- This article is about orcs as they appear in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. For other uses, see orc.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, orcs are a primitive race of barbaric humanoid, largely based upon the orcs appearing in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Orcs speak Orcish.
Description
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.
In earlier editions
Orcs vary widely in appearance as a result of frequent crossbreeding 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 darkness. This is actually part of their optical system, a pigment which gives them infravision. Male orcs are about 5½ 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.
Earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons depicted orcs slightly differently. They were Lawful Evil, and were sometimes described as having porcine snouts (an illustration in the 1977 Monster Manual depicted them with pig-like faces). An insightful passage from the Monstrous Manual reads, "Orcs have a reputation for cruelty that is deserved, but humans are just as capable of evil as orcs".
The half-orc in the original AD&D game was a standard player character race, typically assuming the assassin class, where he was a brooding and tragic figure, and not a brutish caricature. Half-orcs were removed in the second edition of the game but were revived, albeit altered, in D&D 3rd edition.
Orcs in Dragonlance
There is some controversy regarding Orcs in the Dragonlance setting. The Dragonlance Adventures hardbound rulebook stated that Orcs did not exist on Krynn, albeit in a rather obscure, out of place reference in the player races section. Several Dragonlance novels and short stories, as well as at least one module, have featured Orcs existing on Krynn; however, later editions of these novels have removed the references to Orcs (replacing them with Ogres).
Orcs in Eberron
In the Eberron campaign setting, orcs are portrayed in a more positive light. Given to spirituality and nature-worship, they established successful societies, learning druidic secrets from the green dragon Vvaraak while the goblinoid races built a mighty empire, some 16,000 years ago.
The orc societies took a massive blow during the daelkyr invasion 9,000 ago, though it was the orcs now known as the Gatekeepers who were able to stop the invasion by sealing the daelkyr beneath Eberron and severing the link between Eberron and the daelkyr home plane of Xoriat. The Gatekeeper druidic sect remains a presence in Eberron, albeit one largely concerned with defending the world from outsiders, aberrations and other unnatural foes rather than politics.
Orcs in the Forgotten Realms
In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons, orcs are divided into the orcs of North Faerûn (Mountain Orcs) and the orcs of East Faerûn (Gray Orcs). The gray orcs came to Faerûn through a portal opened in Mulhorand by an Imaskari wizard. The orcs' invasion caused the Orcgate Wars in which the pious gray orcs called avatars of their deities down to help them, and the Mulhorandi and Untheric people did the same. Led by Re these pantheons and their soldiers eventually broke the gray orcs' armies.
In the north, orcs are known for overbreeding and then spilling out in hordes upon the nations thereabouts, including the Silver Marches, Icewind Dale and, in times past, the old elven empires around Cormanthyr. Foremost amongst the orcs of this area is the Broken Arrow tribe headed by King Obould Many-Arrows, enemy of Drizzt Do'Urden.
Orcs in Greyhawk
In the World of Greyhawk, orcs can be found in almost all locales of the Flanaess, but are most heavily concentrated in the Pomarj and the Empire of Iuz. There is also known to exist a great orcish city known as Garel Enkdal in the Griff Mountains. The orcs of the Baklunish nation of Zeif are very different from their brethren, having very nearly been assimilated into human society, though they are still regarded as lower-class.
Orcs in Mystara
Orcs are prevalent in both the Known World and the Hollow World.
Orcs in Spelljammer
A variety of orc, called Scro, were featured in the Spelljammer setting.
Orcs in d20 System settings
Following the precedents set in the earliest Dungeons & Dragons materials, a great many d20 System publishers have retained Orcs in their own works. While many of these publishers have examined orcs in greater depth than was the norm in earlier works, most of those have not reinvented this race as such, and it still tends to be identified with coarseness and brutality. Such products include Bad Axe's Heroes of High Favor: Half Orcs and Skirmisher Publishing's Orcs of the Triple Death line of miniatures [1].
References
- Allston, Aaron. Hollow World Campaign Set (TSR, 1990).
- Cole, Joshua. "Races of Spelljammer." Dragon #339 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Cook, David, et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One (TSR, 1989).
- Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
- Gygax, Gary. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (TSR, 1983).
- Roger E Moore. "Campaign Classics: The Scro." Dragon Annual #1 (TSR, 1996).
- Reynolds, Sean K, and Chris Pramas. Slavers (TSR, 2000).
- Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes (TSR, 1992).
- Sargent, Carl. Iuz the Evil (TSR, 1993).
- Sargent, Carl. Monster Mythology (TSR, 1992).
- Scott, Curtis M. The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook (TSR, 1992).
- Slavicsek, Bill. The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR, 1993).
- Varney, Allen, ed. Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II (TSR, 1991).