Table of Contents : 101 Clans. When multiple tribes band together, often under a single leader, they form a clan. Clans usually lead Goons to town-sized raids and warparties. The Enemies. Orcs fight with anything and ev- Barbarian — 3 erything, including each other. However, orcs do have foes Berserker — 4 whose emnity is ancient: , dwarves, and humans. Brute — 4 Half-orcs. The offspring of an coupling with Cutthroat — 5 an or human. Orcs will eat dwarves, gnomes, half- lings, and most other races but won’t breed with them. Ogre “Big Boss” — 5 Ogrillons. The offspring of an orc coupling Peon — 6 with an ogre. Ogrillons are big and strong, even for orcs. Thug — 6 They’re also pitifully dumb, even for orcs. Runt — 7 Orcs. Orcs are, almost without exception, strong, stooped, and stupid. Despite rampant starvation and War Pig — 7 short lives, orcs are burly and beefy. They usually have coarse, straight, dark hair, with brown-gray-green skin variations. Orcs have keen eyes and ears, and many have Mages enormous tusks on their lower jaws. Orc eyes are well known for their intense shades of red. Demonologist — 8 Orc-Friends. Races that frequently and freely Fire Eater — 9 mingle with orcs. These include , ogres, , Mystic — 9 quaggoths, and . Necromancer — 10 Tribes. A collection of blood-kin orcs, usually no Warlock — 10 more than twenty. Tribes can be extraordinarily insular or part of a clan. Tribes can only muster enough orcs for Warmage — 11 small raids or harassment.

Priests Deities Sample fileGruumsh. The chief orc deity, Gruumsh is the Acolyte — 12 god of conquest, survival, and territory. Orc society is built Occultist — 13 around Gruumsh and the war against His enemies. — 13 Luthic. The orc goddess of fertility, medicine, Warpriest — 14 and caves. Luthic is Gruumsh’s wife. She has set most of the orc traditions that are shared between disparate clans. Warriors Bahgtru. The son of Gruumsh and Luthic, the god of strength and combat. Bahgtru is famously stupid, Blackguard — 15 but indestructible. Champion — 16 Shargaas. The god of darkness, stealth, and Hunter — 16 thieves. Shargaas’s presence in a clan can be trouble for a lazy warchief. Marauder — 17 Yurtus. The god of death and disease. Yurtus Raid Chief — 17 isn’t the god orcs pray to cure their own ailments, orcs Raider’s Worg — 18 don’t think that way. Instead, Yurtus is the god they prey to inflict their sickness on others. Ranger — 18 Scout — 19 Sellsword — 19 Warlord — 20 Warrior — 20

2 2 2 Goons “Never doubt the danger of orcs in great numbers.” —Georgia Catalan Waterdeep Entertainer

Simple Minds, Simple Jobs Goons are often seen as the stupidest orcs, or the weakest, or the least fearsome. But goons are no less dan- gerous and violent than any other orc. Goons are goons not because they lack savagery or strength, but because they are lazy. Oafs and Layabouts. Goons are capable of great destruction, but they have no drive to do so. Goons half- ass everything that doesn’t immediately concern them, and even then they’re likely to leave jobs unfinished and messy. The Goon Squad. Goons don’t function well in large numbers. Anything more than a handful and the pet- tiest slights become fights to the death in moments. Lone goons, however, are easy prey for enemies and predators. And so goons have learned to clump together in small groups. “Me Is Boss.” Goons are prone to delusions of grandeur and are easily seduced by vague promises of power, wealth, and glory. Unfortunately, the

Barbarian The orc is romanticized as a rampaging barbar- ian, merciless and unstoppable, leading a ferocious and terrifying tribe of slightly smaller, slightly less ferociousSample file orcs. The truth is that most barbarians are half-orcs, abandoned by human parents for being an orc, the half- orc finds that notions of racial purity have no meaning in orc society. Grisly Totems. Some barbarians carry trinkets or tokens they believe empower them, like polished stones, braids, feathers, and claws. Orcs carry trinkets, too, but prefer them bloody and fresh.

3 33 Berserker

Orcs are notorious for their short tempers and furious tantrums, and “berserker” orcs have one of the purest forms of orc rage. Berserkers are single-minded and unleash their full fury on whatever creature hit them, be that elf, , orc, or even . Self-Destructive. Berserkers have been known to cut themselves, or allow enemies to cut them, to unleash their fury. Berserkers who don’t die in combat waste away through infections and sores.

Brute Sample fileOrc brutes are big and grumpy. Most are large enough to strangle horses, one handed. Though clearly not an ogrillon, brutes are given similar deference from other orcs. They’re simply enourmous. Diehard. Stories about hefty orcs surviving in- credible wounds abound in tavern talk, like orcs that sur- vived lances through their guts, or emerged half cooked after a fireball. Some may be wild stories, but there are big orcs in the mountains, with many improbable scars.

4 4 4 Cutthroat

Not all orcs relish open combat. Open combat favors the big and the strong, with heavy weapons and powers, and has a high likelihood of gruesome death. Cut- throats are ruthless, and they favor the fights that don’t happen, or the fights that aren’t really fights at all. Sample fileAssassins and Spies. Numerous orcs have died in their sleep, drunk and stuffed with charred meat, unaware of poison in the grog. Others are just caught unaware by traitors and liars, but orcs rarely suffer their regret long.

Ogre “Big Boss”

Ogres attract orcs, whether they want them or not. Orcs value strength, size, and aggression, all of which ogres are famous for. Ogres, however, are not famous for their vocabularies. Most learn only a handful of words and repeat them constantly. “Big” and “boss” are two favorite ogre words. Other Favorites Words. “Give,” “mine,” “no,” “stop,” “die,” “dumb,” “good,” and “yum.”

5 55 Peon

Peons are shorter, smaller, and weaker than the average orc. For a brief, unforgiving lifetime of being the “small” orc, peons tend to be more perceptive and sensi- tive than their larger kin. Peons can be shrewd and even predatory, but only if driven to it. All Play, No Work. Peons are somehow lazier and more useless than most other goons. Peons will fight, but not if they can serve as lazier orcs. They prefer long hunting trips, cooking orc food, and especially if it means drinking and sleeping all day. Thug

Lone, stupid, and grumpy, thugs eventually clump together in enough numbers to become a gang. Gangs are conscripted into raids or tribal wars, and used as as- sassins or saboteurs. Thugs prove as successful at these tasks as they do at any another, including killing each other. The grumpiest ones, not the stupidest, are often the first to go. Even orcs have their limits. A Degree of Subtlety. How does an orc sneak up on you? It charges, and then tells you to close your eyes.

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6 6 6 Troll Runt War Pig

Trolls will eat anything, including other trolls. Despite the name, the war pig is no instrument of Runts realize this early or pay the price. The lucky that es- war. Orcs capture a boar, lock it in a pit or cave, and cape will wander, and many find refuge with orcs. Runts fight it in blood sports. Survivors that aren’t eaten by the blend in well enough with orcs, and the frequent raids orcs repeat their grisly fights until, eventually, they are. provide the troll with food and victims. Beaten, but Relentless. While the starved pig is Orc Leader. A runt’s regeneration can allow it to forced to fight others to their deaths, orcs torment it. Orcs recover from wounds that would have killed an orc. Com- brand it, scar it, taunt it, and generally treat it how they bined with a troll’s natural hardiness and ferocity, runts treat each other. Most pigs die under these circumstanc- can attract enough orcs to form raids and war bands. es. The beasts that survive war pigs, and don’t live much longer after earing the title.

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