Appendix: Orcs in Varying Versions of D&D

Dungeons & Dragons: Monsters and Treasure (1974)

ALIGNMENT: Goblins/Kobolds are listed in the Chaos column of the Alignment table. Orcs are listed as either Neutrality or Chaos.

GOBLINS: These small monsters are as described in CHAINMAIL. They see well in darkness or dim light, but when they are subjected to full daylight they subtract -1 from their attack and morale dice. They attack dwarves on sight. Their hit dice must always equal at least one pip.

Composition of Force: When in their lair the "goblin king" will be found. He will fight as a Hobgoblin in all respects. He will be surrounded by a body of from 5-30 (roll five six-sided dice) guards as Hobgoblins also.

ORCS: The number of different tribes of Orcs can be as varied as desired. Once decided upon, simply generate a random number whenever Orcs are encountered, the number generated telling which tribe they belong to, keeping in mind inter-tribal hostility. When found in their "lair" it will be either a cave complex (die 1-4) or a village (die 5-6 ) . The cave complex will be guarded by sentries. A village will be protected by a ditch and pallisade defense, 1 light catapult per 50 Orcs, and a high central tower of some kind. Orcs found in a cave will possibly have strong leader/protector types, as will those in villages:

Orcs will defend their lair without morale checks until they are outnumbered by 3-1.

If found other than in their lair Orcs may be escorting a wagon train of from 1-8 wagons. There is a 50% chance for this. Each wagon will be carrying from 200 - 1,200 Gold Pieces. Wagon trains will have additional Orcs guarding them, 10 per wagon, and be lead by either a Fighting-Man (die 1 = Champion, die 2-4 = Super- hero, die 5, 6 = Lord) or Magic-User (die 1 = Sorcerer, die 2 - 4 = Necromancer, die 5, 6 = Wizard), 50% chance for either (die 1 -3 = fighter, die 4-6 = magical type.)

Note that if Orcs are encountered in an area which is part of a regular campaign map their location and tribal affiliation should be recorded, and other Orcs lo- cated in the same general area will be of the same tribe.

Orcs do not like full daylight, reacting as do Goblins. They attack Orcs of dif- ferent tribes on sight unless they are under command of a stronger monster and can score better than 50% on an obedience check (4-6 with a six-sided die for example).

AD&D Monster Manual (1977)

GOBLIN

FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 40-400
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6"
HIT DICE: 1-7 hit points
% IN LAIR: 40%
TREASURE TYPE: Individuals K, Lair C
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6 or by weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average (low)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
SIZE: S (4' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Goblins have a tribal society, the strongest ruling the rest, allowing fealty to the goblin king. It is possible that goblins are distantly related to kobolds. Like the latter, goblins enjoy dwelling in dismal surroundings, although they tend to inhabit caves and similar underground places in preference to any habitation above ground. They too hate full daylight and attack at a -1 when in sunlight. Goblins have normal infravision (60' range).

For every 40 goblins encountered there will be a leader and 4 assistants who are equal to orcs, each having 7 hit points and attacking as monsters with a full hit die. If 200 or more goblins are encountered there will be the following additional figures: a sub-chief and 2-8 guards, each fighting as hobgoblins and having 8 hit points, armor class 5, and doing 1-8 hit points damage. There is a 25% chance that any force of goblins encountered will have 10% of its strength mounted on huge wolves (qv) and if this is the case there will also be from 10-40 of these creatures without riders. In their lair there will be the following additional figures: a goblin chief and 2-8 bodyguards (9-14 hit points, armor class 4, fight as gnolls doing 2-8 hit points of damage), females and young equal to 60% and 100% respectively of the number of male goblins encountered. As is usual with creatures of this sort, the females and young do not fight. A goblin lair will be protected by from 5-30 huge wolves not less than 60% of the time. There is a 20% chance that 2-12 bugbears will be in a goblin lair.

Goblins are typically armed with:

short sword and military pick	10%
short sword and sling	10%
short sword and spear	10%
sling	10%
morning star	20%
military pick	10%
spear	30%

Leaders and guards will typically have the best weapons, bearing two each.

Goblins are fair miners, and they are able to note new or unusual construction 25% of the time. They hate gnomes and dwarves and will attack them in preference to any other creature. All goblins are slave takers and fond of torture.

The languages spoken by goblins are: their own, lawful evil, kobold, orcish, and hobgoblin.

Description: Goblins range from yellow through dull orange to brick red in skin color. Their eyes are reddish to lemon yellow. They dress in dark leather gear, and their garments tend towards dull, soiled-looking colors (brown drab, dirty gray, stained maroon). Goblins reach the age of 50 years or so.

ORC

FREQUENCY: Common
NO. APPEARING: 30-300
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 9"
HIT DICE: 1
% IN LAIR: 35%
TREASURE TYPE: Individuals L; C, O, Q (x10), S in lair
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 or by weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average (low)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
SIZE: M (6'+ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Orc tribes are fiercely competitive, and when they meet it is 75% likely that they will fight each other unless a strong leader (such as a wizard, evil priest, evil lord) with sufficient force behind him is on hand to control the orcs. Being bullies, the stronger will always intimidate and dominate the weaker. (If goblins are near, for example, and the orcs are strong enough, they will happily bully them.) Orcs dwell in places where sunlight is dim or non-existent, for they hate the light. In full daylight they must deduct 1 from their dice rolls to hit opponents, but they see well even in total darkness (infravision).

Known orc tribes include the following: Vile Rune, Bloody Head, Death Moon, Broken Bone, Evil Eye, Leprous Hand, Rotting Eye, Dripping Blade. If orcs from one of those tribes are encountered in an area, it is likely that all other orcs nearby will also be from this tribe.

For every 30 orcs encountered there will be a leader and 3 assistants. These orcs will have 8 hit points each (being the biggest/strongest/ meanest in their group). If 150 or more orcs are encountered there will be the following additional figures with the band: a subchief and 3-18 guards, each having armor class 4,11 hit points, and fighting as monsters with 2 hit dice (doing 2-7 hit points damage). If the orcs are not in their lair there is a 20% chance they will be escorting a train of 1-6 carts and 10-60 slave bearers bringing supplies and loot to their chief or to a stronger orc tribe. The carts will hold goods worth from 10 to 1,000 gold pieces, and each slave will bear goods worth from 5 to 30 gold pieces. If such a train is indicated, double the number of leaders and assistants, add 10 normal orcs for each cart in the train, and a subchief with 5-30 guards will always be in charge.

Orc lairs are underground 75% of the time, in an above ground village 25% of the time. There will always be the following additional orcs when the encounter is in the creatures' lair: a chief and 5-30 bodyguards (AC 4, 13-16 hit points, attack as monsters with 3 hit dice and do 2-8 hit points damage), females equal to 50% of the number of males, young equal to 100% of the number of males. If the lair is underground, there is a 50% chance that there will be from 2-5 ogres living with the orcs. If the lair is above ground it will be a rude village of wooden huts protected by a ditch, rampart, and log palisade. The village will have from 1-4 watch towers and single gate. There will be 1 catapult and 1 ballista for each 100 male orcs (round to the nearest hundred).

The weaponry of orcs is shown typically below:

Leaders and above will always have two weapons. If a subchief is with a group the tribal standard will be present 40% of the time. The standard is always present when the tribal chief is. The standard will cause all orcs within 6” to fight more fiercely (+1 on hit dice and morale check dice).

