedback is really helping me! I have always imagined him as sitting out of conversations for the most part, preferring actions to words, but speaking with fair intelligence when he chooses to. I love the idea of speaking slowly, as not only does it help me organize my thoughts, but its quite intimidating for a large barbarian to slowly and quietly speak.

[Tiki Snakes]

Just to chime in, I recall in 3.5, any half-orc art usually seemed to have had a pretty generous helping of the ugly-stick. Which is fair enough, perhaps, but their more recent incarnation has had some of that "They're half monster so they should look stupid and ugly" removed.

Spoiler

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Personally, were I to play a half-orc, I'd probably prefer this kind of representation to most of the older ones I've seen.

[Optimystik]

Just don't try High-struck evangelist.

I haven't done a half-orc with that one, but I did do a Dwarf.

[Eldonauran]

...but I did do a Dwarf.

Off topic, but I had to do it. Giggity!

However, I do agree with lower register of the voice and slower speech. Over enuciating on particular letters as well, with respect to their larger lower jaw.

[Weirdlet]

Considering he's been a bountyhunter on the western continent for a decade, you might want to try a sort of world-weary cowboy attitude, which- prettymuch amounts to what everyone else has been saying.

[Scarey Nerd]

Considering he's been a bountyhunter on the western continent for a decade, you might want to try a sort of world-weary cowboy attitude.

That is in fact one of the only core parts of his personality, his father was killed in front of him, and he lost any sense of morality in the world (He's CN), kind of amounting to the world-weary attitude you describe

[FoE]

Communicate entirely in meows.

[Zergrusheddie]

Break the stereotype: play as Daelan Red Tiger from Neverwinter Nights.

Be an educated Half-Orc (an intelligence higher than 8 or 9) and put points into learning how to read and write. Either way it would be funny to go from "You know, I feel globalization is going to be limited by our natural xenophobia" to "KRUNK SMAAASH!"

[LibraryOgre]

Communicate entirely in meows.

"Meow, we've got a problem here. We need to take them out meow, or they're going to kill everyone in this town. We need to leave meow, right meow.... tonight at the very latest."

[ericgrau]

If you can do it without hurting yourself I imagine that a half-orc barbarian would always have a bit of growl in their voice. I imagine a character like that would always be a little ticked off. You don't have to try to sound like anyone else, just try to sound a little deeper or more angry. That's just a suggestion though.

Like a klingon? Worf?

I think that's really where they got the Star Trek Original Series races. Humans are humans, vulcans are elves, romulans are drow and klingons are orcs.

[gallagher]

ever watch full metal jacket?

have him sound like the drill sgt.

not unintelligent, but very violent, very forceful, and very mean

[Starbuck_II]

Communicate entirely in meows.

Nah, go Smurf them. Say Smurf in place of some words.

[Scarey Nerd]

OK guys, thank you so much for the feedback, its helped out my character development no end, all I have left to decide on is an accent. Within our group, its more or less decided that Dwarves are Scottish and Gnomes are Irish, but apart from that we have no clue.

Thoughts?

[Starbuck_II]

1/2 Orcs:
Yiddish?
Russian?
British?

[Zach J.]

Like a klingon? Worf?

I think that's really where they got the Star Trek Original Series races. Humans are humans, vulcans are elves, romulans are drow and klingons are orcs.

Exactly.

[Subotei]

You've gotta go Geordie - they're all desended from Vikings so the accent fits barbarian...