Orc Monster Card art by Tyler Hall
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Orc Culture, Psychology, & Lore
by Alec Wilson
“Orcs have no home. Hunted by Elves. Hunted by Dwarves. Worked by big bosses. Orcs work. Orcs fight. Orcs die. So Orcs hate.”
–Turuuk Dead Tooth
Culture & Psychology
Orcish culture is starkly divided. Enslaved Orcs are born into generations of servitude under tyrant Overlords, often dark and powerful mages. They are bred to fight and to work. They die on the battlefield, in sawmills and stone quarries, and deep underground, toiling for the greed of their masters.
Free Orcs live in the mountains, outlying hills, and rocky wastes. They tend to avoid cities and larger towns, and often plunder smaller settlements. Rarely, more established Free Orc clans engage in trade or will charge a toll for passage through their mountains. More often, they simply ambush travelers and extract 100% of their resources.
Enslaved Orcs
Many Orcs are born, live, and die in Orc warrens on the land of their masters. These filthy dugouts and moldering tents provide a place to sleep, but murder is commonplace in the warrens and most Enslaved Orcs have a refugee mindset. They are largely a race without a place or a sense of safety.
Male Orcs born into servitude are stripped from their mothers at birth, branded, and have their ears clipped. They are force-fed slops and enter brutal military training as soon as they are able to stand. The weak are quickly culled.
Enslaved female Orcs have it worse. Most are confined to breeding pits. As a result, female Orcs rarely survive past 19, having birthed 10 or more offspring during their short lives. Escaped females do not speak Common, and barely speak Orcish. Those who learn it describe a hellish environment and torture. Enslaved female Orcs endure facial scarification that depicts the number of live births they have completed. After generations in captivity, this facial scarring has become a symbol of honor. Enslaved females with many scars are allowed access to better food and better quarters.
In captivity, the two sexes rarely have a chance to interact except during compulsory breeding.
The most typical route to status and honor for enslaved male Orcs is success in battle. The killing of the master’s enemies is rewarded by promotion through the ranks, access to females, and better grub. Orcs routinely murder each other to remove the competition in this heirarchy.
A small number of Orcs are selected early to enter tactical training or to become Witch Doctors under the Orc god Gruumsh. These are the two routes to survival for Orcs who are less physically imposing than their peers. On rare occasions, a runtling Orc who has shown remarkable cunning or a deep connection to Gruumsh will be allowed to live.
Free Orcs
Most Orcs think only of rising to dominance over their peers. But every so often an enterprising clan will take action on the dream of freedom. Those who escape to the mountains have been known to colonize caves, sometimes for as long as a generation. They battle with Dwarves, Troglodytes, and Gnolls for access to space, and enslave Goblins and Kobolds to work in their underground shanty towns. Orcs sometimes work with or for Ogres, and are themselves occasionally re-enslaved by Trolls.
Free Orcs infrequently establish trade with nearby communities. Most humans will have nothing to do with Orcish food or finished goods, but will tolerate Orcish quarried stone, raw timber, firewood, untanned pelts and hides, ivory and bone, and hand-gathered mountain herbs so long as they are clean and free of Orc-musk.
Female Orcs occupy positions of power and influence in free Orcish culture. They have been known to act as healers, leaders, warriors, and diplomats, brokering the peace for their clan. Free Orcs are not known to keep their word, or to honor treaties for longer than a few years at the most. But even the shifting alliances of Orcs can be valuable to those with whom they share the mountains.
Orcs, both free and enslaved, avoid forests whenever possible. They have a long history of being slaughtered by Elves and have learned to hate and fear forests—where Elves tend to live.
Special Tactics
Orcs are crude but proficient builders and love a good ambush. They will construct rock slides, log rolls, pit traps, and anything else they can improvise to injure adventures and impede their progress. There is a legend of one enterprising clan who redirected a river down the narrow chute of a mountain pass to drown a legion of invading cavalry.
Qualities
Bully. Orcs love to have the upper hand. They are more likely to attack when they have superior numbers and a better strategic position. In bar fights, five or six Orcs will think nothing of teaming together to beat or murder a single offender.