Orcs are cruel and hate living things in general, but they particularly hate elves and will always attack them in preference to other creatures. They take slaves for work, food, and entertainment (torture, etc.) but not elves whom they kill immediately.

Orcs are accomplished tunnelers and miners. They note new or unusual constructions underground 35% of the time and spot sloping passages 25% of the time.

The majority of orcs speak goblin, hobgoblin, and ogre in addition to the languages of orcs and lawful evil.

Description: Orcs appear particularly disgusting because their coloration -- brown or brownish green with a bluish sheen -- highlights their pinkish snouts and ears. Their bristly hair is dark brown or black, sometimes with tan patches. Even their armor tends to be unattractive -- dirty and often a bit rusty. Orcs favor unpleasant colors in general. Their garments are in tribal colors, as are shield devices or trim. Typical colors are blood red, rust red, mustard yellow, yellow green, moss green, greenish purple, and blackish brown. They live for 40 years.

Half-Orcs: As orcs will breed with anything, there are any number of unsavory mongrels with orcish blood, particularly orc-goblins, orc-hobgoblins, and orc-humans. Orcs cannot cross-breed with elves. Half-orcs tend to favor the orcish strain heavily, so such sorts are basically orcs although they can sometimes (10%) pass themselves off as true creatures of their other stock (goblins, hobgoblins, humans, etc.).

D&D Basic Set - aka Holmes Set (1977)

Goblin

Move: 60 feet/turn
Hit Dice:1 - 1 point(but always at least 1)
Armor Class: 6
Treasure Class: L
Alignment: lawful evil
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1 -6 points
 

Goblins fight at -1 off their attack die roll in full daylight. They can see in the dark. They always attack dwarves on sight.

In the goblin lair there will be a goblin king who fights as a hobgoblin. He has a bodyguard of 5-30 goblins who also fight as hobgoblins. They are large and fearless, fight at full strength under all conditions and take nothing off their hit die, in dark or light.

Orc

Move: 90 feet/turn
Hit Dice: 1
Armor Class: 7
Treasure Type: D
Alignment: chaotic evil
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1-6 points
 

There are many tribes or nations of orcs. Members of different orc tribes cooperate poorly and attack members of another tribe on sight unless under a strong commander.

In large numbers they are likely to be accompanied by more powerful creatures. For every 100 orcs the chances are:

In full daylight orcs suffer a -1 off their attack dice.

D&D Basic Set - aka B/X or Moldvay Set (1981)

Goblin

Goblins are a small incredibly ugly human-like race. Their skin is a pale earthy color, such as chalky tan or livid gray. Their eyes are red, and glow when there is little light, somewhat like rats' eyes. Goblins live underground and have well-developed infravision (heat-sensing sight) to 90'. In full daylight they fight with a penalty of -1 on their "to hit" rolls. Goblins hate dwarves and will attack them on sight. There is a 20% chance that when goblins are encountered, 1 of every 4 will be riding a dire wolf.

In the goblin lair lives a goblin king with 15 hit points who fights as a 3 hit dice monster and gains +1 on damage rolls. The goblin king has a bodyguard of 2-12 goblins who fight as 2 hit dice monsters and have 2 - 12 hit points each. The king and his bodyguard may fight in full daylight without penalty. The goblin morale will be 9 rather than 7 as long as their king is with them and still alive. Treasure type C is only found in the goblin lair or when encountered in the wilderness.

Orc

Orcs are ugly human-like creatures who look like a combination of animal and man. Orcs are nocturnal (usually sleeping in the day and active at night or in the dark), and prefer to live underground. When fighting in daylight, they must subtract 1 from their "to hit" rolls. They have bad tempers and do not like other living things; they will often kill something for their own amusement. They are afraid of anything which looks larger and stronger than they are, but may be forced to fight by their leaders.

Orc leaders gain their position by fighting and defeating (or killing) the others. One member of any group of orcs will be a leader with 8 hit points who gains a bonus of +1 on damage rolls. If this "leader" is killed, the morale of the group becomes 6 instead of 8.

Orcs may often be hired at low cost as soldiers, and are often used for armies by Chaotic leaders (both human and monsters). The orcs are satisfied by being allowed to kill and burn as much as they want. Orcs prefer swords, spears, axes, and clubs for weapons. They will not use mechanical weapons (such as catapults), as only their leaders understand how to operate them.

There are many different tribes of orcs. Members of different tribes are not usually friendly with each other, and may start fighting unless their leaders are present. An orc lair has only one tribe. Each tribe will have as many female orcs as males, and 2 children ("whelps") for each 2 adults. The leader of an orc tribe is a chieftain who has 15 hit points, attacks as a 4 hit dice monsters, and gains +2 on damage rolls. For every 20 orcs in a tribe, there may be an ogre with them (a 1 in 6 chance). (If the D&D EXPERT rules are used, there is a 1 in 10 chance of a troll living in their lair as well.)

Dragon #62 (1982)

Half-Orcs

They're rude and crude, and so's their point of view

Half-orcs, as everyone knows, are what you get when you cross orcs and humans. They are not uncommon in the world of the AD&D game, and they do not enjoy good reputations among most populations. One well-known authority describes most half-orcs as “rude, crude, crass, and generally obnoxious.”

Why do half-orcs seem to turn out this way? What makes them tick?

To better understand half-orcs, one needs to understand the non-human aspect of their nature. Orcs are probably the most common sort of humanoid creatures. They vary widely in physical appearance, but generally seem to retain a vaguely human look, tinged with a hint of something ... else.

In nearly all orcish societies, the social philosophy is the same. Orcs are the ultimate social Darwinists; only the strong and the clever survive, and the strongest and cleverest orcs are the ones who manage to reach the upper social levels of their cultures: Orcs have no respect for those weaker than themselves, and are quick to step-and-fetch for those stronger than they. They distrust all overtures of friendship and love, seeing these as a cover for other, baser intentions; if they discover feelings of friendship to be quite genuine, they immediately attempt to manipulate events to take the best advantage of them and gain the upper hand.

Orcs are like this because of the influence of their deities (discussed in the companion article to this one) and because of their own past. Sages have uncovered much evidence showing that orcs developed in regions generally hostile to life; survival was difficult, and only if a group worked closely together could it hope to collect enough food to get even a part of its numbers through the year. While the group would have to work together to collect food, distributing it was another matter. The strongest orcs got the most food, and the weakest ones got none at all. (They were probably going to die anyway, right?)

The very toughest orcs managed to receive more than just the bare minimum of nourishment, enough to make life more comfortable for them and give them a certain degree of personal security. This also gave them the chance to explore more intellectual occupations than food-gathering, like figuring out how to get more food and living space. The easiest opportunity to be realized was to take food and/or living space away from other folks, and these other folks were usually other orcs. Intertribal competition became fierce, and over the centuries many of these conflicts have “evolved” into what seem to be eternal states of war between various tribes.

Orcs are nocturnal by nature. They prefer to catch prey when it is asleep and less able to escape. Orcs have done this for so long they've developed infravision, the ability to see living objects in darkness by their body heat. The development of infravision was assisted by the orcish habit of living in caves for protection. Orcs tend to live in wilderness areas where the sky is heavily overcast and direct sunlight is non-existent or rare at best. In magical universes such regions are frequently found, their twilight perpetually maintained by the forces of magic cast by mortal or godling. In these places orcs will be much more active than is customary in the daytime, even to the point of conducting raids and hunting, but it is at night when orcs really become dangerous.

