The Time of the Orcs is Here

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Vanguard
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The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

Image

The exclusion of Orcs as a race/class in DCC RPG meant that I knew what my first homebrew for this game would be. I've finished the rough draft of these rules, and want some feedback. For the tables, I haven't found a satisfactory way to link them here, so I will direct you to my blog for those parts.

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The time of the Orcs is here. They have risen from their hovels, crossed the badlands and putrid swamps to conquer all who resist them. They wear their scars like honorable men wear their king's banner. The time of the Orcs is here, and they are angry.

Hit Die: Orcs gain 1d12 hit points at each level.

Alignment: Orc society is scattered and unorganized. It tends to be structured around roving war bands, with the strongest assuming the leader. Of course, this does not last very long, and most Orcs perish not from a well-aimed strike by their enemies, but by the cold, crooked knife of one of their inferiors. For this reason, Orcs are mostly Chaotic. Occasionally, Orcs separate themselves from the barbarism of their brethren and are Neutral. These arrangements are often familial in structure. Orcs are almost never Lawful, and those who are generally are the product of exile, capture, or orphanhood.

Weapon Training: Orcs are trained to use the battleaxe, blackjack, club, handaxe, javelin, mace, shortbow, shortsword, spear, longbow, longsword, two-handed sword, and the warhammer.

Rage: The Orcs have built their reputation, not on their combat prowess, but on their ability to channel their hatred and malice into raw power. An Orc may enter a Rage at any point during a combat, even when it is not their turn. To determine the extent of an Orc's rage, roll the appropriate Rage Die, modified by the following:

+1 for each creature the party kills
+1 for each critical hit a party member lands
+1 for each critical hit a party member suffers
+1 for each fumble a party member suffers
+1 for each party member who is dropped to 0 hit points

A player should keep track of these bonuses during combat. If an Orc enters a rage, is knocked unconscious, reduced to 0 hit points, or goes to sleep, erase all of the bonuses accrued. Orcs do not track these bonuses while in the midst of a Rage.

A rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Rage Die result (maximum 20). After a Rage ends, the Orc must make a fortitude save (DC = Rage Check + 1/per rage that day) or become fatigued. Fatigued Orcs suffer -1d to all action dice, all skill checks are made untrained, and speed is reduced to half. This condition lasts for a number of turns equal to the margin of failure. Clerics who heal this condition are treated as if they rolled a natural 1 on a lay on hands check. While fatigued, Orcs may not enter a rage.

I Smell Man Flesh!: Orcs have an uncanny ability to smell flesh and blood. Orcs can smell any creature with either within 100 ft. Orcs can identify a creature they are familiar with by scent alone on a successful Luck check.

Initiative: Orcs spend their whole lives learning the art of war. While wielding two-handed weapons, they may roll 1d20 for initiative.

To see level progression, as well as the rage tables, go here.
Last edited by Vanguard on Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:06 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by bholmes4 »

This is really cool and one of the best new classes I have seen. The problem is I am not a fan of rage mechanics and never have been (you often see Barbarians with rage mechanics). I feel a disconnect between something that is supposed to simulate raw, animalistic emotion being reduced to a bunch of mathy bonuses and penalties. That's just me though and of all the rage mechanics I have seen, this is the one I would be most inclined to try. I think a fan of barbarians would love this class.

Great stuff and you've inspired me to make my own version.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

Vanguard wrote:Fatigued Orcs suffer -1 to all action dice, all skill checks are made untrained, and speed is reduced to half.
Great picture!

Should this read "-1d to all action dice"?

RC
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

Raven_Crowking wrote:
Vanguard wrote:Fatigued Orcs suffer -1 to all action dice, all skill checks are made untrained, and speed is reduced to half.
Great picture!

Should this read "-1d to all action dice"?

RC
You know, I could never figure out how to write that without it sounding awkward. Thanks!
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

No worries.

You should consider submitting that to Crawl! so that I have an easily accessed print copy.

RC
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

Raven_Crowking wrote:No worries.

You should consider submitting that to Crawl! so that I have an easily accessed print copy.

RC
I've already contacted Dak about it, but I wanted the forum to see it and make suggestions. The issue, it seems, is how to get this into one issue as it's a pretty hefty amount of Crawl!.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by bitflipr »

Concerning the rage mechanic:

It seems that as the Orc levels, the DC for making the fortitude save will increase higher (due to higher Rage Check) than the fortitude bonus the Orc receives, making the Orc fatigue more often when they rage. I wasn't sure whether this was intentional or not.

I would also prefer a more simple rage mechanism. Having a table seems to make things a bit complicated for my taste.

Other than this I love the feel of the class.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

I'm not sure about formatting, but it looks like about 2-3 pages to me.
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

bitflipr wrote:It seems that as the Orc levels, the DC for making the fortitude save will increase higher (due to higher Rage Check) than the fortitude bonus the Orc receives, making the Orc fatigue more often when they rage. I wasn't sure whether this was intentional or not.
I actually like this part.
I would also prefer a more simple rage mechanism. Having a table seems to make things a bit complicated for my taste.
Allow the orc to gamble. He can gain a bonus to the rage die in exchange for a penalty to the save for exhaustion.

Just an idea.......?
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

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bitflipr wrote:Concerning the rage mechanic:

It seems that as the Orc levels, the DC for making the fortitude save will increase higher (due to higher Rage Check) than the fortitude bonus the Orc receives, making the Orc fatigue more often when they rage. I wasn't sure whether this was intentional or not.

