We had a guy play with us once. Just once. He rolled a half Orc and ever since that day, half Orcs in our campaigns have spoken with a polite Russian accent.
Funnily enough my friend did a similar thing with a barbarian chef Minotaur named Geoff Ramsay who had the goal to make the perfect soup while I was playing a half Orc
I played a half orc who's father was a dwarven baker. On a parley mission with a local tribe, food was given and a bond was made between the orc cheiftans daughter and the baker. In an effort to purge the hills of kobolds and goblins working together they also had to team up. Long nights under the stars and copious amounts of baked goods lead from one thing to another. Raised in both environments, one week in the tribe and one week on the mountaintop until he came of age. Decided to make both his mother and father proud as a paladin to Morradin and as a cleric of Luthic; he set out to tell his tale.
how did believing in two deities work out? havent heard of this before. i would have made him believe in some non savage, honourable war god. didnt the dwarves and orcs consider him some sort of heretic? wasnt there any conflict of interests?
My favorite halforc character was the product of two halforcs that were in love and married. He resents this because the other halforcs make fun of him for having a happy home life. They call him Lovechild.
Actually, if I remember Volo’s Guide or the Player’s Handbook correctly (can’t remember which it was in), half-orcs can actually rise to a nice bit of power in orc societies because their human intelligence makes them, compared to your average orc, powerful strategists. This is why human barbarians sometimes ally with orc tribes. So if they’re disliked by anyone, it’d be humanoid society, but orcs? They might tease a half-orc for their puny human muscles, but they’ll pick their brain as soon as possible.
That's assuming it's not one of those orc societies that value strength above intelligence, or purity of blood due to some twisted dogma specific to that clan. But of course, your mileage can vary and you can do different things in your own games with orc society.
Well, orcs do value intelligence to some degree. The orc god of strategy, Ilneval, is arguable the second or third most revered orc god, maybe after Luthic, the goddess of life and death. What modicum of strategy they have is what turns orcs from a dissociated nuisance to a serious, coordinated threat. Though I agree, the books definitely state that some orc societies would never consider an alliance with humans, and that brute force is inevitably what an orc finds useful, not strategy.
Warrior societies not only have strong men but also a lot of brains invested in warfare, the first half orc strategists may have been born and rose to power by pure chance, but as word spreads around you could also end up seeing orcs kidnapping human men and women to sort of ritually organize the repopulation of their army's brains.
That's mentioned in the PHB for 5e - Guy's not a 5e exclusive guy, though, and I'm pretty sure older editions had the half orcs pariahs from both sides. I think the thing that changed that was King Obould Many-Arrows - the orc who set up a long term kingdom that operates like any other kingdom of sapients, rather than just being the warlord of Orc murderparty number 84736474. That event was kinda a paradigm shift for the characters in the Forgotten Realms, who were used to thinking of orcs as mostly mindless murdery bastards who are just too numerous to exterminate - sure they talk a language and use tools and weapons, but they're not really *people*...until suddenly a tribe of orcs starts acting like people. Orcs before Obould were just assumed to be savage brutal psychos with primitive weapons - so why would they value the intelligence of a half orc? They'd just see a weak runty orc. Afterward, when they started showing genuine intellect, and followed a guy who had good ideas (and was way stronger and more dangerous than them, yes, but he still had ideas). Thus, maybe they'd consider the benefits of this weak runty guy who knows how to plan raids really well.
4:10 Damn. Now you've actually got me thinking about how "I was raised on the steps of a church" could be a fun half-orc cleric. Sort of a Quasimodo figure with a deep faith in the word of his god and the intense emotions that come with being a half orc. There's a lot there and I might actually have to try that now.
I have a player playing a half orc fighter. In one of our earlier sessions he put his hands under his chin and used his index fingers as tusks, and it's stuck since then. I think it's fantastic
My last half orc chsrecter was a paladin of the ancients (of Godzilla specificly) and he was found abandoned as a babe in the woods. His adoptive family: gnomes. He was raised by gnomes. A 7ft tall. Shy, stuttering half orc, growing up in a house too small for him. And he can't talk to women
One of the most interesting characters I’d ever played was a half orc sorcerer, he was made by a hag coven’s breedings. This is because a in the DM’s world sorcerers’ magic became stronger the more emotional you are. Essentially I had an emotionally volatile 6”5 half orc who everytime they would get more and more dangerous not only because of his size in that he would punch walls but also that he would cast burning hands before he punched the wall
I played a Half-Orc druid once. It was quite a lot of fun. Nobody ever really asked where he came from - I don't remember if I even made it up. They knew he was part Orc, but on the other hand he knew where all the "fun" plants grew...
I just made my half-orc character the product of a one night stand. I've spent way too much time on the Internet to NOT think that someone would bone an orc, and sex doesn't necessarily have to be ~true love~ to be consensual.
An idea for an half orc story i had pretty much had to change a bit of how half orcs work in the setting but i think i found it interesting. The orcs as a race would be extinct but their legacy due to their actions years before their extinction lives on in the genetic pool of mankind due to cross species breeding and diluting of the species. An half-orc would look human until adolescence kicks in and orcish traits start to develop like the change in skin color and texture, accelerated body growth and tusks. These individuals depending on their parents (both could be human but with very little orcish DNA) could keep loving their child or ostracize them. These half-orcs would be compelled to find more about their lost heritage and so lots of them travel around the world to find themselves.
I've concocted a rather farfetched mix of a half-orc and the barbarian video from some time ago and suggested that he was raised and lived among orcs in one of the dwindling tribes of not-evil orcs that, ever since they left the mountaincradle, held fast to the old ways in way of a shamanistic tribal culture. Unfortunately the massive majority of maddeningly evil orcs marauding everywhere have painted orcs (probably largely deserved) as a blight to be eradicated, so from winter to winter many times drunken troublemakers from villages, farmers and even orc groups attacked the villages, cutting the numbers down further and souring the opinion of non-orcs among the younger tribesmen even more. The main reason I had to leave because I was conceived to a tribesmember out of a union with a human which had to leave for reasons undisclosed to me. Efforts of my mother, the elder and the shaman to calm things down went fruitless and even a harrowing apprenticeship under the village shaman didn't quell the anger. Thus I packed my things and left the village, in search for my father, a place in the world and trying to figure out how to be a proper shaman with only a marginal training. And then there's the Grimratach... I've been writing up rituals, spirit sphere names in orcish, it's been a blast and my DM seems to be quite pleased with it. Sadly we've been struggling to include roleplay into the current campaign due to it's unique nature and probably because some of our players simply aren't the roleplaying type, but I already had the chance to bond with our cleric. As of now i'm doing my best to make our current involuntary home more suitable for a hearthfire spirit, though people seem to find it weird that I insist of my wood being dried away from the other cut wood. The Grimratach I mentioned was the way I envisioned as a fitting application of the rage mechanic. Warriors would ritually bond with a wild spirit and call upon it in battle to fight together. If necessary a warrior could also open oneself for any spirit to claim him in the heat of battle, but that was a dangerous thing and I don't shy away from playing a severe kind of fatigue and desorientation after such fights. In nature he is stoic, compassionate, has a lot of respect of nature but can turn hostile if challenged on this ways. Also, he's wary of the dwarf, what with them being the reason their ancestors had to leave the mountain in the first place (or so the tales go).
You are a gentleman, sir. I really appreciate this video, you helped me address details with my half orc that I've been fumbling with, thank you! Also, nice orc voice, loved it!
One of my players finally started to DM their own campaign, so I'll get to play a "real" (not a one shot) character for once. Been playing a half-orc warlock for two sessions. Going to take one level of barbarian to get that orcish fury roleplay. This is a well timed video!
Omg i made my half orc character and this comes up so happy thanks Edit:I made an exception to the accepting or rejecting orchishness from birth as my char was taken from his village to a far off arena where violence and orchishness made him survive but the reason he fought at first was fear and hunger and he tries to forget trough violence and rage as a barbarian, still have to decide if he will become a savage or semi civilized half orc
I played a Half-Orc Fighter/Paladin in Tormenta (a brazilian D20 scenario) and I always use a low voice tone and always, always speak my name Gro'bah (or Gro'bah Gobah) instead of using I/me/mine. Everyone, players and GM, loved it and always expect to hear the name Gro'bah being repeated so many times during the adventure. Also, he's from a Orc Father and Human Mother, forced breed, but was born with 4 arms and belived it was a gift from the gods. He chose to do good with them, branding a Tower Shield and using his others 2 arms to graple and contain enemies or a mauler to knock them or make them prone. Blesses by the god of resurrection and second chances, he NEVER kill an enemy (be it a humanoid, a beast or animal, not even demons). Great character imo.
I`ve been watching your videos for some years now and I pretty much loved everyone of them. They are very helpful for player wanting to step up their game and even convinced me to write a story of my own and be GM for once. This finally is a topic where i think i add my own experience: One time I created a half-orc, half-elf character. He was born to an elf woman who was captured during orc raids and kept as a slave. The first years of his life he was raised by orcs under the name Bologhtai. The orcs didn´t like him, he was just to few orc and to much elf, so they simply rejected him and sent him away. He made his way to the elves, who shortened his name to Tai, trying to oversee his orcish side. That went somewhat well for a time. He learned some elven magic, but was only ever able to pull off the body-oriented spells, like making himself invisibile or faster and stronger. In the end he didn´t fit with the elves as well and someday he left. As a being who was two things, but neither he hated being an orc and just couldn´t be a proper elf. After roaming the world aimlessly, he was hired as a lumberjack. A heap of muscles presented with an axe and trees to strike at. A simple job to get his mind of all the things he wasn´t and give him something to do that he was good at. At that time he had given up. He accepted that he would never be anything more than the sum of his parts. No culture he belonged to, no tribe or family to call his own. That was when he met the other PCs. When i created this character i thought i would play an aggressive barbarian, who tried to contain his orcish side. Always one step away from hitting people. Only when i already sat at the table and was slipping into the character´s mindset i realized that it would make more sense to play him as a passive-aggressive being who doesn´t care enough to really actively hate anymore. An immortal being who had no place he wanted to be and nothing to strive for. There was a point in the story where the other PCs where arguing with some dwarfes in the streetsnat the end of a long day and Tai would just lay down on a pile of straw some steps away and fell asleep, uncaring about what the others might do next. As a player i was waiting for something to get him hooked, something he was going to care about. Some kind of passion he would then follow. Unfortunatly it never came to that, as he was smashed by a boulder thrown by a giant. Maybe someone will find some kind of inspiration from this experience of mine or at least find it somewhat entertaining.
