I think that if considered heavily they would make a grand new race. There have been a few restrings to Orcs that would show at least interest to play them. Classes for them would be easily recognized (Warrior, Zerker, Cleric/Shaman because most Orcish government and religious affairs are in Shaman hands traditionally, Blasemaster apparently!). They have easy and fun RP to play with and I think would add a new perspective to a lot of workings and fun new characters.
Orcs
I like the idea. Specs?
Good strength and constitution, average dexterity and wisdom, maybe even slightly sub-par wisdom, and low intelligence.
Some kind of rage, and I think they should have their weakness towards mindspells. Non-good only, and if you can restrict on ethos too, restrict Lawful too.
Let them have bards, I can see wardrummers and the like in an orcish horde. Also, I would also give them Rangers. Add to that the standard classes; Shaman, Blademaster, Warrior, maybe thief, maybe cleric, maybe dark knight.
Just some ideas.
Eh, I don't see them being dark knights or thieves.
str: 22 int: 16 wis:21 :dex 19 con:23
Have skill called warpath. When used gain x% damage and take x% bonus damage.
Orcs have great stamina, gain more moves then the average race.
Weakness is debatable between sunlight and a hinderance of saves.
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Classes: Warrior, Berserker, Blademaster, Shaman, Cleric
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On the reverse, could remove weakness and make them average size. If they have the weakness I would suggest they would need to be giant size.
Wouldn't have to restrict lawful, orcs run civilized governments at times, though based on strength and prowess, but could still be considered lawful.
Edit: DK I could MAYBE see them as, but definitely not rogues of any kind.
I would say keep them average size. We already have 4 giant sized races that can be quite a bit of things. Not rogues, but bards. Ranger too.
(Warrior' date=' Zerker, Cleric/Shaman because most Orcish government and religious affairs are in Shaman hands traditionally, Blasemaster apparently!)[/quote']
Good strength and constitution, average dexterity and wisdom, maybe even slightly sub-par wisdom, and low intelligence.
and I think they should have their weakness towards mindspells. Non-good only
Fire/Stone Giant?
Seriously though, I, knowing nothing of orc lore and jazz, must ask the question of what makes them uniqie? And then suggest using that to spawn ideas.
Fire/stone giants are alread a warrior/berserker/(cleric/shaman or ranger), high strength/con, lower int/wis/dex, problem with magic race. What would make a player prefer one race to the other that restring doesn't already allow for?
I like the vuln to sunlight, if for nothing else than my continual watchings of LotR, but other orc lore may be entirely different. Perhaps make it more like a vampire idea, better skills outside at night, lower skills outside during day. Inside rooms no affect either way.
I would suggest a canablism like perk, the ability to 'eat corpses' that doesn't destory the corpse, just changes it to a mutilated corpse description and all items remain inside. I never saw orcs as the kind to really worry about cooking their food.
Statwise, I'd like to see something a little different than the classic archtypes for races.
WC
I'd say that enough people hate elves already...
I say give them the already existing vulnerability that the orc race mobs have.
And they get teeth necklaces whenever they're naked and type "outfit", regardless of their rank.
Make it so that with their tough skin and sharp claws that their AC and Hit Dam never falls below a base amount, say -200 AC and 20/20 hitdam, even when they are naked.
Well, according to Tolkien, Orcs are elves that have been twisted by dark powers, they shun sunlight and cannot move well when exposed to it. (an exception is the Uruk-Hai that were bred by Saruman, but thats another story) I dont see them being smart or wise at all, but they have superb stamina and can march at speed for hours without stopping (at night) They are also strong and I would see them as being quite dextrous as well. However this would give them similar stats to a Duergar or Slith. So howabout they gain a dex bonus at night, and a dex penalty during the day (no effect when inside) perhaps also they use less movement when moving around at night. These are the stats I could see for them.
str 21 int 17 wis 17 dex 20 (day) 22 (night) con 22
Couldn't think of any other type of racial bonus.
And they get teeth necklaces whenever they're naked and type "outfit"' date=' regardless of their rank.[/quote'] And we have a winner!
WC
And then we step away from world of warcraft orcs and look at some of the other orcs from phantasy genres, skinny cowards, small pests, smell annoyances
I got to admit, when I think orc, I think small-medium sized, smelly, unskilled, conniving yet dumb, and that's about it.
Well, in all the orcish lore I know (and that's a fair amounr), tolkien Orcs are the only ones who shun sunlight. Tolkien orcs are also the universe's biggest chumps. So there really isn't any need for that. I also agree with whoever put the stats as LOW INT but GOOD WIS, that would work seeing as the orc would not learn new things well, but have inborn wisdom. I do not think Orcs should go ranger. Why? I don't know really, I could just never see a respectable Orc ranger. Bards definitely. Orcish culture is all Oral Tradition, songs and stories have huge impact on their culture. Blademaster and bard will be what separates them from the giant races, maybe necromancer might be a considerable race for them as well, orcs beings spiritists of sorts. The final cool idea for Orcs would be the ability to be the other race for evil monks.
Some Cool Ideas to Make them Unique
Orc's as stated before live in tribes. Maybe for even if nothing more than a cool RP tool give them the ability to choose their tribe at birth, much like a Ranger can pick a racial enemy. Maybe even consider that Tribe their religion? (Tribeless Orcs could be any other current religion?)
Orc Tribes:
Jackal Clan (The totally chaotic tribe, hellbent on ruining things, and laughing at them)
Spider Clan (The tribe of order, (Zimkista stated a few times that he was Spider Clan) they also have the strongest ties to The Ancients.)
Owl Clan (The clan of assassins more or less. No that does not mean rogues, but an obvious path for Owl Clan would be to go syndi)
Boar Clan (The clan pathed toward battle and honor. Honor being he who is strongest makes the rules and everyone else follows, cool little thing about this tribe being that they have great fear of water because they feel their spirits could never be fulfilled if their blood did not spill on soil)
There was one more clan, a tribe of nomads, but I can't remember their name so we could rename them something cool, ideas?
To Clear Up on The Ancients:
In Orcish Lore their greatest warriors, great warriors that have crossed their paths, and sometimes greatest preists become ancients. Every star in the sky is the soul of one of the Ancients looking down on the world and granting the strong their power. Some Orcs strive for their powers and enlightenment(Part of Zimkista's RP, but hard to pull off without anyone knowing what I was talking about).
Seems like interesting stuff, but I definately do not see Orc monks.
If orcs could be Blm, Cleric, Shaman, Bard, Warrior and Berserker then I think DK is pretty reasonable too.
Nomads could be the Vulture Tribe.
It would be neat to have, I just don't see why we would need another race. Average stats? Go human. Strong tough but dumb? Fire/stone. Less civilized but nimble? Feral. Intelligent, agile and sophisticated? Drow. Tough as crap but not especialy smart/agile? Duergar. Viscious ravenger? Demon. Souless devourer? Undead/Vamp. Lots of hp and strong with good offense? Ogre. et all.
Yes from an rp point of view there is a nice gap they could fill. But stat wise every angle is already covered by an existing race. And as you pointed out, those who really want to rp an orc have gotten restrung. It seems alot of work for something we really don't need.
"I don't see why would need another race..."
To make FL stand up and above the other muds even more?
To add diversity on a greater level?
To provide more replay value(this isn't quite as important).