Though such lives of hard work and danger have made most orcs rather strong and tough constitutionally, the race has a short lifespan. A 40-year-old orc has reached the virtual end of its natural life; the average orc lives for 12 to 26 years. As might be expected, orcs have a very high rate of reproduction, but their infant mortality rate is quite high, too. Barely one orcish child in three will see adulthood, and fewer still will see old age.

None of this is any surprise to non-orcs who have made even the briefest study of the race. But what shocks the casual observer is the degree of acceptance, even preference, orcs express for this situation. “How could we feed so many hungry little mouths?” retorted one orc prisoner to a curious paladin. “If you have lots of brats and some of them die, so what? They were the weakest ... the strongest ones will live and work for you, make you proud of their strength. Who wants weak sons? Y our enemies will kill you in your sleep if they see you are protected by weaklings.”

As can be inferred from the above comments, orcs prefer male children. Though females are born only slightly less often than males, much fewer of the females survive to adulthood. Other demi-human races with sexual imbalances have that property because of natural reasons; orcs (and certain other humanoids as well), however, are more likely to practice selective infanticide, or otherwise forcibly adjust the ratio of males to females. The emphasis in orcish society is on fighting ability to gain status and well-being; since they have less muscle than males, females generally lose out. Orcs believe that the only value female orcs have is in bearing children (as many as possible) and keeping the cave clean.

Orcish religion is interesting, too, because of the great extent to which the orcs' way of life mirrors the tenets of the religion they follow. By and large, orcs do not well appreciate the consequences of their actions beyond the immediate present (a byproduct of their low wisdom). What they do, they do for the here and now, occasionally with some (but not much) consideration for the future. This is probably due to the necessities of their harsh life; one does not have time to think of the future when one must worry about just getting through today. For orcs. however, this reasoning applies even when times are comparatively good and food is plentiful. They continue to worry primarily about now, not later.

This attitude is reinforced in their religious ceremonies; no mention is made of the future beyond the statement, oft repeated, that orcs shall rule the world someday. It is interesting to note that Gruumsh, the major orcish deity, is one-eyed; this means he has a narrow field of vision and no depth perception at all. The many tales about Gruumsh reveal that, indeed, he too appears prone to act first and think about it later. When he meets another godling who appears to fail to notice him, or to give him proper respect, he doesn't ask why; he attacks.

When Gruumsh's moronic (and two-eyed) son Bahgtru stubs his toe on a huge rock, Gruumsh curses the rock and tries to wrestle it. After breaking it into small pieces with Bahgtru's help, he proclaims a victory over the forces of nature. Never mind that he and Bahgtru had their feet cut by rock fragments, or that they are so tired from breaking the rock that they have trouble later fighting giants. The point had to be made, then and there. While Gruumsh will usually act with some forethought and planning, his rage is easily ignited, and it inevitably clouds his judgment. With only one eye, he has but one view of the world: his own. Orcish shamans and half-orc clerics imitate Gruumsh by plucking out one of their eyes, hoping to gain Gruumsh's perspective.

With a background like this, it is hardly surprising that half-orcs are as they are. Produced under questionable circumstances at best, half-orcs will usually retain some properties of both species, human and orc, wherever they are raised. Those brought up in orcish society (the male ones, at least) will be immersed in the previously described orcish social philosophy. Though orcs have some degree of dislike for “half-humans” among them, they are also aware that such beings generally possess more adaptability and cunning than a full orc, and have the potential to be stronger than the average orc.

Unless rivalry between the half-orc and his peers ends his life at an early age, the half-orc will usually achieve a quite respectable position of power and influence in his tribe. Aware that he is not a full orc, the half-orc will probably feel much superior to orcs and assume added arrogance and pride--thus successfully mixing the worst of human qualities with the “best” of the orcish. These sorts of leaders are exceptionally dangerous, possessing enough foresight and intelligence to lead their tribes on much more widespread raiding, banditry, and war--making than is usual for orc bands.

Life is not all rosy for this type of leader, of course; rivalries, jealousies, and intrigues will probably continue within the tribe against him unless he becomes powerful enough to command immediate obedience at the risk of swift destruction. A few cases are known of half-orc females rising to positions of power within a tribe; usually this female is either a warrior disguised as a male (who must flee or die if her deception is discovered), or a cleric for one of the few orcish religions that permit female shamans or clerics. In no known cases have female half-orcs become as widely feared or powerful (personally or politically) as male half-orcs, though this is not through any fault of their own. Orcish sexual prejudice is deep and strong.

Half-orcs raised in human society, usually without the orcish parent present, have a greater likelihood of adopting a variety of non-orcish attitudes and life-styles, but even then will have some less savory aspects to their nature as well. The average human has a dislike for orcs and anything with orcish ancestry; half-orcs will find themselves the objects of prejudice in most human communities.

Many half-orcs react to the local expectations of them in predictable ways (incidentally reinforcing those expectations). In other words, treat a half-orc as if it were dangerous and bad, and it will probably become dangerous and bad if it wasn't already. Yet there have been examples of neutral-aligned half-orcs and even a few of good nature; most of these retain an unnatural (to many humans) affinity for lawfulness and obedience, but are otherwise acceptable company. Half-orcs raised in a human community are very unlikely to be able to speak orcish unless they have had formal study in it.

Half-orcs have a variety of careers open to them, in whatever society they inhabit. Obviously, and most commonly, they make good fighters; orcish tradition strongly emphasizes personal combat and physical strength.

Half-orcs are fairly good at thieving and banditry, but suffer from relatively poor physical coordination and have some difficulty in applying themselves constantly to improving their skills. Half-orc thieves generally steal for the same reasons as anyone else does, but tend to feel that they are especially justified in what they do by one of their laws of survival: he who cannot hold onto what he has, does not deserve it. They regard their actions as necessary for their own existence, stealing because they have to, not just because they want to.

The assassin's skills, by contrast, come most readily to the half-orc. By virtue of their casual regard for the lives of others, even of their own kind, the art of killing has a certain appeal to those with orcish blood. Half-orc assassins often come to believe their actions are for the benefit of the world in general; they are culling out the unfit in the most direct way possible, which brings out another of the orcish laws of survival: if something can be easily killed, it did not deserve to live. Who can resist the urge to be the one who wields the scythe, who decides the fates of others, who has the power of almighty death in his hands? With their preference for a retinue of underlings, half-orc assassins can create powerful guilds to support them, and may end up spreading their influence into many a court or government.

Half-orcs who become clerics will usually combine their clerical practices with another career, most commonly as a fighter or assassin. This is because half-orcs cannot advance very far in experience as clerics, and they will eventually require another set of skills to keep them on even terms with increasingly tougher adversaries. Half-orc cleric/ assassin types are invariably death-worshipers, and strive to put themselves in better favor with their awful gods by personally bringing death to as many beings as possible, within their religion and outside it.

Orcs and half-orcs generally dislike and avoid beings larger than themselves, unless (as in the case of ogres) the orcs feel they can manipulate them sufficiently, with promises of shared treasure and food, to make them useful to the orcish community as guards and/or heavy infantry. Orcs and half-orcs dislike smaller humanoids because they are inevitably weaker, and these races are usually employed only as slaves. Goblins, who are only marginally weaker than orcs and can hold their own against them at least some of the time, are afforded more tolerance than other small humanoids.