I only just caught this video, but I find a little irony that it came out on my birthday. I've been playing a half-orc for over a year now. His mother was raped during a raid, he had issues being a bully as a kid and ran away when there was uproar over it. On the road he was taken in by bandits for several years before they were taken out, leading him to be raised by a ranger until he was of age. He bears the scars of past injuries as lessons, respects the wild... and probably makes more of an issue about his Orcish heritage than he needs to, should, or at times is sensible.
@7:13 is the perfect pause x3 brilliant video, as always Guy, you're right that players should put more thought into how their PCs came to be, and how they feel about it.
My boyfriend will play a half orc barbarian with our next party who was brought up as a slave until he escaped and met and saved the elf wizard I will play. I'm looking forward to this
Actually... you need to do a DM/GM guide on how the towns will react to a half orc PC. The reaction of NPCs in town to "odd" races is important to the game.
One of my favorite characters was a half orc eldritch knight/tempest cleric. The basic idea was very much that world of warcraft type orcish shaman. Technically he wasn't half orc,his grandfather was a human who became the warchief of this clan of orcs through many trials and heroic deeds. Now unlike in warcraft these orcs were very much considered evil creatures,which was reflected in my character being a well designed chaotic evil character who worshiped Gruumsh,the god of orcs. Now when I say ''well designed CE'' I mean that he was very much a brutal character who thought that the orcish way of life was the best way of life and they have their own weird moral code that most of them follow. Stuff like not killing someone who doesn't have a weapon and treating slaves with limited amount of respect as people who were below them rather than in the roman way of seeing slaves as items. Basically they were green vikings in this world. Now even though the orcs of the clan revered these half orcs for their smarts as well as strength ''since half orcs are smarter than normal orcs'' the character himself thought that the human blood in his veins was a curse and often expressed it with bursts of anger if he was referred to as anything other than an orc. So how did all of this play out? Well basically he respected everyone who could prove themselves in combat,he was very sarcastic,warm towards his friends and expressed his emotions without fear of angering or scaring anyone. The evil stuff came with him basically just wanting to murder or enslave everyone rather than taking prisoners and treating a child with a sword as if it was a grown man with a sword. If you pointed a sword at this guy he would just kill you,no matter who or what you are. Now this never became an issue even when everyone else in the group was neutral or chaotic good because you have to know when to reign your character in without breaking character. Never make a character that refuses to listen to his allies,if everyone else pleads you not to kill something,don't kill it. If other players are just silent as you're about to do something really evil it means that they are enjoying watching your character do evil things because in my case it gave this sarcastic and likeable character extra depth. In combat when he wasn't in melee he used his magic to mainly deal damage with things like call lightning,sleet storm and all sorts of elemental magic but if he saw his party going down or being almost down he would use something like mass healing word almost off-handedly after hitting a monster few times to keep them going without spending everything he had on healing. This once again reflected the way the character acted outside of combat,which is something I believe you should do. The character respected and liked everyone in his party but still focused on doing what warriors or in this case shamans do best without completely neglecting his party. So if you're playing someone who is a complete asshole who doesn't care about his party members why would you ever use your spell slots on healing them? Something to think about when you next create a character and wonder how he would act in certain situations.
One of my favorite characters that I made was a half-orc bard, Dimitri Hexczor (heck-score) who was second generation (both parents were half-orcs), raised in a lower-class family in a large city. He was intellectually brilliant and very self-confident, but bullied as a child because of his orc heritage. He was apprenticed by a half-elf bard who recognized his brilliant intellect and related to having mixed heritage, who worked in a temple of some god of knowledge as a loremaster (depending on the available deities). Orcish physiology, so very tall and burly, but a more intellectual human psychology, obsessed with theater and astronomy, but has a bit of an orcish temper.
Thanks from four years in the future. I just started playing a half Ork my DM pregen'd for me. 12 INT 14 CHA Warlock, Pally, Druid triclass. His father was a famous orcish adventurer, and my character "leans into" being more orcish than he actually is because he's proud of both sides. Many may have heard of his father, Ragnar the Red. The famously cut down, red headed ork adventurer.
I had two fathers; one orc and one human. I was a happy child, until I realized there was something amiss... And what's with Elved and Dwarves? In my campaign all humanoids can mix together. Half-elves-dwarves, half elves-orcs. YES! My campaign, my rules! What?!
One of my NPCs is a half-orc with a love interest for the half-elf PC. He is struggling with his orc heritage and striving be more "human" and overall good and respected. While the half-elf wishes she could be more elven... Great fun !
What an awesome description introduction tô the race Ive always been down to fantasy but just got into dnd now So deep You got a New sub thank you so much 🇧🇷🤜🤛🙏
I love playing half-orcs, but I love playing full orcs even more. I’d love to hear your thoughts on playing “monster” races like Orcs (both as a player and as a DM) and how to make them more than just another monster. They’re intelligent beings so they should be more than just an encounter.
I had a take on my half orc where (since every half orc has a stigma of a broken home) her parents fell in love with each other, a rich well to do human & a bad ass orc mother, & she was the first half orc of her village so she has seen 1 half orc so far & was so intrigued by them. In our game i had orcs as various shades of neutrality so they can be respected, but there can be a basis for whatever racism there is, & modeled orcs after russian culture, to me that seems like a perfect fit. But i wanted to subvert the typical dnd set up where in a lot of games orcs are the 1st enemies, & in mine if she saw orcs being terrible people & she had to fight them, it would be this dramatic, pivotal moment
man I jast wone say to you that I love what you are doing and that you have healp me a lot.Tnx keep up the gode job.Love you man.(sory for the bad English)
I enjoy playing a half-Orc its fun to occasionally let out that more chaotic nature of the Orc even though my half-Orc is a Wizard he still has destroyed books and possibly valuable things because he didnt see the value in them at the time, there is alot of potential in half-Orc characters for funny conversations and silly roleplay as they are an intimidating, slightly odd and not entirely civilized people which I love.
"My mother was the daughter to a chieftan and of course a courageous warrior, my father was a bard who tickled her fancy. Me, I'm a valor Bard. I'm like a slime; not as Hard as a rock, but not as slippery as water either. just a gross mix of the too weird.
A friend of mine is going to run her first campain soon and i decided to run as a rogue half orc (yeah first of all that doen't mix up that well but eh) and second that half orc is the daugther of an ogrillon (my current barbarian on main campain i play) and a female orc. So that rogue should be an ogrillon too if i'm correct, but since it's my friend first campain... I'm just not bothering her with complete monster race out of the usual books. Also the thing about that rogue is that she was raised in a uthgardt tribe composed by goblins, orcs and other non human race considered as an "horde" so rp wise she's from a rather acceptive clan about mixed blood. All you have to do is set thing about famillie and close entourage (town, city) and other town far from said community.
My character is a half-ork, wild magic sorcerer, who was exiled from his tribe. His purpose in life now is to gather any artifacts of the ork gods to prove to his former tribe that he was the only one "orky nuff" to gather them, then kill his tribe as a sacrifice to the ork gods.
My Half orcs (which I play very often. Probably my favorite race) tend very much to skew heavily towards embracing thier Orcish side. Taking Orcish names, and being aggressive and brash to the Nth degree.
One of my favorite characters was a half-orcish Rogue Mage, named Steve McDirty... He would often muse that he could "skate by" with horrible manners since no one really expected any better of someone "with his upbringing"... I professed (outwardly) to making an effort toward embracing and earning valor among humans, (which shouldn't have been much difficulty as he ran on high intelligence easily)... BUT (inwardly) it was just too much fun to "fall utterly short" of whatever society expected of him... hilarious. Dangerous as hell, dirty most of the time to a point of absolutely filthy... and difficult (especially keeping up the ruse) BUT it was certainly hilarious in the depths of depraved and even reckless uncivility. ;o)
I've never played DnD but I've learned a fair bit about it. I had an idea of a half-orc abandoned in the woods after his mother was raped during a raid on her village. He grew up in the wild woods on his own until a traveling druid found him after a few years. His ferocity was channeled into druidism or something and he became a druid. Tldr Half-Orc tarzan into druid.
My Half-Orc character was the child of two Half-Orc who found each other and fell in love. But it wouldn't really have mattered since in the GM's world Orc weren't outcasts or seen as monstrous. The Arch-Mage of the capital cities Arcane College was an Orc and was known as a wise and intelligent man.
Dad was an Orog tribal lord Mom was a princess given as part of a peace treaty mom and dad end up falling in love and make a very civilized comunity just beyond the frontier
I'm currently playing as a bard half orc in pathfinder. My idea was to make him part of a breeding program ment to create supersoldiers that he totally rejected running away at a young age.
I am wanting to make a half orc barbarian but, in this world the dm has to approve orc characters and I think a good orc npc. I’m wanting to have it be a consensual relationship between his parents but I don’t know how to work that in with the orcs being, for the most, part evil.