I would also prefer a more simple rage mechanism. Having a table seems to make things a bit complicated for my taste.

Other than this I love the feel of the class.
I can understand wanting a simpler mechanism, but I figured this functioned similar to the complexity of a spell. It also fits the fluff a little better than having static bonuses, I think. Anger is hard to control.

As far as making the Fortitude, I don't think it scales too poorly, but maybe, I'm wrong. Orcs, while not in a Rage, are going to be pretty ineffective, I think. At low levels, I don't see players waiting to collect 2-3 bonuses before entering a rage. At level 1, that's a range of 4-6 for their first rage, which is pretty low. After five combats, you're still only looking at 9-11, which is doable, (55% chance to roll a 10 or higher). I don't know, maybe they need to add a bonus to this roll (their level?).

The idea for me is that more frequent rages are better/more useful than dropping one huge bomb, and I think the penalties for fatigue control it nicely.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by bitflipr »

I think if I were to take the rage system and make it my own I'd probably keep a few of the benefits of rage and drop the rest. Having 10 benefits seems a bit excessive. I would probably have the Rage Die result = temporary hit points, and maybe keep the speed increase as well.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

Raven_Crowking wrote:
bitflipr wrote:It seems that as the Orc levels, the DC for making the fortitude save will increase higher (due to higher Rage Check) than the fortitude bonus the Orc receives, making the Orc fatigue more often when they rage. I wasn't sure whether this was intentional or not.
I actually like this part.
I would also prefer a more simple rage mechanism. Having a table seems to make things a bit complicated for my taste.
Allow the orc to gamble. He can gain a bonus to the rage die in exchange for a penalty to the save for exhaustion.

Just an idea.......?
Just to be clear, my suggestion about the orc gambling is rather than tracking each creature the party kills, each critical hit a party member lands, each critical hit a party member suffers, each fumble a party member suffers, and each party member who is dropped to 0 hit points.

I am perfectly happy with the idea of a table; I would rather not have to track so much prior to the table being used.

RC
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

I don't think the tracking is so much book keeping. Just put a notch on your sheet for every condition that gets met. Pop rage, count the notches, roll the dice and go.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

Vanguard wrote:I don't think the tracking is so much book keeping. Just put a notch on your sheet for every condition that gets met. Pop rage, count the notches, roll the dice and go.
Different strokes. Just floating it as an option.

:D

RC
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by reverenddak »

This Orc class is a winner in my eyes. I can see it being re-skinned into a really cool, savage, class. I plan to feature this, and a few other new classes in a future issue.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

Thanks Dak! PM me about formatting and stuff. I also wanted to add some 0-level occupations to get Orcs in on the Funnel. Should I post those here too?
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by reverenddak »

Vanguard wrote:Thanks Dak! PM me about formatting and stuff. I also wanted to add some 0-level occupations to get Orcs in on the Funnel. Should I post those here too?
I'll worry about the formatting, since I do the layout. Just get the text proofed and mechanics tested out.

0-level occupations would make sense. It doesn't hurt to post them here to get some input from the community.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Zeiros »

Great stuff, I concur this is best new class I have seen yet. We are playing no demi-humans in our campaign...but there may just be a lost tribe of Orcs..now! :D
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Raven_Crowking »

Zeiros wrote:Great stuff, I concur this is best new class I have seen yet. We are playing no demi-humans in our campaign...but there may just be a lost tribe of Orcs..now! :D
I concur.

The idea that each class is mechanically different seems integral to the DCC experience, and devising a new rage mechanic supports that. Even if I suggested a possible tweak in response to a post about complexity, that doesn't mean at all that I am disliking what I am seeing!

And, it is of course worth noting (as reverenddak does) that this need not represent a D&D-style "orc" at all, but could be used to represent any campaign-appropriate group of savage human(oid)s.

Overall, some serious kudos!

RC
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Karaptis »

As if i need another reason to gush over Crawl! I too like the orc idea. I'm trying to develop a campaign based on the forces of Law "winning" over Chaos and oppressing the humanoids. A kind of "Chaos strikes back". This fits well for this.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by TheNobleDrake »

This Orc class makes me almost regret a lack of orcs in my home setting - it would be full-on regret if not for how easily I can tweak things to use it without also including anything called an "orc" in my setting.

Really great stuff!
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

It is good to hear how many of you find this useful! I'm going to post the professions this weekend so you can run Orcs through the funnel. Let me know how your play tests go!

I also wanted to let everyone know I'm designing two new classes at the moment: Bard and Lich. If I keep it up, maybe I'll try and put together a "Monstrous" version of DCC.
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Karaptis »

Vanguard wrote:If I keep it up, maybe I'll try and put together a "Monstrous" version of DCC.
That would be way cool!
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Re: The Time of the Orcs is Here

Post by Vanguard »

Okay, I finished my first campaign using the Orc. You can read full impressions here.

The issue to me is how quickly Rage builds with these rules. In my final encounter, the Orc has built up +9 in bonuses, and gained an extra attack and +8 to all attack and damage rolls. He killed half of a room full of Werewolves. It was awesome, but apparent some limits need to be put in place. Changes:

Anyone using these rules should omit the Will, Morale, Threat, and AC columns. It's too many abilities.

The biggest change needs to be how you give them bonus to their rage roll. Check out the blog for some ideas, and please suggest your own.
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