But it is not other humanoids that orcs hate worst of all -- it is other orcish tribes. The roots of hatred run deep between conflicting tribes; the original cause of friction, if there was one, has long since been lost to antiquity. Inter-tribal conflicts are maintained by religious bigotries; each tribe worships a particular orcish patron god with interests that (naturally!) conflict with those of other deities. Even so, all tribes usually pay some homage to Gruumsh, the king of the orcish gods.

Another question concerning orcish and half-orcish personality should be addressed: Why do orcs hate elves so much? Superficial examination of the question reveals little overt cause; orcs and elves do not frequently compete for the same living space or for the same foods. But a slightly deeper examination shows that in terms of personality, probably no two races could be further apart. For example:

Elves are able to see many sides of a problem; orcs see but one.

Elves carefully examine the long-range consequences of an action, usually before undertaking it, while orcs could care less for anything but the present.

Elves are very long-lived, while orcs have one of the shortest lifespans among the humanoid races.

That list could be longer, contrasting many other aspects of the races' life-styles, but a point has been developed. Orcs and elves are opposites in nearly every way, and orcs resent the advantages elves have, especially their long lifespan. While elves do not particularly like orcs, they think of them as a short-term problem not worthy of prolonged consideration. Orcs, on the other hand, are consumed with hatred for elves, and will slay them out of hand whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Orcish mythology has several tales of battles between elven and orcish deities. The most famous one occurs between Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian, the chief elven deity. The story goes like this, according to the orcs:

Gruumsh ambushes Corellon in hopes of slaying him and drinking his blood, so as to inherit his special powers; Gruumsh fails, of course, through his own short-sightedness, and Corellon shoots an arrow at Gruumsh's eye.

Though the arrow failed to blind Gruumsh, apparently it was not intended to. Elven stories of the same event (much briefer than the tedious orcish versions) say that Corellon meant the arrow as a warning to Gruumsh of his vulnerability --a hint that it would only take the loss of his eye to break Gruumsh's power as a god, and that some being might be capable of bringing this about if he were not more careful. Though Gruumsh rails and curses the elven gods through many later stories, he never again tries to directly assault them, and spends his fury on mortal elves instead. Obviously, he took the hint.

In summary, half-orcs are often bound to take on some of the less desirable characteristics of their orcish parents, especially if they are raised in an orc tribe.

Half-orcs are generally tough, respectful of power, and seek to have power themselves. They tend to measure one another by the number and quality of their followers, and they work within a group setting rather than on their own.

Like orcs, half-orcs often act before thinking about the results of their deeds, and appear somewhat stupid to other more foresighted individuals because of this. They dislike the weak, follow the strong, and quarrel with their equals. Again, this is not true of all half-orcs. But at least a vestige of these characteristics is present in nearly every one, regardless of their individual makeup.

Information for this article was taken from the AD&D rule books, the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Masters Guide, as well as the DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia. Some additional comments and insights were found in Master of Middle-Earth, by Paul H. Kocher. Though this latter book concerns the world of J. R. R. Tolkien, much of the information therein is quite usable in an AD&D setting, and the work is highly recommended to the serious student of role-playing.

The Gods of the Orcs

The Word from Above: Make war, not love

This is the tale the shamans tell, in the camps of the orcs when the night is deep on the world and dawn is far away:

In the beginning all the gods met and drew lots for the parts of the world in which their representative races would dwell. The human gods drew the lot that allowed humans to dwell where they pleased, in any environment. The elven gods drew the green forests, the dwarven gods drew the high mountains, the gnomish gods the rocky, sunlit hills, and the halfling gods picked the lot that gave them the fields and meadows. Then the assembled gods turned to the orcish gods and laughed loud and long. “All the lots are taken!” they said tauntingly. “Where will your people dwell, OneEye? There is no place left!”

There was silence upon the world then, as Gruumsh One-Eye lifted his great iron spear and stretched it forth over the world. The shaft blotted out the sun over a great part of the lands as he spoke: “No. You lie. You have rigged the drawing of the lots, hoping to cheat me and my followers. But One-Eye never sleeps; One-Eye sees all. There is a place for orcs to dwell . . . here!” With that, Gruumsh struck the forests with his spear, and a part of them withered with rot. “And here!” he bellowed, and his spear pierced the mountains, opening mighty rifts and chasms. “And here!” and the spearhead split the hills and made them shake and covered them in dust. “And here!” and the black spear gouged the meadows, and made them barren.

“There!” roared He-Who-Watches triumphantly, and his voice carried to the ends of the world. “There is where the orcs shall dwell! There they shall survive, and multiply, and grow stronger, and a day shall come when they cover the world, and shall slay all of your collected peoples! Orcs shall inherit the world you sought to cheat me of!”

In this way, say the shamans, did the orcs come into the world, and thus did Gruumsh predict the coming time when orcs will rule alone. This is why orcs make war, ceaseless and endless: war for the wrath of Gruumsh.

The shamans tell other tales, too, that shed light on why things are as they are in the world. Shamans tell of the battle between Corellon Larethian (the chief elven god, whom the shamans call The Big Fairy) and Gruumsh, in which Corellon tried to shoot out Gruumsh's eye (sacrilege!) with his bow, but failed of course. It is not considered important that Gruumsh started the fight by trying to paralyze the elven god with his spear; the shamans say Corellon deserved it for not being properly deferential. Because of this battle, orcs of all sects and cults hate elves over all other non-orc races.

The shamans' tales of the battles between the dwarven gods and the orcish gods for ownership of the mountains would weary the most ardent listener. The orcs are drawn to the mountains by their brutal majesty and stark barrenness, while dwarves love mountains for their isolation and beauty, and for the ores that lie beneath them.

Many have also heard of the eternal battles on the plains of Hell between the goblins and orcs, each side led by their respective gods. No matter how much noise the orcs of this world make about joining their forces with the other humanoids, all orcs are aware that there will be room for one race in the end . . . and it will not be the goblins, the ogres, or any of the rest.

The division of orcs into separate tribes (Evil Eye, Death Moon, Broken Bone, etc.) is usually made along cult lines. The tribal symbol is the holy symbol of the orcish god the tribe holds as its patron. Each patron god seeks to make his followers more powerful than those of the others, since their own power derives from the relative power and might of their worshipers.

There are a large number of orcish gods, representing such spheres of interests as strength, swordsmanship, military power, the night, death, fertility, hunting, and so forth. Each of them is part of a rigid chain of command with Gruumsh at the top. The relative positions of the gods in the hierarchy varies depending on the shaman doing the telling, as they all seek to emphasize the power and glory of their own deity, sometimes almost to the exclusion of mention of Gruumsh himself.

Warfare between tribes is actually encouraged to some extent by the orcish gods, who believe that this is the best way of eliminating the unfit and weak, and promoting the survival and growth of the strong. No attention is paid to the thought that it might also waste the best fighters' talents, which might have been better directed against non-orc foes.

A minor cult has been noted, representing the only known orcish religion that doesn't emphasize violence or warfare. Probably less than a hundred orcs belong to this sect, and most sages doubt that the being they worship is even a true god. It appears to have been started when a orc discovered an ancient picture of a female orc, reputedly the most beautiful of her race ever known. This orc and his followers worship the picture and bring it sacrifices of flowers, jewels, and candies. Only time will tell whether they worship a true goddess or just a picture; whether they shall fade away with time, or whether the orcs will someday all follow the ways of the mysterious goddess known as “Mispigie.”