I’m currently playing a half Orc oath of vengeance paladin who became one because a different paladin told her she’d never amount to anything so she took it personally and out of spite became one. Her parents were a female human cleric and an Orc fighter who fought in a gladiator arena, they met after one of the fathers matches where he managed to successfully flirt and charm a date with the cleric. They decided to marry but live in separate homes visiting each day so my half Orc grew up in both a church and the homes made for the gladiators. And because of how well known her father was as a fighter she was mostly liked by her village. As for the Orc village her father is from basically image a Viking town with longhouses and a grand mead hall he ended up in a human village because he kinda wandered off one day out of pure boredom leaving a note to his father saying “I left, will write you when I can” and the rest is what lead up to my characters birth
One of my favorite characters I've ever played was a half-orc Barbarian, which was named Morn Half-Ear. She was the result of her orcish mother finding and raping a human knight, becoming pregnant as a way to get back at a chieftain that had just conquered the tribe and had chosen her to be one of his wives. So throughout her life, she was forced to do even more menial and horrible tasks than even some slaves. Eventually, she challenged the chieftain for control of the tribe... and was easily beaten and thought dead. The final blow left a large scar on the side of her head, from cheek to the back of her skull, slicing through one of her ears and leaving only half of it left.
I would imagine a lot of half orcs hanging out with half elves in an urban setting. Mom just got around a lot couldn't settle down with a single man for a long time. Half orc was the older brother half elf was the younger brother. Older brother was a fighter younger brother was a rogue. They played con games all day . The one acting as a distraction while the other picked pockets. Or one would play the victim while the other played the outraged big brother.
For my game, Half-Orcs are born and raised in the Gruul Clans of Ravnica. Born to an Orc mother and Wereboar father, half-orcs embrace their natural instincts.
I love how direct you are on subject matter. No dilly dally. You say rape and love with the same vigour. That is why I enjoy watching you sir. Also... Think of your parents having sex. Do it. Do it now... Also also: Character walks in to a room, he hears the groans of an introduer. He turns the corner as the haunting sounds grows larger. He slowly opens the door... only to find... "SON!! NO!!! Its not what you think..." "And I have been walking away from home ever since, no place seems far enough. Adventuring was not a choice... it was the only way to forget."
My half-orc Krull had a human mother who was an assassin, and his father was the war-chief of an orc tribe. Mom got captured when she attempted to assassinate my character's father, and was made into a slave. Eventually, Krull came to be born, and afterwards his mother managed to flee. Now Krull is on a search to return his mother to slavery, all while whipping up revolution from within the half-orc slums outside of cities using the power of heavy metal.
I play a half-orc barbarian in a 5e campaign. He was born in a relativelly small tribe product of the fusion of a human primitive tribe and an orc tribe, made one tribe due to necessity. Child of a human male and orc female, not much love involved in a tribal "marriage" He left a human to die in a coming of age trial, and was casted out for that. The shaman forbidden him to speak the name of the tribe or any of it's members. He bears no rituallistic scars or tribal tatoos, and his new name is just the orc word meaning "Outcast" (wich the dm and i decided it was "Dukar). Dukar tries to live among humans, living as a mercenary, trying and failing not to give into his emotions, and is already used to be every town guard's target.
My Outlander Barbarian character is the son of a crippled female warrior Orc who was forced to become a prostitute in order to make a living. She was somewhat calm and soft-spoken and was often visited by a Forest Gnome sorcerer who took troubleshooting jobs in the outlands. He kept returning often in between expeditions because he grew to like her. The son of Horsana the Orc was naturally named "Horson" by the townsfolk as a taunt but he grew to like it and wore the name proudly because he loved his mother. Unfortunately his mother got killed in a bar fight some years later so when his father returned, he adopted the five-year-old Half-Orc/Half-Gnome and brought him to live and grow up in a Forest Gnome village. Being Half-Gnomish, Horson acquired the trait of Gnome Cunning (Advantage to Int, Wis, and Cha saving throws versus magic) from his father instead of knowing how to Intimidate others with his massive strength. Horson thrived among the Gnomes and exhibited a Neutral Good disposition though his preferred hobby and past-time was to hunt and kill wild boars thus supplying fresh meat to the villagers. That is the origin of the famous name Horson Hogbane (who later came to be known as Horson Hellbane in Avernus).
Maybe some empire could use halforcs bred from human and orc slaves as janissaries. So the halforc character is not only struggling with his orc/human conflict, but also has a conflict with temptations of freedom and the indoctrination of loyalty to the authoritarian ruler that he depends on. That might be interesting?
I'm playing Barkus in Paizo's Iron Gods, a half-orc paladin of Abadar who cultivated a honey tongue as a reaction to his dislike of his orc side. GM and I have planned an arc where he comes to grips and accepts this side of himself. His receipt of a mammoth as his mount from his god rather than the equine steed he expected has left him a little confused and the arc is advancing. Why did I leave this comment? Because I'm a hopeless nerd who falls in love with his characters and simply must babble about them.
Now I would like to hear a thoughtpiece from you about the most boring and most interesting race in role-playing games - humans! :) Especially, how to make humans more than "extraordinarily ordinary".
I got a half-orc lady named Perseus who grew up in a matrilineal society and isn’t used to seeing men do anything besides keep the house and occasionally run shops. I think it’ll be interesting.
My idea for my Half-Orc is that the two biggest orc tribes had declared war on each other, and each side needed to get as many warriors as they could. Half-Orcs, because of their human blood, were highly prized if treated right. So these orcs pillaged a bunch of human villages and captured as many humans as possible. That's when my character was born; he was bred for war. It was all he had known, from birth to when he came of age at 14. So when war came to his tribe's doorstep, he slaughtered thousands of his full blooded kin. He had been taught to use his anger and his emotions in battle, so he did. When the battle was over, he stood alone among the dead. He felt empty and lost. His whole reason for being born brought no joy. So he left his tribe and wandered. Eventually he was found by a war god and he became a paladin.
just looking at reincarnation spells; possible to be brought back as a half-orc.... wish or curse?.... disguised as... (npc) no orcish physical heritage, however was 'adopted' by orcs (tarzan fashion) now behaves orcish....
I often play a Half-Orc Monk. Exploring the world, looking for himself as a Half-Orc. Seeking out something unique to Half-Orc culture. Still hasn't found anything.
It depends on the world you are playing, an half-orc can be born from another half-orc. The most difficult part of being an half-orc is the "evil blood" and "good blood" mixed in you. Orcs are born from elfs, so they can have some similarity.
Half Orcs are often described as being weaker to pure Orcs. But I've looked up the stats on a playable Orc and their racial bonuses are +2 Strength, +1 Constitution and -2 Intelligence. Know what the Half Orcs get? +2 Strength and +1 Constitution! Their natural life span is also about 25 years longer than pure bloods. Why the hell would you play a pure blood? Half Orcs appear to be just as strong, in addition to being much smarter!
I have a question about the rules, does a half orc have to be a coupling of an orc and a human or is that just the norm. I have made a half orc sorcerer who's mother was an orc shaman and father was a dragon disguised as a human, and the mother found out the truth after the son was born as the character has some draconic traits. I thought this would make a very interesting role play and back story. Is this going to be against D&D rules as I thought half orc half anything else?
That's going to fall to a "GM's Fiat"... It's a judgment call... Okay, for the record, the "canon" of D&D assumes (trope?) that the Half-orc is Half-human in the "by the book" sense. BUT... there's a couple points (as a GM, myself) worth bearing out... First, do you have ANY idea how much would have to be compiled and printed if WotC had to derive every possible inter-species breeding of half-anything? It only stands to reason, since all the stat's, skills, damage, EVERYTHING in D&D sticks Humans as the "starting point measure" or "ground level 0" race... On that every other playable race is based... and biases derive. So it's just a short-cut to assume Half-orc as a standard, Half-human, starting point... Second... Since Dragonborn are also Half-dragon AND Half-human, humans in D&D can breed with either Orcs or Dragons... in the game. SO it only stands to reason, a Dragon and an Orc can breed as well... It may still create the case of the mule (can't have kids of its own) but that's also been done in Dark Sun campaigns with the Mul (Half-Human, Half-Dwarf)... back in 2e (as I recall)... Third... I might advise, as you move forward in this character design, that you "work with pencil" in mind... That is to remain relatively flexible about where the GM might want to add or subtract from your character mechanically to "cleanly level the playing field"... As a GM, I do retain the rights to such activity around session-0's and character builds... NOT to punish players with extraordinarily unique builds, but to be able to keep the group dynamic relatively close together... Sometimes it's just easier to knock one character's mechanic up a point here or there, and other times it's just simpler to knock one or two characters' mechanics down a point here or there... simplifying the math makes me (GM's in general actually) happier... the duties easier and quicker, and the game smoother. (don't take it personally)... It also shows your GM a willingness to "play along well" with regard to the Table and the Party. You'll earn a certain amount of respect (particularly from the GM) for that. Finally, just to be equipped to avoid "disruption" from the onset, consider a second Character-Sheet all together... just a spare. If it turns out you DO need it, at the onset of the game (for whatever reason the GM can't think of a "good fix" so the answer at that table is "no" or "not now") then you just swap out the spare, and put this character back for later... maybe revisions... maybe just a different part of the game, or even a different game. It's NOT a loss... In the case you DON'T need it up front to start the game, keep in mind, this game can get... er... "rough". PC's occasionally get killed. It's a nifty short-cut I use relatively often as a Player, myself, just to be available that much quicker... AND as a side benefit, spare Characters laying around in the "Spare PC's" folder add to my practice of building DIFFERENT characters, to avoid getting into "ruts" of playing the same kind of thing over and over... even if I am good at it... AND once in a while, other Players want to join, but "don't have the time" to make a Character of their own... SO "That's okay, I've got a spare... if you like." sometimes comes in handy and helpful. ;o)
Thank you for the explanation, it is very helpful. This character is actually my backup, however I will take your advice and keep another spare handy just incase. I had three other character that the group I play with didn't like, I'm guessing from an rp stand point. I do have one character that they do like so I'm using that as my main, he is a dragonborn druid. Since the group didn't like my other choices and the DM asked me to have a backup, I made this half orc, then after watching the video I thought maybe I had missed or miss read something the rules and just wanted to verify. I'm just getting back into pen and paper games from a several year hiatus do to none of the group I hang with still talk to our old DM that we use to play GURPS with. The old DM is not around due to personal issues, so one of the others in the group has decided to step up and DM, so far it has been really good and I didn't want to do something against the rules, Although I did have one DM let me go against the rules for a one shot and I had a great time playing as a bugbear before they were a playable race, he ended up saving the whole group when one of the group went berserk, and now I'm rambling. Again thank you very much for the info
Always welcome... I personally come from the school of RPG's first rule : "Never EVER let the rules get in the way of the game." ...That said, I also understand for various reasons, other Tables aren't always quite so eager to bump up their own creativity to meet or exceed... SO yeah... We shrug it off and carry on. AND... for the record, I kind of prefer to be thorough about responding if nothing else. ;o)
One thing I notice is that every half-something races is always half human. What if your character is an elf and an orc hybrid? What if the other half of your half-elf is a hobbit? There is so many possibilities there but apparently only humans want to breed with everything.