Cruel. Many Orcs cause pain just to see it. These Orcs take joy in watching others suffer and will sometimes make poor decisions in pursuit of this entertainment.
Short-Tempered. Because of their short-tempered personalities, Orcs in groups of 20 or more are subject to Taunt once per combat. PCs who roleplay a spectacular insult and win an opposed Intelligence check may provoke d4 Orcs to charge in at once to attack them. Provoked Orcs will not expose themselves to obvious undue harm (e.g., running through fire or into a phalanx of spears) to make these attacks.
Stoic. Orcs are resistant to pain and hardship. They can march for days on end, survive on low rations, and stay the course with grueling physical tasks until the job is complete. Even Dwarven engineers grudgingly admit that there is nothing like a team of Orcish road-makers. They work on, lifting rocks and breathing dust, when others have long since perished.
Weaponry
Melee 1. Axes and Swords. Orcish infantry have a preference for these weapons, especially Bastard Swords.
Melee 2. Spears and Polearms. Higher status Orcs with more combat training tend to use Spears and Polearms, especially Bill Hooks.
Ranged 1. Crossbows. Orcish crossbows are crude but effective. Their range is somewhat less than those of human or Elvish make, but they pack the same punch.
Ranged 2. Long and Short Bows. Less-commonly used among Orcs, the presence of a bow is almost always a sign of specialized training. (The rest of the time, the bow was simply looted from a victim.)
Special Units
Sneak Thief. Excellent climbers, skilled with ropes, pitons, and grappling hooks. The best Orcish Sneak Thieves can pick locks, disarm and set traps, walk on a slack rope between high points, and safely fix difficult climbs for others. They Backstab with a x2 modifier.
Pit Fighter. Brutal scrappers who cut their teeth in the pits. Orcish Pit Fighters fight dirty and strike to injure. +2 damage on each melee hit.
Witch Doctor. Skilled in the arts of the black divine, Orcish Witch Doctors cast spells as 3rd level Clerics.
Bomb Runner. Orcish Bomb Runners are revered in Orcish culture during their short lives. These young, athletic Orcs, males and females in their physical primes, strike terror in the hearts of their enemies. Bomb Runners sprint through enemy lines carrying Orcish black powder explosives and detonate their bombs where they will do the most damage. Bombs do 5d10 damage in a 30’ radius, +1d10 for each 20 orcs present. Bomb Runners train in their job for years, and perform it once.
Special Abilities
Clan Shout. Once per combat, whenever 10 or more Orcs are within the same general combat area they may shout in unison, a guttural and terrifying “Hruh!” Enemies must Save vs. Stun, 14 CON, or be Stunned until the end of the round.
Poisoned Weapons. Orcs routinely coat their blades with a mix of tar and meat rot. Wounds from these bladed weapons require a 15 CON Saving Throw once per combat to avoid infection. (-2 to STR if failed, may save once per short or long rest.) This penalty does not stack with multiple wounds. 25% of bolts or arrows fired by Orcs are coated with Black Frog poison or the like, that deals d6 extra damage.
Spiteful Strike. Once per combat, when a particularly important Orc (such as the chieftain or boss) is slain, all Orcs adjacent to their fallen leader may take a bonus melee attack on any PC with melee range. PCs attacked in this way may take a bonus attack of their own, against their attacker.
Warg Call. Once per combat, a clan of Orcs may call 1 Warg per 10 Orcs to come to their aid in battle. The Warg Call works only above ground, in rural settings.
Movement
Run. Good. Orcs move as fast as humans do, and often faster.
Climb. Good. Orcs are at home on steep pitches of rock and masonry walls. They are familiar with the use of hooks, rope, and ladders.
Swim. Poor. Orcs hate water and will avoid it whenever possible. They can, however, swim when forced to.
Burrow. n/a
Fly. n/a
Grudges
Orcs have a special hatred of Elves, Dwarves, Mages, Paladins, and Half-Orcs, and will prioritize killing them in that order.
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