Following are descriptions of five of the most powerful orcish gods besides Gruumsh, who is represented in the DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia. Any use of the word “cleric” in these descriptions, when referring to those who use clerical spells granted by these gods, also includes shamans and witch doctors, as described in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, unless otherwise stated.

The Orcs of Thar (1988)

The Orcs of Thar is a boxed set with over a hundred pages of material. The following is just a small taste of the highlights characterizing orcs in general. This skips over many details about the Broken Lands that is the setting, looking at the high-level description.

History Excerpts

It was many moons ago... more than you can count on your eight fingers! The tribe marched from the frozen lands. After the skies had burned and the earth was scorched by the Immortals' fire, the bear and the deer no longer roamed the steppes. The tribe marched until its sons grew old, died, and were replaced by the younger.

(...) Another chief, one called Akkila-Khan, took his hobgoblins, orcs, and goblins and went to the warm winds. He conquered the steppes and built his empire.

(...) In the following years, chiefs and kings rose and fall, but the tribes never really moved from their territories. Among the greatest chiefs were Queen Udbala and Big Chief Sitting Drool.

(...) Udbala was a goblin hero, a chosen one. At the worst of times, when dwarves threatened to invade, she united the tribes and formed a new Great Horde. She lead the Great Horde south and rallied other tribes of goblins and gnolls.

(...) Later, Big Chief Sitting Drool united the tribes again. A new menace was rising to the south. Humans built a city at the gates of our sacred lands, surely a menace to our tribes. Sitting Drool besieged the city, ransacked it, took many slaves, and massacred human armies that followed him into the hills. These were great years. (...)

The Ten Tribes of the Broken Lands

The following are shortened descriptions of the ten tribes.

1. Bugburbia - Bugbears ruled by Chief Ohr'r and worshipping Bartziluth.
2. High Gobliny - Goblins ruled by the iron-fisted Queen Yazar, descended from the Great Wogar.
3. Hobgobland - Hobgoblins in Mongol-like Ethengar style, ruled by Hutai-Khan.
4. Kol - Kobolds and a few others with a Byzantine-like Thyatis style, ruled by High Doge Kol aka "He-Who-Judges-All-Matters-Of-State(And-Anything-Else-He-Wants)". They are said to not understand the difference between "republic" and "imperial autocracy".
5. Ogremoor - Ogres in a Mughal-Empire-like Sind style, ruled by Prince Alebane, and worshipping the Immortal Jammudaru.
6. Orcus Rex - Orcs ruled by King Thar, who maintains Sodhor - a "disciplinary camp" to train the Legion of Thar. They worship Karash, patron of War and Destruction.
7. Red Orcland - Orcs with a Native-American-like Atruaghin style, whose Supreme Hool is the red orcs' chief, a young brave. They wear feathers on their heads and fight with arrows and hatchets.
8. South Gnollistan - Gnolls in an Middle-Eastern/Central-Asian-like Ylari style, ruled by Nizam Pasha, worshipping Ranivorus, patron of Influence over the Weak. His followers often are pathological liars, paranoids, or maniacs with split personalities and other psychological disorders.
9. Trollhattan - Trolls in an urban style, ruled by Haa'k Hordar - one of the meanest, ugliest, biggest, and most ravenous trolls. She rules from an island eating whatever her subjects bring her. The trolls are usually incapable of worship since they do not understand the concept of Immortality or even death.
10. Yellow Orkia - Orcs with an East-Asian-like style, ruled by Moghul-Khan, rival of Hutai-Khan the Hobgoblin. They worship several deities, including Karaash whom they call Hong-Tzu.

Creating Player Characters

Appearance

Goblin

Goblins are small, ugly creatures with red eyes. Just about any type of facial features can be found among the goblinoids, including camel, cow, goat, or horse-like features, in addition to other features described in this section. Goblins are often the result of humanoid crossbreeds. Beards and hair are not unseen among them, especially for older specimens.

Average Size: 4' + 1d4 inches
Fitness(d6): 1-2 skinny; 3-4 normal; 5-6 fat

• Goblinus Occidensis: Dirty grey with very short brown hair. Usually wearing studded leather, chainmail headgear, and heavy, hobnailed boots. Mostly found in Western Darokin and then Sind Desert borders.
• Goblinus Oriensis: Yellow skin. Their hair is usually bluish black, tied in the back. Often wear rags dyed in bright orange, black cloaks, and large, round, slightly conical hats. Ethengarian nomads essentially.
• Goblinus Goblinus: Chalky tan skin and rusty-brown hair. Covered with tattoos, usually tribal markings. They wear an assortment of shabby, moth-eaten rabbit furs, with dark rags laced around their feet. Found in most areas of the Known World and High Gobliny (Broken Lands).
• Goblinus Hyborianus: Dead white skin with flat-grey, braided hair. Often wear reindeer skin coveralls with seal skin cloaks and mittens. Live in Hyboria and most polar regions.

Common Orc

The most common of them all, the orcs come in many sub-races. They can be found in most regions of the D&D game Known World. They usually are slightly larger than a normal man, their faces bearing some obvious beastly traits.

Average Size: 6' + d6 inches
Fitness(d6): 1 skinny; 2-3 normal; 4-6 fat

• Orcus Porcus: Definitely the most common, with obvious porcine features. Pink, brown, black, or grey-greenish skin, sometimes with spots. Any color and length of hair arranged in any style imaginable. Tribal members indentifiable by their smell. Wear anything shabby and filthy.
• Orcus Hyborianus: Northern reaches' breed with sickly white or light grey skin. Wear various furs. Can be found in some glaciers in high mountains.
• Orcus Imperator Rex: Porcine features less obvious allowing them to pass for really ugly humans. Prefer black or dark grey hooded cloaks. Copper skin, smaller snout. Psychotics and megalomaniacs believing other orcs to be inferiors. Some found in Orcus Rex territory (Broken Lands).

Red Orc

This is a sub-race of the orcs, recognizable by their generally red hides and simian features. Red orcs are about the size of a tall human, with small round ears.

Average Size: 5'6" + d12 inches
Fitness(d6): 1-2 skinny; 3-4 normal; 5-6 fat

D&D Rules Cyclopedia (1991)

Orc

An orc is an ugly humanlike creature, and looks like a combination of animal and man. Most orcs are shaped like humans, but many have bestial facial features and teeth.

Orcs are nocturnal omnivores, and prefer to live underground. When fighting in daylight, they have a penalty of -1 on their attack rolls. Orcs have bad tempers and do not like other living things.

One member of each group of orcs is a leader with 8 hit points who gains a +1 bonus on damage rolls. If this leader is killed, the morale of the group becomes 6 instead of 8. Orcs are afraid of anything larger or stronger than they are, but may be forced to fight by their leaders.

Orcs are often used for armies by Chaotic leaders (both humans and monsters). They prefer swords, spears, axes, and clubs for weapons. They cannot use mechanical weapons (such as catapults), and only their leaders understand how to operate such devices.