Depends on the GM. I know one guest character in Critical Role combined the Draconic Bloodline sorcerer subclass with the half-elf race to be a half elf half dragonborn.
Is it possible to have a half-orc with and Orc father and an Elvish mother? Or are they always human/orc? Backstory would be Elf kidnapped and sold to an Orc, took pity on her, set her free and married her.
strange detail people don't seem to know in the current dnd setting half orcs are made often as a ritual between human and orc tribes to make peace and they are not thrown away by orcs as they can be just as strong and are often smarter than normal orcs so they make good leaders.
I'm currently playing a half orc that was born because a bard/sorceror was captured by orc bandits and he managed to sweet talk the warchief woman to let him sing songs of her might. He charmed her, ended up in her hall, put his money where his mouth was when it came to do the dirty so he'd survive, and when morning came, warchief lady was furious and chased him through the camp with a hammer trying to kill him. He managed to get away, but came back when he learnt my character, a half orc girl had been born, and demanded the warchief let him see his child. She laughed her head off and ordered her men to kill him, but being a slippery little bastard, he got away. Now my character wants to find him, so she travels the land with the same hammer her orc mother held when she tried to kill him, hoping he'll explain her magic's origin to her. (Bloodrager, verdant bloodline)
Playing a half orc for the first time. He is unaware of his exact parentage because he was adopted as an infant by a failing noble family who tried to use it as a PR move. Helping the downtrodden and all that. He thinks he's royalty but his orc propensities keep coming out.
Played a 3 quarter orc in my friends game. The way it works. If you f8cht them you sign up your city or clan into their game. If not. They will let you pass through or "trade" mine was a bastard of an evil son of a hitch forcing himself ona half orc from a tribe that the peace keepers. My mostly orc cleric wants to butcher his father in the most grumsh pleasing way but he fucking detests grumsh so he's very guilty about being a little e and fialing to kill him. He was raised by his mothers friend a dwarf who she befriended and the clan of the back beakers liked. (Not sexual just friendos) he is filled with guilt and rage about it hes ashamed of the mark on his tooth that is the symbol his dickness of a dad has on his tooth (genetic symbol) so he hides the tooth (tusk) under an iron cap he is a forge cleric who wants to erase his fathers clan from orcs. He has grown and still hates it
I disagree with you about having the backstory of being an orphan. I think that can be explored and be a good source of roleplay and characterization, regardless of race. So you were found on the steps of a temple and raised by the priests of a benevolent mother goddess. Do you want to find your parents and reunite with them? Do you hate them for abandoning you and want nothing to do with them? If your biological parents come to your door one day do you hug them or tell them to fuck off? Maybe you find an orphan and decide to raise him yourself, to give him the chance you never got?
In my campaign, half orcs are battle thralls employed by a tyrannical nation of sorcerers who breed them using magic, because interspecies unions are otherwise impossible (as they should be). It's a bit Lord of the Rings in that regard, but it really makes the most sense as a race that combines human intelligence with orcish brutality would make the finest warriors. Culturally, the end result is that my campaign's half orcs are numerous (existing in the tens of thousands) and are not ostracized but actually valued members of society, akin to Roman soldiery. Bravery and distinction in battle earns them accolades and tangible rewards such as land and slaves. Since they're sterile, however, their rising power and fortunes don't bother the magus they serve, who simply confiscates the half orc hero's possessions on behalf of the state when his thrall eventually dies.
This biological origin story gets even weirder when you're playing a centaur... 😂 Centaur player character be like: *My human father is the president of Turkmenistan.* 🇹🇲
I think Order of The Stick character Therkla touched on it nicely. No wonder she turned out to be an assassin, growing up in such a ... disgusting ... household. - For those who don't know, her parents had a loving, equal and consensual relationship.
Well eres my story da names Brashogan Brash for short well my story is one of loss and revenge, my father Gromak was da leader of an ork tribe da Bloodskulls they raided human villages often they took people as slaves to my mother gods take her she was violated by my father and well its how i came to be i grew up with my mother in the mines forced to do slave labor my mother managed to convince my convinced my father to keep me alive id be a good worker, i managed to grow strong when i was 5 i was put to work it made me strong ya know my my mother did what she could when i became 10 my father Gromak decided to kill my mother in front of me claiming she was what made me weak he made me fight in a pit for food who ever died was food for the winner so it was fight and eat or starve and die im not proud of this. I managed to escape when i was 20 i will get my vengeance one day for my mother
So basically to play a half orc, play it the way you act when you're drunk; emotions not in check and impulsive choices. Forbidden love among parents or parents that made a mistake and resented each other or the child makes for an interesting choice. Spock, Data, and the Borg chick are good tips. Good topic. This can be a really interesting character.
Most half races imply half-human (with the exception of half dragon). Some explanation is that because other races are rather set into their appearances, origins and subraces, humans have a lot of variation and are more adaptable. This means their genes mix better with other races. Because reasons. That's how I play it off anyway when players ask too much. EDIT: I'm sure there's homebrew systems for half-racing two races where you get the features from various races. It'd be quite fun but a lot more effort when it comes to balancing.
It just feels like so many missed opportunities. I always encourage my players to take crazy races, from Volo's or UA, or something homebrew. No obligation ofcourse, but half human still feels half boring to me.
Rob Kuijer I used to find humans boring and I do seldom play them. But it was Mass Effect that actually gave me a new interest in 'being what you are in real life'. Humans are an adaptive, short lived race that need to make their stamp on the world. The main answer to your question is 'because its mechanically exhausting to make a million different sibraces that are balanced, and the continuity is flawed to give a dwarf/orc the same stats as a tiefling/orc.'
@Jacob Brown. I can see why it would be hard for Wizards of the Coast to make official material covering all possible combinations. But I think a player should at least consider the possibility and come up with something in collaboration with his or her DM if it makes for an interesting background. Having to put in some work for that is almost a plus in my book. Provided that the goal in doing so is not to min max combat performance, but to set a player up for great story telling opportunities. Also, I have seen many players come up with very interesting characters that work wonderfully as humans, and precisely because they are humans. Both in terms of mechanics and roleplay. Its just not something I would go for very quickly.
There's a character in the Dragonlance series that is half-elf, half-orc, and he is ridiculously interesting because of his struggles/connections to his origins.
The problem I have with Half-Orcs has always been this: Very few people are comfortable playing the levels of hatred that true half-bloods would bring with them. One doesn't have to look far back in our own history to see the hate I am talking about, where people of 'mixed colours' would become rallying points for racists and bigots. Cries of 'racial purity' came from two humans of different colours mixing their genes, so just imagine what will happen if their species was capable of creating a hybrid species with another. If you are a storyteller that doesn't go out of their way to remove these distasteful topics entirely, really consider what the very existence half-breeds will do to your societies. PS: Mixed Genes are Healthy Genes!
Jinx Dragon I personally kinda see half orcs as something more like mules, species is close enough to make an offspring possible but no chance of reproduction.
It's interesting that you bring that up... Yet, here is where I'd point out that "Realism" isn't really part of the game, consider we play "in worlds" with fairies, dragons, magic fireballs, and magnitudes of weirdness that can scarcely be really described... A "Consistency of Surrealism" then would be the achievable goal, and with half-races, I'd posit there would be some resource for animosity, thus making them dutifully rare in most circles... but certainly NOT unique. This means, even the PC Half-Orc isn't the only one of its kind in the world, and certainly NOT the only one in history... provided (of course) that half-orcs are even possible. It would then stand to reason, over a reasonable history, that at least ONCE some half-orc somewhere has weathered the rank of "second hand item" and risen to create some respect for them... somewhere. Of course, what (exactly) you do with that... is entirely up to you. ;o)
We had a guy play with us once. Just once.
He rolled a half Orc and ever since that day, half Orcs in our campaigns have spoken with a polite Russian accent.
Tao
The best kind of accent
@@eddiespeight8103 .. Grunther?
Subverting voice stereotypes can be fun. Like me and my The Medic style Dwarf
@@eddiespeight8103 gunthorc
А что, неплохая идея. Возьму на заметку. Спасибо! :)
My fa orite conception story is and will always be:
"My mother was an orc, my father was a ballsy humain"
Works everytime
Starting an intelligent half-orc chef named Roardon Gamsey in new campaign, wish me luck
How did it go
Oh my god I had to read this like three times before I understood it and I’m actually losing my fucking mind 🤣🤣🤣
Would love to hear how it went :)
clever name haha
Funnily enough my friend did a similar thing with a barbarian chef Minotaur named Geoff Ramsay who had the goal to make the perfect soup while I was playing a half Orc
I played a half orc who's father was a dwarven baker. On a parley mission with a local tribe, food was given and a bond was made between the orc cheiftans daughter and the baker. In an effort to purge the hills of kobolds and goblins working together they also had to team up. Long nights under the stars and copious amounts of baked goods lead from one thing to another.
Raised in both environments, one week in the tribe and one week on the mountaintop until he came of age. Decided to make both his mother and father proud as a paladin to Morradin and as a cleric of Luthic; he set out to tell his tale.
