Index races orc

Orcs

Orcs are strong, warlike humanoids. They tower over all but the giants and their strength is unrivaled. Orcs demonstrate incredible variety, with skin tones spanning greens, browns, dark reds, and occasional dull yellows and muddy blacks. Some are also multicolored, with pied or striped patterns. Most have coarse and wiry black hair and sunken gray eyes with large pupils, but this can also vary tremendously. A consistent trait is a wide jawline with pronounced, asymetrical teeth and defined muscles across the entire body.

Orc men tend to stand around 7 feet tall, and orc women are not much shorter. Men weigh around 250 pounds and women weigh around 220, but this can vary greatly. Orcs are fairy short lived, reaching adulthood at 14 and only living an average of 50 years.

Orcs were once native to Synan, but nowadays they are all but extinct there. Most orcs have been forced to The Abyss, where they now thrive. Orcish culture reflects this warring past, and orcish tribes tend to partake in nearly constant wars. Orcs have little patience for words and see no value in understanding anything they cannot readily subjugate, making diplomats and magicians incredibly rare among them - though some druids do arise as prominent wise men in their communities. Orcs are surprisingly rare adventurers, partly because they well understand safety in numbers, partly because they are loath to travel to lands that hate them, and partly because very few orcs see any value in exploration.

  • Ability Scores: +4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Orcs are undeniably strong, but they are easily swayed and have little patience.
  • Size: Medium. As Medium creatures, orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Speed: Orc base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Favored Weapon: Fullblade. Orcs are among the only creatures strong enough to consistently wield such an oversized weapon.

Shadowborn

Orcs are humanoids with the Shadowborn subtype. This grants the following traits:

  • Necrotic Energy Resistance 5: All necrotic damage that a Shadowborn creature takes is reduced by 5.

  • Darkvision: Shadowborn creatures can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and Shadowborn creatures can function just fine with no light at all.

  • Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight) blinds Shadowborn creatures for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the lit area.

  • Healing Aversion: Any spell of the Healing subschool that restores hit point damage heals Shadowborn creatures half as much as normal.

Darkland orcs are orcs from tribes that live in the Shadow Lands, where a lack of sunlight has given them bleached skin and solid black eyes. They share the same general features as other orcs, with sharp teeth and wide jaws, but they tend to have denser muscles are a bit less broad overall.

Darkland orc men tend to stand around 7 feet tall, and darkland orc women are not much shorter. Men weigh around 250 pounds and women weigh around 220, but this can vary greatly. Like other orcs, they are fairy short lived, reaching adulthood at 14 and only living an average of 50 years.

Darkland orcs are descended from tribes who, upon falling from Synan, were bested in warfare by their kin and were forced into the Shadow Lands. Millenia of living among the horrid creatures of the dark has made them tough and wary. They are fiercely pragmatic and show no hesitation; their cultures have no concept of loyalty, as they have historically been forced into small nomadic groups who must frequently abandon the weak and infirm. A rare few will abandon their tribes to travel beyond the dark lands, though their razor-thin tempers often get them in quick trouble.

  • Ability Scores: +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Darkland orcs are even tougher than their kin, but share the same lack of patience.
  • Size: Medium. As Medium creatures, orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Speed: Orc base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Favored Weapon: Fullblade. Orcs are among the only creatures strong enough to consistently wield such an oversized weapon.

Shadowborn

Darkland orcs are humanoids with the Shadowborn subtype. This grants the following traits:

  • Necrotic Energy Resistance 5: All necrotic damage that a Shadowborn creature takes is reduced by 5.
  • Darkvision: Shadowborn creatures can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and Shadowborn creatures can function just fine with no light at all.
  • Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight) blinds Shadowborn creatures for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the lit area.
  • Healing Aversion: Any spell of the Healing subschool that restores hit point damage heals Shadowborn creatures half as much as normal.

Severe Light Blindness

For each hour a darkland orc spends in bright light, he has a 25% chance of becoming sickened, suffering a -2 penalty to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. This sickness lasts until the orc spends 2d4 minutes out of the light.



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