There are many different tribes of orcs. Each tribe has as many female orcs as males, and at least two children ("whelps") for each two adults. The leader of an orc tribe is a chieftain with 15 hit points, who attacks as a 4 Hit Dice monster and gains +2 on damage rolls. For every 20 orcs in a tribe, there may be an ogre with them (1 in 6 chance). There is a 1 in 10 chance of an allied troll living in the lair as well.

There can be orc spellcasters; see "Monster Spellcasters" later in this chapter.

Terrain: Wilderness (any).

AD&D Monstrous Manual, 2nd Edition (1993)

Orcs are a species of aggressive mammalian carnivores that band together in tribes and survive by hunting and raiding. Orcs believe that in order to survive they must expand their territory, and so they are constantly involved in wars against many enemies: humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, and other orc tribes.

Orcs vary widely in appearance,as they frequently crossbreed with other species. In general, they resemble primitive humans with grey-green skin covered with coarse hair. Orcs have a slightly stooped posture, a low jutting forehead, and a snout instead of a nose, though comparisons between this facial feature and those of pigs are exaggerated and perhaps unfair. Orcs have well-developed canine teeth for eating meat and short pointed ears that resemble those of a wolf. Orcish snouts and ears have a slightly pink tinge. Their eyes are human, with a reddish tint that sometimes makes them appear to glow red when they reflect dim light sources in near darknas. This is actually part of their optical system, a pigment which gives them infravision. Male orcs are about 5 1/2 to 6 feet tall. Females average 6 inches shorter than males. Orcs prefer to wear colors that most humans think unpleasant: blood red, rust red, mustard yellow, yellow green, moss green, greenish purple, and blackish brown. Their armor is unattractive besides--dirty and often a bit rusty. Orcs speak Orcish, a language derived from older human and elvish languages. There is no common standard of Orcish, so the language has many dialects which vary from tribe to tribe. Orcs have also learned to speak local common tongues, but are not comfortable with them. Some orcs have a limited vocabulary in goblin, hobgoblin, and ogre dialects.

Combat: Orcs are constantly in battle. They use the following weapons:

Polearms are typically either halberds, pikes (set to receive charge), or glaives. Leaders typically possess two weapons. If a subchief is present, there is a 40% chance the orcs will be fighting around a standard. The presence of this standard increases attack rolls and morale by +1 for all orcs within 60 yards. Ora typically wear studded leather armor and a shield (AC 6).

Orcs hate direct sunlight and fight at -1 penalty to their attack rolls in sunlight. Their morale decreases by 1 under these circumstances as well. Orcs employ sniping and ambush tactics in the wild. They do not obey the "rules of war" unless such is in their best interests; for example, they will shoot at those who attempt to parlay with them under a white flag unless the orc leader feels it is advantageous to hear what the enemy has to say. They abuse human rules of engagement and chivalry to their best advantage, They have a historic enmity against elves and dwarves; many tribes will kill these demihumans on sight.

It is often believed that orcs are so bloodthirsty and cruel that they are ineffective tacticians and that they would rather be vicious than victorious. Like most stereotypes, this is highly misleading; it is true for some orc tribes but not for all. Many orc tribes have waged wars for decades and have developed a frightening efficiency with battle tactics.

Habitat/Society: For every three orcs encountered, there will be a leader and three assistants. These orcs will have 8 hit points each, being the meanest and strongest in the group. If 150 orcs or more are encountered there will be the following additional figures with the band: a subchief and 3-18 guards, each with Armor Class 4, 11hit points, and + 1 damage due to Strength on all attacks. They fight as monsters of 2 Hit Dice (THACO 19).For every 100 orcs encountered, there will be either a shaman (maximum 5th level priest) or a witch doctor (maximum 4th-level mage). Shamans and witch doctors gain an extra ld4 hit points for each level above 1st and fight as a monster of 1 Hit Die for every two levels (round fractions up) of spellcasting ability (e.g., a 5th-level shaman has d8+4d4 hit points and fights as a 3 Hit Dice monster.)

If the orcs are not in their lair, there is a 20% chance they will be escorting a train of 1-6 carts and 10-64slave bearers bringing supplies, loot, or ransom and tribute to their orc chief or a stronger orc tribe. The total value of the goods carried by all of the carts will vary between 10 and 1,000 silver pieces, and each slave bearer will bear goods valued between 5 and 30 silver pieces. If the orcs are escorting a treasure train, double the number of leaders and assistants and add 10 orcs for each cart in the train; one subchief with 5-30 guards will always be in charge.

Orc lairs are underground 75% of the time, in a wilderness village 25% of the time. Orc communities range from small forts with l00-400 orcs to mining communities with 500-2,OOO orcs to huge cities (partially underground and partially above ground) with 2,000 to 20,000 orcs. There will always be additional orcs when the encounter is in a creature's lair: a chief and 5-30 bodyguards (AC 4, 13-16 hit points, attack as monsters with 3 Hit Dice (THACO 17) and inflict an extra + 2 damage on all attacks due to Strength). If the lair is underground, there is a 50% chance that 2-5 ogres per 200 orcs will be living with them. Most lairs above ground are rude villages of wooden huts protected by a ditch, log rampart and log palisade, or more advanced constructions built by other races. The village will have 1-4 watch towers and a single gate. There will be one ballista and one catapult for every 100 adult male orcs.

Orcs are aggressive. They believe other species are inferior to them and that bullying and slavery is part of the natural order. They will cooperatewith other speciesbut are not dependable: as slaves, they will rebel against all but the most powerful masters; as allies they are quick to take offense and break agreements. Orcs believe that battle is the ideal challenge, but some leaders are pragmatic enough to recognize the value of peace, which they exact at a high price. If great patience and care are used, orc tribes can be effective trading partners and military allies.

Orcs value territory above all else; battle experience, wealth, andnumberofoffspringareothermajorsourcesofpride.Orn are patriarchal; women are fit only to bear children and nurse them. Orcs have a reputation for cruelty that is deserved, but humans are just as capable of evil as otcs. Orcs have marriage customs, but orc males are not noted for their faithfulness.

Orcs worship many deitim (some who have different names among different tribes); the chief deity is usually a giant, one-eyed orc. Orcish religion is extremely hateful toward other species and urges violence and warfare. Orc shamans have been noted for their ambition, and many tribes have suffered because of political infighting between warriors and priests.

Ecology: Orcs have an average lifespan of 40 years. They have a gestation period of 10months and produce two to three offspring per birth. Infant mortality is high. Orcs are carnivores, but prefer game meats or livestock to demihumans and humanoids.

It is said that oms have no natural enemies, but they work harc to make up for this lack. Orc tribes have fearsome names such a: Vile Rune, Bloody Head, Broken Bone, Evil Eye, and Dripping Blade.

Orcs are skilled miners who can spot new and unusual constructions 35% of the time and sloping passages 25% of the time. They are also excellent weaponsmiths.

Orogs: Elite orcs, or orogs, are a race of great orcs, possibly mixed witt ogre blood, Orogs range between 6 and 6 1/2 feet tall, they are highly disciplined warriors and have their own standards and banners which they display prominently--it is usually easy to tell when orogs are present among common orcs. Orogs can be found at the vanguard of large orc armies, but rarely on patrol. There is a 10% chance that an orc tribe will have orogs, whose number equals 10% of the male population. (Thus a community of 3,000 male orcs has a 10% chance of having 300 additional orogs.) Small bands of elites (20-80 orogs) will hire themselves out as mercenaries. Orogs have 3 Hit Dice, plate mail (AC 3) and have a +3 Strength bonus on damage dice. For every 20 orogs, there will also be one leader with 4 Hit Dice (THACO17). There is but one orog chief, who has 5 Hit Dice (THACO 15). Orogs use weaponry common to orcs, but will typically posses two weapons apiece.