Lol! Hooray for the benefits of co-parenting!
Marc Van O i’m playing my very first dnd game as a half orc paladin lol
how did believing in two deities work out? havent heard of this before. i would have made him believe in some non savage, honourable war god. didnt the dwarves and orcs consider him some sort of heretic? wasnt there any conflict of interests?
My favorite halforc character was the product of two halforcs that were in love and married. He resents this because the other halforcs make fun of him for having a happy home life. They call him Lovechild.
Actually, if I remember Volo’s Guide or the Player’s Handbook correctly (can’t remember which it was in), half-orcs can actually rise to a nice bit of power in orc societies because their human intelligence makes them, compared to your average orc, powerful strategists. This is why human barbarians sometimes ally with orc tribes. So if they’re disliked by anyone, it’d be humanoid society, but orcs? They might tease a half-orc for their puny human muscles, but they’ll pick their brain as soon as possible.
That's assuming it's not one of those orc societies that value strength above intelligence, or purity of blood due to some twisted dogma specific to that clan. But of course, your mileage can vary and you can do different things in your own games with orc society.
Well, orcs do value intelligence to some degree. The orc god of strategy, Ilneval, is arguable the second or third most revered orc god, maybe after Luthic, the goddess of life and death. What modicum of strategy they have is what turns orcs from a dissociated nuisance to a serious, coordinated threat. Though I agree, the books definitely state that some orc societies would never consider an alliance with humans, and that brute force is inevitably what an orc finds useful, not strategy.
Warrior societies not only have strong men but also a lot of brains invested in warfare, the first half orc strategists may have been born and rose to power by pure chance, but as word spreads around you could also end up seeing orcs kidnapping human men and women to sort of ritually organize the repopulation of their army's brains.
That's mentioned in the PHB for 5e - Guy's not a 5e exclusive guy, though, and I'm pretty sure older editions had the half orcs pariahs from both sides.
I think the thing that changed that was King Obould Many-Arrows - the orc who set up a long term kingdom that operates like any other kingdom of sapients, rather than just being the warlord of Orc murderparty number 84736474. That event was kinda a paradigm shift for the characters in the Forgotten Realms, who were used to thinking of orcs as mostly mindless murdery bastards who are just too numerous to exterminate - sure they talk a language and use tools and weapons, but they're not really *people*...until suddenly a tribe of orcs starts acting like people.
Orcs before Obould were just assumed to be savage brutal psychos with primitive weapons - so why would they value the intelligence of a half orc? They'd just see a weak runty orc. Afterward, when they started showing genuine intellect, and followed a guy who had good ideas (and was way stronger and more dangerous than them, yes, but he still had ideas). Thus, maybe they'd consider the benefits of this weak runty guy who knows how to plan raids really well.
Good point, I didn’t think of that!
4:10 Damn. Now you've actually got me thinking about how "I was raised on the steps of a church" could be a fun half-orc cleric. Sort of a Quasimodo figure with a deep faith in the word of his god and the intense emotions that come with being a half orc. There's a lot there and I might actually have to try that now.
I have a player playing a half orc fighter. In one of our earlier sessions he put his hands under his chin and used his index fingers as tusks, and it's stuck since then. I think it's fantastic
"How were you created?"
My parent's wanted something and no longer had difficulties getting it.
My last half orc chsrecter was a paladin of the ancients (of Godzilla specificly) and he was found abandoned as a babe in the woods. His adoptive family: gnomes. He was raised by gnomes. A 7ft tall. Shy, stuttering half orc, growing up in a house too small for him. And he can't talk to women
One of the most interesting characters I’d ever played was a half orc sorcerer, he was made by a hag coven’s breedings. This is because a in the DM’s world sorcerers’ magic became stronger the more emotional you are.
Essentially I had an emotionally volatile 6”5 half orc who everytime they would get more and more dangerous not only because of his size in that he would punch walls but also that he would cast burning hands before he punched the wall
I played a Half-Orc druid once. It was quite a lot of fun. Nobody ever really asked where he came from - I don't remember if I even made it up. They knew he was part Orc, but on the other hand he knew where all the "fun" plants grew...
I just made my half-orc character the product of a one night stand. I've spent way too much time on the Internet to NOT think that someone would bone an orc, and sex doesn't necessarily have to be ~true love~ to be consensual.
An idea for an half orc story i had pretty much had to change a bit of how half orcs work in the setting but i think i found it interesting. The orcs as a race would be extinct but their legacy due to their actions years before their extinction lives on in the genetic pool of mankind due to cross species breeding and diluting of the species. An half-orc would look human until adolescence kicks in and orcish traits start to develop like the change in skin color and texture, accelerated body growth and tusks.
These individuals depending on their parents (both could be human but with very little orcish DNA) could keep loving their child or ostracize them.
These half-orcs would be compelled to find more about their lost heritage and so lots of them travel around the world to find themselves.
I've concocted a rather farfetched mix of a half-orc and the barbarian video from some time ago and suggested that he was raised and lived among orcs in one of the dwindling tribes of not-evil orcs that, ever since they left the mountaincradle, held fast to the old ways in way of a shamanistic tribal culture.
Unfortunately the massive majority of maddeningly evil orcs marauding everywhere have painted orcs (probably largely deserved) as a blight to be eradicated, so from winter to winter many times drunken troublemakers from villages, farmers and even orc groups attacked the villages, cutting the numbers down further and souring the opinion of non-orcs among the younger tribesmen even more. The main reason I had to leave because I was conceived to a tribesmember out of a union with a human which had to leave for reasons undisclosed to me. Efforts of my mother, the elder and the shaman to calm things down went fruitless and even a harrowing apprenticeship under the village shaman didn't quell the anger. Thus I packed my things and left the village, in search for my father, a place in the world and trying to figure out how to be a proper shaman with only a marginal training. And then there's the Grimratach...
I've been writing up rituals, spirit sphere names in orcish, it's been a blast and my DM seems to be quite pleased with it. Sadly we've been struggling to include roleplay into the current campaign due to it's unique nature and probably because some of our players simply aren't the roleplaying type, but I already had the chance to bond with our cleric. As of now i'm doing my best to make our current involuntary home more suitable for a hearthfire spirit, though people seem to find it weird that I insist of my wood being dried away from the other cut wood.
The Grimratach I mentioned was the way I envisioned as a fitting application of the rage mechanic. Warriors would ritually bond with a wild spirit and call upon it in battle to fight together. If necessary a warrior could also open oneself for any spirit to claim him in the heat of battle, but that was a dangerous thing and I don't shy away from playing a severe kind of fatigue and desorientation after such fights.
In nature he is stoic, compassionate, has a lot of respect of nature but can turn hostile if challenged on this ways. Also, he's wary of the dwarf, what with them being the reason their ancestors had to leave the mountain in the first place (or so the tales go).
The question of all life, "Who had sex with what and why?"
Great video again Guy. Thank you for your time, thoughts, and energy.
You are a gentleman, sir. I really appreciate this video, you helped me address details with my half orc that I've been fumbling with, thank you! Also, nice orc voice, loved it!
I love the Yorkshire accent for an orc
One of my players finally started to DM their own campaign, so I'll get to play a "real" (not a one shot) character for once. Been playing a half-orc warlock for two sessions. Going to take one level of barbarian to get that orcish fury roleplay. This is a well timed video!
Omg i made my half orc character and this comes up so happy thanks
Edit:I made an exception to the accepting or rejecting orchishness from birth as my char was taken from his village to a far off arena where violence and orchishness made him survive but the reason he fought at first was fear and hunger and he tries to forget trough violence and rage as a barbarian, still have to decide if he will become a savage or semi civilized half orc
I have a half orc druid I want to play so bad, I love the how diverse you can get with the Roleplay
I played a Half-Orc Fighter/Paladin in Tormenta (a brazilian D20 scenario) and I always use a low voice tone and always, always speak my name Gro'bah (or Gro'bah Gobah) instead of using I/me/mine. Everyone, players and GM, loved it and always expect to hear the name Gro'bah being repeated so many times during the adventure.
Also, he's from a Orc Father and Human Mother, forced breed, but was born with 4 arms and belived it was a gift from the gods. He chose to do good with them, branding a Tower Shield and using his others 2 arms to graple and contain enemies or a mauler to knock them or make them prone. Blesses by the god of resurrection and second chances, he NEVER kill an enemy (be it a humanoid, a beast or animal, not even demons). Great character imo.
I`ve been watching your videos for some years now and I pretty much loved everyone of them. They are very helpful for player wanting to step up their game and even convinced me to write a story of my own and be GM for once.
This finally is a topic where i think i add my own experience:
One time I created a half-orc, half-elf character. He was born to an elf woman who was captured during orc raids and kept as a slave. The first years of his life he was raised by orcs under the name Bologhtai. The orcs didn´t like him, he was just to few orc and to much elf, so they simply rejected him and sent him away. He made his way to the elves, who shortened his name to Tai, trying to oversee his orcish side. That went somewhat well for a time. He learned some elven magic, but was only ever able to pull off the body-oriented spells, like making himself invisibile or faster and stronger. In the end he didn´t fit with the elves as well and someday he left. As a being who was two things, but neither he hated being an orc and just couldn´t be a proper elf.
After roaming the world aimlessly, he was hired as a lumberjack. A heap of muscles presented with an axe and trees to strike at. A simple job to get his mind of all the things he wasn´t and give him something to do that he was good at. At that time he had given up. He accepted that he would never be anything more than the sum of his parts. No culture he belonged to, no tribe or family to call his own. That was when he met the other PCs.
When i created this character i thought i would play an aggressive barbarian, who tried to contain his orcish side. Always one step away from hitting people. Only when i already sat at the table and was slipping into the character´s mindset i realized that it would make more sense to play him as a passive-aggressive being who doesn´t care enough to really actively hate anymore. An immortal being who had no place he wanted to be and nothing to strive for. There was a point in the story where the other PCs where arguing with some dwarfes in the streetsnat the end of a long day and Tai would just lay down on a pile of straw some steps away and fell asleep, uncaring about what the others might do next. As a player i was waiting for something to get him hooked, something he was going to care about. Some kind of passion he would then follow.
