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4e orc

Orcs from Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition.

An orc, sometimes spelled ork, is a savage humanoid creature. Its name derives from the word orco. The term was popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien; prior to The Lord of the Rings an orc was generally a sea monster.

Orcs in Dungeons & Dragons[]

Orcs are brutal, violent humanoids with greyish or green skin and animalistic features. They are often chaotic evil. In Greyhawk and the third edition implied setting, their principal deity is Gruumsh.

Orcs can interbreed with humans, creating half-orcs. Due to the unfortunate implications of half-orc parentage, half-orcs vanished from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition only to reappear in D&D third edition.

D&D's humanoid orcs were heavily influenced by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, although they are distinct from them in many particulars. The orc's bestial, even porcine snout may have been influenced by popular LOTR covers from the mid 1970s, or may be a play on the Welsh word for a pig or boar (as in Orkney Islands, Island of the Boars).

Orcs have appeared as player characters in multiple editions of D&D. In 5th edition, rules for an orc playable race have been included in Volo's Guide to Monsters, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, and Eberron: Rising from the Last War. The last two were consistent, but the presentation in Volo's Guide was heavily criticised for its racist overtones, both in its narrative description and for being one of only two playable races in the whole of 5th edition D&D to have an ability score penalty (to Intelligence). This sparked considerable discourse in the D&D community, leading eventually to Wizards of the Coast to announce their intention to pivot away from such racist portrayals and to treat orcs as diverse (as "morally and culturally complex") as any other sentient humanoid race.[1]

Orcs in Middle-earth[]

Orcs are foul creatures created by Sauron, probably of elvish stock, but corrupted into hateful, bent creatures with sallow faces and an aversion of the sun. Later, Saruman created half-orcs by combining orc and man, possibly through sorcery, to serve as his agents.

The uruk-hai, or "orc race," are a powerful creation of Saruman's, orcs with courageous spirits who can withstand the light of the sun. Their origin is uncertain, but they seem to have human or troll blood in their veins, and may be a further product of Saruman's experimentations with the half-orc.

In this setting, orcs are synonymous with goblins. (They are generally referred to as orcs in The Lord of the Rings and goblins in The Hobbit.)

Orcs in the Palladium Role-Playing Game[]

Orcs are savage humanoids with green skin and a brutish appearance. They have no faculty for psionics or magic and lack intelligence, but are strong and capable warriors. Orcs willingly serve those who are more powerful or intelligent, provided they reward their followers sufficiently. Orcs have a pack-like culture, attacking bravely in numbers, only to falter and break ranks all at once if they are broken.

Orcs in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay[]

Orcs are green-skinned, savage humanoids, considered part of the goblinoid races. Brutish, fearless, and cruel, they seem to live for destruction.

They are portrayed similarly to the ork of Warhammer 40K.

Orcs in GURPS Fantasy[]

The orcs of Yrth are ancient, savage enemies of the elves. Green-skinned, brutal, and sociopathic, the orcs inspired the elves to call up the Banestorm in an attempt to be rid of them forever.

Orks in Shadowrun[]

In Shadowrun, orks are magically mutated humans and part of metahumanity. They are one of the standard playable races in the game, being slightly larger, stronger and less intelligent than humans, but not to the extent of trolls.

Types of ork in Shadowrun include hobgoblin (in the Middle East), ogres (in Europe), oni (in Japan), and satyrs (in the Mediterranean). Orks infected with the Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) can become wendigos or grendels.

References[]

  1. Wizards of the Coast/D&D Team (2020-06-17) "Diversity and D&D". dnd.wizards.com. Retrieved 2020-08-21.

External links[]

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