Half-orcs: Orcs will crossbreed with virtually every humanoid and demihuman species except elves, with whom they cannot. The mon grel offspring of orcs and these other species are known a half-orcs. Orc-goblins, orc-hobgoblins, and orc-humans are the most common. Half-orcs tend to favor the orcish strain heavily and as such are basically orcs, although 10% of these offsprint can pass as ugly humans. They are treated as humans with level instead of Hit Dice. If multi-classed, they have these maximums priest, 4th level; fighter, 10th level; thief, 6th level.

If half-orcs remain single-classed, these maximums increase to: priest, 7th level (Wisdom 15 required for 5th, Wisdom 16 for 6th, Wisdom 17 for 7th); fighter, 17th level (Strength 18/00 required for 11th, Strength 19 for 12th, Strength 20 for 14th, and Strength 21 for 17th); thief, 11th level (Dexterity 15 required for 9th, Dexterity 16 for 10th, and Dexterity 17 for 11th).

Half-orcs are distrusted by both human and orc cultures because they remind each of the other's racial stock. Half-orcs advance in orc culture by flaunting their superior ability and in human culture by associating with people who don't care about appearance. Most tend toward neutrality with slight lawful and evil tendencies, but lawful good half-orcs are not unknown. Some half-orcs have split from both cultures to form their own societies in remote areas. These half-orcs worship their own god and (like most hermits) are extremely suspicious of strangers.

D&D Monster Manual, 3rd Edition (2000)

ORC

Medium Humanoid (Orc)
Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (+3 studded leather armor), touch 10, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+4
Attack: Falchion +4 melee (2d4+4/18–20) or javelin +1 ranged (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Falchion +4 melee (2d4+4/18–20) or javelin +1 ranged (1d6+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: — Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will –2
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 7, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +1, Spot +1
Feats: Alertness

Orcs are aggressive humanoids that raid, pillage, and battle other creatures. They have a hatred of elves and dwarves that began generations ago, and often kill them on sight.

Orcs vary in appearance but in general look like primitive humans with gray skin, coarse hair, stooped posture, low foreheads, and porcine faces with prominent lower canines that resemble a boar's tusks. They have lupine ears, their eyes are reddish, and they wear vivid colors that many humans would consider unpleasant, such as blood red, mustard yellow, yellow-green, and deep purple. Their equipment is dirty and unkempt.

When not actually fighting other creatures, orcs are usually planning raids or practicing their fighting skills. Their language varies slightly from tribe to tribe but is understandable by anyone who speaks Orc. Some orcs know Goblin or Giant as well.

Most orcs encountered away from their homes are warriors; the information in the statistics block is for one of 1st level (see page 39 in the Dungeon Master's Guide for more about the warrior class).

COMBAT

Orcs are proficient with all simple weapons, preferring those that cause the most damage in the least time. Many orcs who take up the warrior or fighter class also gain proficiency with the falchion or the greataxe as a martial weapon. They enjoy attacking from concealment and setting ambushes, and they obey the rules of war (such as honoring a truce) only as long as it is convenient for them.

Light Sensitivity (Ex): Orcs are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.

ORC SOCIETY

Orcs belief that to survive, they must conquer as much territory as possible, which puts them at odds with all intelligent creatures that live near them. They are constantly warring with or preparing to war with humanoids, including other orc tribes. They can ally with other humanoids for a time but quickly rebel if not commanded by orcs. Their deities teach them that all other beings are inferior and that all worldly goods rightfully belong to the orcs, having been stolen by the others. Orcs spellcasters are ambitious, and rivalries between them and warrior leaders sometimes tear a tribe apart.

Orc society is patriarchal: Females are prized possessions at best and chattel at worst. Male orcs pride themselves on the number of females they own and male children they sire, as well as their battle prowess, wealth, and amount of territory. They wear their battle scars proudly and ritually scar themselves to mark significant achievements and turning points in their lives.

An orc lair may be a cave, a series of wooden huts, a fort, or even a large city built above and below ground. A lair includes females (as many as there are males), young (half as many as there are females), and slaves (about one per 10 males).

The chief orc deity is Gruumsh, a one-eyed god who tolerates no sign of peacability among his people.

HALF-ORCS

These orc-human crossbreeds can be found in either orc or human society (where their status varies according to local sentiments), or in communities of their own. Half-orcs usually inherit a good blend of the physical characteristics of their parents. They are as tall as humans and a little heavier, thanks to their muscle. They have greenish pigmentation, sloping foreheads, jutting jaws, prominent teeth, and coarse body hair. Half-orcs who have lived among or near orcs have scars, in keeping with orcish tradition.

The typical ability scores for a half-orc are Str 13, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Half-orcs have 60-foot darkvision but are not sensitive to light.

ORCS CHARACTERS

An orc's favored class is barbarian, and orc leaders tend to be barbarians. Orc clerics worship Gruumsh (favored weapon: any spear) and can choose two of the following domains: Chaos, Evil, Strength, and War. Most orc spellcasters, however, are adepts (see page 37 in the Dungeon Master's Guide). Orc adepts favor spells that deal damage.

D&D Monster Manual, 4th Edition (2008)

Orcs

Orcs worship Gruumsh, the one-eyed god of slaughter, and are savage, bloodthirsty marauders. They plague the civilized races of the world and also fight among themselves for scraps of food and treasure. They love close combat and plunge furiously into the thick of battle, giving no thought to retreat or surrender.

Within what passes for orc society, there are orcs that fill special roles. Eyes of Gruumsh are orcs with a special connection to their fierce god. They offer sacrifices, read omens, and advise the tribe's chieftain of Gruumsh's will. Orc bloodragers are tribal champions feared for their strength and ferocity, and they also make excellent subchiefs or bodyguards.

Orcs often fight alongside ogres, and they can be coerced or bullied into serving any dark overlord or wicked monster powerful enough to command their obedience.

Orc Drudge Tactics: Orc minions have no particular sense of honor and simply swarm around a foe and hack it to death. Orc drudges usually begin a fight by charging (they gain extra speed in the charge).

Orc Warrior Tactics: The orc warrior charges into battle, cutting down its enemies with its battleaxe.

Orc Raider Tactics: The orc raider hurls handaxes until it runs out of axes or until its enemies close to melee, at which point it draws its greataxe.

Orc Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.

DC 15: Orcs favor hills and mountains, places pocked by caverns easily turned into defensible lairs. Bloodthirsty marauders and cannibals, orcs venerate Gruumsh and thereby delight in slaughter and destruction.

Orcs don't build settlements of their own, instead improving existing shelters with crude fortifications. They prefer to settle in natural caves or structures abandoned by other, more skillful races. Orcs can manage simple ironwork and stonework, but they are lazy and grasping, preferring to take by force the tools, weapons, and goods other folks make.

DC 20: Orcs band together into loose tribal associations. The strongest individual in a tribe leads as a despotic chieftain. Individual bands within a tribe might wander far from their native lands, but they still recognize orcs from the same tribe as kin.