Unfortunatly it never came to that, as he was smashed by a boulder thrown by a giant.
Maybe someone will find some kind of inspiration from this experience of mine or at least find it somewhat entertaining.
So what happened to your mum? Why doesn’t she matter?
I only just caught this video, but I find a little irony that it came out on my birthday. I've been playing a half-orc for over a year now. His mother was raped during a raid, he had issues being a bully as a kid and ran away when there was uproar over it. On the road he was taken in by bandits for several years before they were taken out, leading him to be raised by a ranger until he was of age. He bears the scars of past injuries as lessons, respects the wild... and probably makes more of an issue about his Orcish heritage than he needs to, should, or at times is sensible.
@7:13 is the perfect pause x3
brilliant video, as always Guy, you're right that players should put more thought into how their PCs came to be, and how they feel about it.
My boyfriend will play a half orc barbarian with our next party who was brought up as a slave until he escaped and met and saved the elf wizard I will play. I'm looking forward to this
Actually... you need to do a DM/GM guide on how the towns will react to a half orc PC.
The reaction of NPCs in town to "odd" races is important to the game.
One of my favorite characters was a half orc eldritch knight/tempest cleric. The basic idea was very much that world of warcraft type orcish shaman. Technically he wasn't half orc,his grandfather was a human who became the warchief of this clan of orcs through many trials and heroic deeds. Now unlike in warcraft these orcs were very much considered evil creatures,which was reflected in my character being a well designed chaotic evil character who worshiped Gruumsh,the god of orcs. Now when I say ''well designed CE'' I mean that he was very much a brutal character who thought that the orcish way of life was the best way of life and they have their own weird moral code that most of them follow. Stuff like not killing someone who doesn't have a weapon and treating slaves with limited amount of respect as people who were below them rather than in the roman way of seeing slaves as items. Basically they were green vikings in this world. Now even though the orcs of the clan revered these half orcs for their smarts as well as strength ''since half orcs are smarter than normal orcs'' the character himself thought that the human blood in his veins was a curse and often expressed it with bursts of anger if he was referred to as anything other than an orc.
So how did all of this play out? Well basically he respected everyone who could prove themselves in combat,he was very sarcastic,warm towards his friends and expressed his emotions without fear of angering or scaring anyone. The evil stuff came with him basically just wanting to murder or enslave everyone rather than taking prisoners and treating a child with a sword as if it was a grown man with a sword. If you pointed a sword at this guy he would just kill you,no matter who or what you are. Now this never became an issue even when everyone else in the group was neutral or chaotic good because you have to know when to reign your character in without breaking character. Never make a character that refuses to listen to his allies,if everyone else pleads you not to kill something,don't kill it. If other players are just silent as you're about to do something really evil it means that they are enjoying watching your character do evil things because in my case it gave this sarcastic and likeable character extra depth.
In combat when he wasn't in melee he used his magic to mainly deal damage with things like call lightning,sleet storm and all sorts of elemental magic but if he saw his party going down or being almost down he would use something like mass healing word almost off-handedly after hitting a monster few times to keep them going without spending everything he had on healing. This once again reflected the way the character acted outside of combat,which is something I believe you should do. The character respected and liked everyone in his party but still focused on doing what warriors or in this case shamans do best without completely neglecting his party. So if you're playing someone who is a complete asshole who doesn't care about his party members why would you ever use your spell slots on healing them? Something to think about when you next create a character and wonder how he would act in certain situations.
One of my favorite characters that I made was a half-orc bard, Dimitri Hexczor (heck-score) who was second generation (both parents were half-orcs), raised in a lower-class family in a large city. He was intellectually brilliant and very self-confident, but bullied as a child because of his orc heritage. He was apprenticed by a half-elf bard who recognized his brilliant intellect and related to having mixed heritage, who worked in a temple of some god of knowledge as a loremaster (depending on the available deities). Orcish physiology, so very tall and burly, but a more intellectual human psychology, obsessed with theater and astronomy, but has a bit of an orcish temper.
Thanks from four years in the future. I just started playing a half Ork my DM pregen'd for me. 12 INT 14 CHA Warlock, Pally, Druid triclass. His father was a famous orcish adventurer, and my character "leans into" being more orcish than he actually is because he's proud of both sides.
Many may have heard of his father, Ragnar the Red. The famously cut down, red headed ork adventurer.
I had two fathers; one orc and one human. I was a happy child, until I realized there was something amiss... And what's with Elved and Dwarves? In my campaign all humanoids can mix together. Half-elves-dwarves, half elves-orcs. YES! My campaign, my rules! What?!
One of my NPCs is a half-orc with a love interest for the half-elf PC. He is struggling with his orc heritage and striving be more "human" and overall good and respected. While the half-elf wishes she could be more elven... Great fun !
What an awesome description introduction tô the race
Ive always been down to fantasy but just got into dnd now
So deep
You got a New sub thank you so much 🇧🇷🤜🤛🙏
I love playing half-orcs, but I love playing full orcs even more. I’d love to hear your thoughts on playing “monster” races like Orcs (both as a player and as a DM) and how to make them more than just another monster. They’re intelligent beings so they should be more than just an encounter.
I had a take on my half orc where (since every half orc has a stigma of a broken home) her parents fell in love with each other, a rich well to do human & a bad ass orc mother, & she was the first half orc of her village so she has seen 1 half orc so far & was so intrigued by them. In our game i had orcs as various shades of neutrality so they can be respected, but there can be a basis for whatever racism there is, & modeled orcs after russian culture, to me that seems like a perfect fit. But i wanted to subvert the typical dnd set up where in a lot of games orcs are the 1st enemies, & in mine if she saw orcs being terrible people & she had to fight them, it would be this dramatic, pivotal moment
Love your channel, Guy, great content as always!
I want you to cover playing hobgoblins can you please
enderblade123 underrated post
man I jast wone say to you that I love what you are doing and that you have healp me a lot.Tnx keep up the gode job.Love you man.(sory for the bad English)
I'm actually trying to paint an apocalypse-punk half-orc lady in oil paints on a flat-screen-tv-sized canvas.
Gurmg be Half-orc. And half another orc
I love the Half-Orc I am playing. Her name is Evok/ Ovak/ Vola Evanswood. It really depends on the situation as too who has their hands on the wheels.
I enjoy playing a half-Orc its fun to occasionally let out that more chaotic nature of the Orc even though my half-Orc is a Wizard he still has destroyed books and possibly valuable things because he didnt see the value in them at the time, there is alot of potential in half-Orc characters for funny conversations and silly roleplay as they are an intimidating, slightly odd and not entirely civilized people which I love.
"My mother was the daughter to a chieftan and of course a courageous warrior, my father was a bard who tickled her fancy. Me, I'm a valor Bard. I'm like a slime; not as Hard as a rock, but not as slippery as water either. just a gross mix of the too weird.
A friend of mine is going to run her first campain soon and i decided to run as a rogue half orc (yeah first of all that doen't mix up that well but eh) and second that half orc is the daugther of an ogrillon (my current barbarian on main campain i play) and a female orc. So that rogue should be an ogrillon too if i'm correct, but since it's my friend first campain... I'm just not bothering her with complete monster race out of the usual books.
Also the thing about that rogue is that she was raised in a uthgardt tribe composed by goblins, orcs and other non human race considered as an "horde" so rp wise she's from a rather acceptive clan about mixed blood. All you have to do is set thing about famillie and close entourage (town, city) and other town far from said community.
My character is a half-ork, wild magic sorcerer, who was exiled from his tribe. His purpose in life now is to gather any artifacts of the ork gods to prove to his former tribe that he was the only one "orky nuff" to gather them, then kill his tribe as a sacrifice to the ork gods.
My Half orcs (which I play very often. Probably my favorite race) tend very much to skew heavily towards embracing thier Orcish side. Taking Orcish names, and being aggressive and brash to the Nth degree.
One of my favorite characters was a half-orcish Rogue Mage, named Steve McDirty... He would often muse that he could "skate by" with horrible manners since no one really expected any better of someone "with his upbringing"... I professed (outwardly) to making an effort toward embracing and earning valor among humans, (which shouldn't have been much difficulty as he ran on high intelligence easily)... BUT (inwardly) it was just too much fun to "fall utterly short" of whatever society expected of him... hilarious.
Dangerous as hell, dirty most of the time to a point of absolutely filthy... and difficult (especially keeping up the ruse) BUT it was certainly hilarious in the depths of depraved and even reckless uncivility. ;o)
Father was an orc leader of a clan of orc. Mother was human cleric that worked in a Chapel
I've never played DnD but I've learned a fair bit about it. I had an idea of a half-orc abandoned in the woods after his mother was raped during a raid on her village. He grew up in the wild woods on his own until a traveling druid found him after a few years. His ferocity was channeled into druidism or something and he became a druid.
Tldr Half-Orc tarzan into druid.
My Half-Orc character was the child of two Half-Orc who found each other and fell in love. But it wouldn't really have mattered since in the GM's world Orc weren't outcasts or seen as monstrous. The Arch-Mage of the capital cities Arcane College was an Orc and was known as a wise and intelligent man.
Dad was an Orog tribal lord
Mom was a princess given as part of a peace treaty
mom and dad end up falling in love and make a very civilized comunity just beyond the frontier
I'm currently playing as a bard half orc in pathfinder. My idea was to make him part of a breeding program ment to create supersoldiers that he totally rejected running away at a young age.
I am wanting to make a half orc barbarian but, in this world the dm has to approve orc characters and I think a good orc npc. I’m wanting to have it be a consensual relationship between his parents but I don’t know how to work that in with the orcs being, for the most, part evil.
I’m currently playing a half Orc oath of vengeance paladin who became one because a different paladin told her she’d never amount to anything so she took it personally and out of spite became one. Her parents were a female human cleric and an Orc fighter who fought in a gladiator arena, they met after one of the fathers matches where he managed to successfully flirt and charm a date with the cleric. They decided to marry but live in separate homes visiting each day so my half Orc grew up in both a church and the homes made for the gladiators. And because of how well known her father was as a fighter she was mostly liked by her village. As for the Orc village her father is from basically image a Viking town with longhouses and a grand mead hall he ended up in a human village because he kinda wandered off one day out of pure boredom leaving a note to his father saying “I left, will write you when I can” and the rest is what lead up to my characters birth
One of my favorite characters I've ever played was a half-orc Barbarian, which was named Morn Half-Ear. She was the result of her orcish mother finding and raping a human knight, becoming pregnant as a way to get back at a chieftain that had just conquered the tribe and had chosen her to be one of his wives. So throughout her life, she was forced to do even more menial and horrible tasks than even some slaves. Eventually, she challenged the chieftain for control of the tribe... and was easily beaten and thought dead. The final blow left a large scar on the side of her head, from cheek to the back of her skull, slicing through one of her ears and leaving only half of it left.
I would imagine a lot of half orcs hanging out with half elves in an urban setting. Mom just got around a lot couldn't settle down with a single man for a long time. Half orc was the older brother half elf was the younger brother. Older brother was a fighter younger brother was a rogue. They played con games all day . The one acting as a distraction while the other picked pockets. Or one would play the victim while the other played the outraged big brother.
Me a half orc thats way to trust and follows random stranger around scaring them on accident
I'll be playing a Half Orc Gunslinger in a new Icewind Dale campaign, he's on the run from a sadistic Noblewoman.
This helped me so much. Thank you.
For my game, Half-Orcs are born and raised in the Gruul Clans of Ravnica.
Born to an Orc mother and Wereboar father, half-orcs embrace their natural instincts.
I love how direct you are on subject matter. No dilly dally. You say rape and love with the same vigour. That is why I enjoy watching you sir.
Also... Think of your parents having sex. Do it. Do it now...
Also also: Character walks in to a room, he hears the groans of an introduer. He turns the corner as the haunting sounds grows larger. He slowly opens the door... only to find... "SON!! NO!!! Its not what you think..."
"And I have been walking away from home ever since, no place seems far enough. Adventuring was not a choice... it was the only way to forget."
Could you do a video on players charm person/suggestioning other players?
My half-orc Krull had a human mother who was an assassin, and his father was the war-chief of an orc tribe. Mom got captured when she attempted to assassinate my character's father, and was made into a slave. Eventually, Krull came to be born, and afterwards his mother managed to flee. Now Krull is on a search to return his mother to slavery, all while whipping up revolution from within the half-orc slums outside of cities using the power of heavy metal.
I play a half-orc barbarian in a 5e campaign.
He was born in a relativelly small tribe product of the fusion of a human primitive tribe and an orc tribe, made one tribe due to necessity.
Child of a human male and orc female, not much love involved in a tribal "marriage"
He left a human to die in a coming of age trial, and was casted out for that.
The shaman forbidden him to speak the name of the tribe or any of it's members.
He bears no rituallistic scars or tribal tatoos, and his new name is just the orc word meaning "Outcast" (wich the dm and i decided it was "Dukar).
Dukar tries to live among humans, living as a mercenary, trying and failing not to give into his emotions, and is already used to be every town guard's target.
Thank you very much, question would a half orc be brownish red??
My Outlander Barbarian character is the son of a crippled female warrior Orc who was forced to become a prostitute in order to make a living. She was somewhat calm and soft-spoken and was often visited by a Forest Gnome sorcerer who took troubleshooting jobs in the outlands. He kept returning often in between expeditions because he grew to like her.
The son of Horsana the Orc was naturally named "Horson" by the townsfolk as a taunt but he grew to like it and wore the name proudly because he loved his mother. Unfortunately his mother got killed in a bar fight some years later so when his father returned, he adopted the five-year-old Half-Orc/Half-Gnome and brought him to live and grow up in a Forest Gnome village.
Being Half-Gnomish, Horson acquired the trait of Gnome Cunning (Advantage to Int, Wis, and Cha saving throws versus magic) from his father instead of knowing how to Intimidate others with his massive strength. Horson thrived among the Gnomes and exhibited a Neutral Good disposition though his preferred hobby and past-time was to hunt and kill wild boars thus supplying fresh meat to the villagers. That is the origin of the famous name Horson Hogbane (who later came to be known as Horson Hellbane in Avernus).
Maybe some empire could use halforcs bred from human and orc slaves as janissaries. So the halforc character is not only struggling with his orc/human conflict, but also has a conflict with temptations of freedom and the indoctrination of loyalty to the authoritarian ruler that he depends on. That might be interesting?
I'm playing Barkus in Paizo's Iron Gods, a half-orc paladin of Abadar who cultivated a honey tongue as a reaction to his dislike of his orc side. GM and I have planned an arc where he comes to grips and accepts this side of himself. His receipt of a mammoth as his mount from his god rather than the equine steed he expected has left him a little confused and the arc is advancing. Why did I leave this comment? Because I'm a hopeless nerd who falls in love with his characters and simply must babble about them.
Now I would like to hear a thoughtpiece from you about the most boring and most interesting race in role-playing games - humans! :)
Especially, how to make humans more than "extraordinarily ordinary".
Awesome video! Do one about dragonborn please 😀
Please make one about Tobaxi!!!!!!! 😸
I got a half-orc lady named Perseus who grew up in a matrilineal society and isn’t used to seeing men do anything besides keep the house and occasionally run shops. I think it’ll be interesting.
My idea for my Half-Orc is that the two biggest orc tribes had declared war on each other, and each side needed to get as many warriors as they could. Half-Orcs, because of their human blood, were highly prized if treated right. So these orcs pillaged a bunch of human villages and captured as many humans as possible. That's when my character was born; he was bred for war. It was all he had known, from birth to when he came of age at 14. So when war came to his tribe's doorstep, he slaughtered thousands of his full blooded kin. He had been taught to use his anger and his emotions in battle, so he did. When the battle was over, he stood alone among the dead. He felt empty and lost. His whole reason for being born brought no joy. So he left his tribe and wandered. Eventually he was found by a war god and he became a paladin.
can you please make how to play a drow.
My orcs are Warcraft orcs and my half orcs look like LOTR orcs.
just looking at reincarnation spells; possible to be brought back as a half-orc....
wish or curse?....
disguised as... (npc)
no orcish physical heritage, however was 'adopted' by orcs (tarzan fashion) now behaves orcish....
I often play a Half-Orc Monk. Exploring the world, looking for himself as a Half-Orc. Seeking out something unique to Half-Orc culture. Still hasn't found anything.
It depends on the world you are playing, an half-orc can be born from another half-orc. The most difficult part of being an half-orc is the "evil blood" and "good blood" mixed in you. Orcs are born from elfs, so they can have some similarity.
So basically the heavy from tf2
Half Orcs are often described as being weaker to pure Orcs. But I've looked up the stats on a playable Orc and their racial bonuses are +2 Strength, +1 Constitution and -2 Intelligence.
Know what the Half Orcs get? +2 Strength and +1 Constitution! Their natural life span is also about 25 years longer than pure bloods.
Why the hell would you play a pure blood? Half Orcs appear to be just as strong, in addition to being much smarter!
I have a question about the rules, does a half orc have to be a coupling of an orc and a human or is that just the norm. I have made a half orc sorcerer who's mother was an orc shaman and father was a dragon disguised as a human, and the mother found out the truth after the son was born as the character has some draconic traits. I thought this would make a very interesting role play and back story. Is this going to be against D&D rules as I thought half orc half anything else?
That's going to fall to a "GM's Fiat"... It's a judgment call...
Okay, for the record, the "canon" of D&D assumes (trope?) that the Half-orc is Half-human in the "by the book" sense.
BUT... there's a couple points (as a GM, myself) worth bearing out... First, do you have ANY idea how much would have to be compiled and printed if WotC had to derive every possible inter-species breeding of half-anything? It only stands to reason, since all the stat's, skills, damage, EVERYTHING in D&D sticks Humans as the "starting point measure" or "ground level 0" race... On that every other playable race is based... and biases derive.
So it's just a short-cut to assume Half-orc as a standard, Half-human, starting point...
Second... Since Dragonborn are also Half-dragon AND Half-human, humans in D&D can breed with either Orcs or Dragons... in the game. SO it only stands to reason, a Dragon and an Orc can breed as well... It may still create the case of the mule (can't have kids of its own) but that's also been done in Dark Sun campaigns with the Mul (Half-Human, Half-Dwarf)... back in 2e (as I recall)...
Third... I might advise, as you move forward in this character design, that you "work with pencil" in mind... That is to remain relatively flexible about where the GM might want to add or subtract from your character mechanically to "cleanly level the playing field"... As a GM, I do retain the rights to such activity around session-0's and character builds... NOT to punish players with extraordinarily unique builds, but to be able to keep the group dynamic relatively close together... Sometimes it's just easier to knock one character's mechanic up a point here or there, and other times it's just simpler to knock one or two characters' mechanics down a point here or there... simplifying the math makes me (GM's in general actually) happier... the duties easier and quicker, and the game smoother. (don't take it personally)...
It also shows your GM a willingness to "play along well" with regard to the Table and the Party. You'll earn a certain amount of respect (particularly from the GM) for that.
Finally, just to be equipped to avoid "disruption" from the onset, consider a second Character-Sheet all together... just a spare. If it turns out you DO need it, at the onset of the game (for whatever reason the GM can't think of a "good fix" so the answer at that table is "no" or "not now") then you just swap out the spare, and put this character back for later... maybe revisions... maybe just a different part of the game, or even a different game. It's NOT a loss...