DC 25: Orcs often demonstrate their faith in Gruumsh by gouging out one of their eyes and offering it as a sacrifice to their one-eyed god.

According to myth, Corellon shot out Gruumsh's eye with an arrow. For this reason, orcs hold a special hatred for elves and eladrin.

Encounter Groups

Orc tribes use ogres and trolls as muscle for war and labor. They sometimes keep boars, drakes, and other beasts as pets.

Level 4 Encounter (XP 900)
♦ 2 orc raiders (level 3 skirmisher)
♦ 2 orc berserkers (level 4 brute)
♦ 1 dire boar (level 6 brute)

Level 6 Encounter (XP 1,350)
♦ 1 orc eye of Gruumsh (level 5 controller)
♦ 2 orc berserkers (level 4 brute)
♦ 4 orc warriors (level 9 minion)
♦ 2 dire wolves (level 5 skirmisher)

Level 9 Encounter (XP 2,150)
♦ 1 orc chieftain (level 8 elite brute)
♦ 5 orc warriors (level 9 minion)
♦ 1 dire boar (level 6 brute)
♦ 2 ogre skirmishers (level 8 skirmishers)

Level 10 Encounter (XP 2,650)
♦ 2 orc bloodragers (level 7 elite brute)
♦ 1 bloodspike behemoth (level 9 brute)
♦ 1 ogre skirmishers (level 8 skirmishers)
♦ 1 oni night haunter (level 8 elite controller)

D&D Monster Manual, 5th Edition (2014)

Orcs

Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks.

Gruumsh One-Eye. Orcs worship Gruumsh, the mightiest of the ore deities and their creator. The orcs believe that in ancient days, the gods gathered to divide the world among their followers. When Gruumsh claimed the mountains, he learned they had been taken by the dwarves. He laid claim to the forests, but those had been settled by the elves. Each place that Gruumsh wanted had already been claimed. The other gods laughed at Gruumsh, but he responded with a furious bellow. Grasping his mighty spear, he laid waste to the mountains, set the forests aflame, and carved great furrows in the fields. Such was the role of the orcs, he proclaimed, to take and destroy all that the other races would deny them. To this day, the orcs wage an endless war on humans, elves, dwarves, and other folk.

Orcs hold a particular hatred for elves. The elven god Corellon Larethian half-blinded Gruumsh with a well-placed arrow to the orc god's eye. Since then, the orcs have taken particular joy in slaughtering elves. Turning his injury into a baleful gift, Gruumsh grants divine might to any champion who willingly plucks out one of its eyes in his honor.

Tribes like Plagues. Orcs gather in tribes that exert their dominance and satisfy their bloodlust by plundering villages, devouring or driving off roaming herds, and slaying any humanoids that stand against them. After savaging a settlement, orcs pick it clean of wealth and items usable in their own lands. They set the remains ofvillages and camps ablaze, then retreat whence they came, their bloodlust satisfied.

Ranging Scavengers. Their lust for slaughter demands that orcs dwell always within striking distance of new targets. As such, they seldom settle permanently, instead converting ruins, cavern complexes, and defeated foes' villages into fortified camps and strongholds. Orcs build only for defense, making no innovation or improvement to their lairs beyond mounting the severed body parts of their victims on spiked stockade walls or pikes jutting up from moats arid trenches.

When an existing territory is depleted of food, an orc tribe divides into roving bands that scout for choice hunting grounds. When each party returns, it brings back trophies and news of targets ripe for attack, the richest of which is chosen. The tribe then sets out en masse to carve a bloody path to its new territory.

On rare occasions, a tribe's leader chooses to hold onto a particularly defensible lair for decades. The orcs of such a tribe must range far across the countryside to sate their appetites.

Leadership and Might. Orc tribes are mostly patriarchal, flaunting such vivid or grotesque titles as Many-Arrows, Screaming Eye, and Elf Ripper. Occasionally, a powerful war chief unites scattered orc tribes into a single rampaging horde, which runs roughshod over other orc tribes and humanoid settlements from a position of overwhelming strength.

Strength and power are the greatest of orcish virtues, and orcs embrace all manner of mighty creatures in their tribes. Rejecting notions of racial purity, they proudly welcome ogres, trolls, half-orcs, and orogs into their ranks. As well, orcs respect and fear the size and power of evil giants, and often serve them as guards and soldiers.

Orc Crossbreeds. Luthic, the orc goddess of fertility and wife of Gruumsh, demands that orcs procreate often and indiscriminately so that orc hordes swell generation after generation. The orcs' drive to reproduce runs stronger than any other humanoid race, and they readily crossbreed with other races. When an orc procreates with a non-orc humanoid of similar size and stature (such as a human or a dwarf), the resulting child is either an orc or a half-orc. When an orc produces young with an ogre, the child is a half-ogre of intimidating strength and brutish features called an ogrillon.

Orc War Chief

The war chief of an orc tribe is its strongest and most cunning member. The reign of a war chief lasts only as long as it commands the fear and respect of other tribe members, whose bloodlust must be regularly satisfied lest the chief appear weak.

Scions of Slaughter. Gruumsh bestows special blessings upon war chiefs who prove themselves in battle time and again, imbuing them with slivers of his savagery. A war chief so blessed finds that his weapons cut deeper into his enemies, allowing him to inflict more carnage.

Orc Eye of Gruumsh

When an orc slays an elf in Gruumsh's name and offers the corpse of its foe as a sacrifice to the god of slaughter, an aspect of the god might appear. This aspect demands an additional sacrifice: one of the orc's eyes, symbolizing the loss Gruumsh suffered at the hands of his greatest enemy, Corellon Larethian.

If the orc plucks out one of its eyes, Gruumsh might grant the orc spellcasting ability and special favor, along with the right to call itself an Eye of Gruumsh. When not using their auguries to advise their war chiefs, these savage devotees of the god of slaughter hurl themselves into battle, their weapons stained with blood.

Orog

Orogs are orcs blessed with a surprisingly keen intellect that ordinary orcs believe is a gift from the orc goddess Luthic. Like Luthic, orogs prefer to live underground, although the scarcity of food often brings them to the surface to hunt. Orcs respect an orog's strength and cunning, and a lone orog might command an orc war band.

Stronger and Smarter. An orog uses its strength to bully other orcs and its intelligence to surprise enemies on the battlefield. Many an overconfident elf, human, or dwarf commander has watched a "simple" orc warlord execute a clever maneuver to outflank and destroy an opposing force, not realizing the orc is an orog.

When encountered in great numbers, orogs form their own detachments within much larger orc hordes, and they are always at the forefront of any attack, relying on their superior strength and tactical insight to overcome anything that stands in their way.

Few orc tribes actively seek out orogs to bolster their ranks. The orogs' superiority makes them ideal leaders, and thus deadly rivals to orc war chiefs, who must be wary of orog treachery.

Detached Killers. Wanting nothing more than to hack their enemies to pieces, orogs are a terrifying presence on the battlefield. They form no attachments, even to their parents and siblings, and have no concept of love or dedication. They worship the orc pantheon of gods- Gruumsh and Luthic foremost- because they believe that the gods have strength beyond reason, and physical might is all they respect.

Servants of Darkness. Mistrusted by orcs, some orogs form independent mercenary war bands that sell themselves to the highest bidder. As long as they are rewarded, orog mercenaries gladly serve as elite warriors and shock troops for evil wizards, depraved giants, and other villains.