In the case you DON'T need it up front to start the game, keep in mind, this game can get... er... "rough". PC's occasionally get killed. It's a nifty short-cut I use relatively often as a Player, myself, just to be available that much quicker... AND as a side benefit, spare Characters laying around in the "Spare PC's" folder add to my practice of building DIFFERENT characters, to avoid getting into "ruts" of playing the same kind of thing over and over... even if I am good at it... AND once in a while, other Players want to join, but "don't have the time" to make a Character of their own... SO "That's okay, I've got a spare... if you like." sometimes comes in handy and helpful. ;o)
Thank you for the explanation, it is very helpful. This character is actually my backup, however I will take your advice and keep another spare handy just incase. I had three other character that the group I play with didn't like, I'm guessing from an rp stand point. I do have one character that they do like so I'm using that as my main, he is a dragonborn druid. Since the group didn't like my other choices and the DM asked me to have a backup, I made this half orc, then after watching the video I thought maybe I had missed or miss read something the rules and just wanted to verify. I'm just getting back into pen and paper games from a several year hiatus do to none of the group I hang with still talk to our old DM that we use to play GURPS with. The old DM is not around due to personal issues, so one of the others in the group has decided to step up and DM, so far it has been really good and I didn't want to do something against the rules, Although I did have one DM let me go against the rules for a one shot and I had a great time playing as a bugbear before they were a playable race, he ended up saving the whole group when one of the group went berserk, and now I'm rambling. Again thank you very much for the info
Always welcome...
I personally come from the school of RPG's first rule : "Never EVER let the rules get in the way of the game."
...That said, I also understand for various reasons, other Tables aren't always quite so eager to bump up their own creativity to meet or exceed... SO yeah... We shrug it off and carry on.
AND... for the record, I kind of prefer to be thorough about responding if nothing else. ;o)
One thing I notice is that every half-something races is always half human. What if your character is an elf and an orc hybrid? What if the other half of your half-elf is a hobbit? There is so many possibilities there but apparently only humans want to breed with everything.
Rei K. Sometimes that's humanity's special ability, being able to breed with any other race.
Depends on the GM. I know one guest character in Critical Role combined the Draconic Bloodline sorcerer subclass with the half-elf race to be a half elf half dragonborn.
Is it possible to have a half-orc with and Orc father and an Elvish mother? Or are they always human/orc? Backstory would be Elf kidnapped and sold to an Orc, took pity on her, set her free and married her.
strange detail people don't seem to know in the current dnd setting half orcs are made often as a ritual between human and orc tribes to make peace and they are not thrown away by orcs as they can be just as strong and are often smarter than normal orcs so they make good leaders.
I'm currently playing a half orc that was born because a bard/sorceror was captured by orc bandits and he managed to sweet talk the warchief woman to let him sing songs of her might. He charmed her, ended up in her hall, put his money where his mouth was when it came to do the dirty so he'd survive, and when morning came, warchief lady was furious and chased him through the camp with a hammer trying to kill him. He managed to get away, but came back when he learnt my character, a half orc girl had been born, and demanded the warchief let him see his child. She laughed her head off and ordered her men to kill him, but being a slippery little bastard, he got away. Now my character wants to find him, so she travels the land with the same hammer her orc mother held when she tried to kill him, hoping he'll explain her magic's origin to her. (Bloodrager, verdant bloodline)
note to self voice is at 9:13
Playing a half orc for the first time. He is unaware of his exact parentage because he was adopted as an infant by a failing noble family who tried to use it as a PR move. Helping the downtrodden and all that. He thinks he's royalty but his orc propensities keep coming out.
"Who had sex with what and why?"
"Who had sex with what and why"
Im half - human orgins D&D
Played a 3 quarter orc in my friends game. The way it works. If you f8cht them you sign up your city or clan into their game. If not. They will let you pass through or "trade" mine was a bastard of an evil son of a hitch forcing himself ona half orc from a tribe that the peace keepers. My mostly orc cleric wants to butcher his father in the most grumsh pleasing way but he fucking detests grumsh so he's very guilty about being a little e and fialing to kill him. He was raised by his mothers friend a dwarf who she befriended and the clan of the back beakers liked. (Not sexual just friendos) he is filled with guilt and rage about it hes ashamed of the mark on his tooth that is the symbol his dickness of a dad has on his tooth (genetic symbol) so he hides the tooth (tusk) under an iron cap he is a forge cleric who wants to erase his fathers clan from orcs. He has grown and still hates it
I disagree with you about having the backstory of being an orphan. I think that can be explored and be a good source of roleplay and characterization, regardless of race. So you were found on the steps of a temple and raised by the priests of a benevolent mother goddess. Do you want to find your parents and reunite with them? Do you hate them for abandoning you and want nothing to do with them? If your biological parents come to your door one day do you hug them or tell them to fuck off? Maybe you find an orphan and decide to raise him yourself, to give him the chance you never got?
In my campaign, half orcs are battle thralls employed by a tyrannical nation of sorcerers who breed them using magic, because interspecies unions are otherwise impossible (as they should be). It's a bit Lord of the Rings in that regard, but it really makes the most sense as a race that combines human intelligence with orcish brutality would make the finest warriors.
Culturally, the end result is that my campaign's half orcs are numerous (existing in the tens of thousands) and are not ostracized but actually valued members of society, akin to Roman soldiery. Bravery and distinction in battle earns them accolades and tangible rewards such as land and slaves. Since they're sterile, however, their rising power and fortunes don't bother the magus they serve, who simply confiscates the half orc hero's possessions on behalf of the state when his thrall eventually dies.
Love the monster
This biological origin story gets even weirder when you're playing a centaur... 😂
Centaur player character be like: *My human father is the president of Turkmenistan.* 🇹🇲
I think Order of The Stick character Therkla touched on it nicely.
No wonder she turned out to be an assassin, growing up in such a ... disgusting ... household.
- For those who don't know, her parents had a loving, equal and consensual relationship.
Well eres my story da names Brashogan Brash for short well my story is one of loss and revenge, my father Gromak was da leader of an ork tribe da Bloodskulls they raided human villages often they took people as slaves to my mother gods take her she was violated by my father and well its how i came to be i grew up with my mother in the mines forced to do slave labor my mother managed to convince my convinced my father to keep me alive id be a good worker, i managed to grow strong when i was 5 i was put to work it made me strong ya know my my mother did what she could when i became 10 my father Gromak decided to kill my mother in front of me claiming she was what made me weak he made me fight in a pit for food who ever died was food for the winner so it was fight and eat or starve and die im not proud of this. I managed to escape when i was 20 i will get my vengeance one day for my mother
So basically to play a half orc, play it the way you act when you're drunk; emotions not in check and impulsive choices. Forbidden love among parents or parents that made a mistake and resented each other or the child makes for an interesting choice.
Spock, Data, and the Borg chick are good tips.
Good topic. This can be a really interesting character.
Why is the other half always implicitly human? Why not a dwarf? an elf? a minotaur?
Most half races imply half-human (with the exception of half dragon). Some explanation is that because other races are rather set into their appearances, origins and subraces, humans have a lot of variation and are more adaptable. This means their genes mix better with other races. Because reasons.
That's how I play it off anyway when players ask too much.
EDIT: I'm sure there's homebrew systems for half-racing two races where you get the features from various races. It'd be quite fun but a lot more effort when it comes to balancing.
It just feels like so many missed opportunities. I always encourage my players to take crazy races, from Volo's or UA, or something homebrew. No obligation ofcourse, but half human still feels half boring to me.
Rob Kuijer I used to find humans boring and I do seldom play them. But it was Mass Effect that actually gave me a new interest in 'being what you are in real life'. Humans are an adaptive, short lived race that need to make their stamp on the world.
The main answer to your question is 'because its mechanically exhausting to make a million different sibraces that are balanced, and the continuity is flawed to give a dwarf/orc the same stats as a tiefling/orc.'
@Jacob Brown. I can see why it would be hard for Wizards of the Coast to make official material covering all possible combinations. But I think a player should at least consider the possibility and come up with something in collaboration with his or her DM if it makes for an interesting background. Having to put in some work for that is almost a plus in my book. Provided that the goal in doing so is not to min max combat performance, but to set a player up for great story telling opportunities.
Also, I have seen many players come up with very interesting characters that work wonderfully as humans, and precisely because they are humans. Both in terms of mechanics and roleplay. Its just not something I would go for very quickly.
There's a character in the Dragonlance series that is half-elf, half-orc, and he is ridiculously interesting because of his struggles/connections to his origins.
The problem I have with Half-Orcs has always been this:
Very few people are comfortable playing the levels of hatred that true half-bloods would bring with them.
One doesn't have to look far back in our own history to see the hate I am talking about, where people of 'mixed colours' would become rallying points for racists and bigots. Cries of 'racial purity' came from two humans of different colours mixing their genes, so just imagine what will happen if their species was capable of creating a hybrid species with another. If you are a storyteller that doesn't go out of their way to remove these distasteful topics entirely, really consider what the very existence half-breeds will do to your societies.
PS:
Mixed Genes are Healthy Genes!
Jinx Dragon I personally kinda see half orcs as something more like mules, species is close enough to make an offspring possible but no chance of reproduction.
It's interesting that you bring that up... Yet, here is where I'd point out that "Realism" isn't really part of the game, consider we play "in worlds" with fairies, dragons, magic fireballs, and magnitudes of weirdness that can scarcely be really described... A "Consistency of Surrealism" then would be the achievable goal, and with half-races, I'd posit there would be some resource for animosity, thus making them dutifully rare in most circles... but certainly NOT unique.
This means, even the PC Half-Orc isn't the only one of its kind in the world, and certainly NOT the only one in history... provided (of course) that half-orcs are even possible. It would then stand to reason, over a reasonable history, that at least ONCE some half-orc somewhere has weathered the rank of "second hand item" and risen to create some respect for them... somewhere.
Of course, what (exactly) you do with that... is entirely up to you. ;o)