Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

Ogres have been a part of D&D since its beginnings, when they were the bridge between the Humanoid and Giant power ladders. Here, they are present in both books.

The Lore

Ogres are big, dumb, strong, and mean. So much so that there’s probably the picture of an ogre near all of these words in your typical Nerathian dictionary. They famously can’t count to ten even with all their fingers in front of them, and their greatest technological achievement is wearing the skin of their last meal as a loincloth so they can appear in official D&D illustrations.

Ogres live alone or in small nomadic bands. In both cases they settle into a region, eat all available food, and move on. They don’t build complicated shelters, instead using natural ones like caves and such. Ogres will hunt and forage if they have to, but they always prefer to raid caravans or villages if those are nearby. In combat, they use improvised weapons that allow them to employ their great strength, such as tree clubs and big rocks.

You might be thinking this sounds a bit similar to the description for hill giants that we already covered, and you’d be right. The main differences between them is that hill giants are bigger, smarter, less bestial-looking and more technologically developed, in a neolithic vs. paleolithic way. Hill giants have some agriculture and built villages/steadings of their own. It also feels like it’s easier to parley with hill giants than with ogres.

Despite their strength, ogres are easily recruited into service by monsters who are more powerful or more numerous than them. This usually happens through a combination of intimidation and food bribes. Ogres can be found working as shock troops for orc or gnoll bands, or as auxiliaries and menial labor for hags, dragons, and giants. Some of these patrons provide their ogre lackeys with combat training and improved weapons, making them more dangerous. Smarter ogres willingly seek out the mercenary life, working for money and arranging that improved gear and training by their own initiative.

The Numbers

The traditional role of ogres in older editions of D&D is as the star of a “not-quite-boss” fight. Something that’s really hard for beginning adventurers to face, but which they can defeat once they gain some XP and their players become a bit savvier. Maybe you put them near the stairs to the second dungeon level, or guarding some prime loot in a corner of the goblin lair or kobold warren. When fighting ogres became easy for a group, they knew they had made it out of the junior leagues. With some thought given to encounter design, it’s still possible to have ogres in these roles.

Ogres are Large Natural Humanoids. The Monster Vault also gives them the Giant keyword, in which is surely a callback to early D&D. They move at Speed 8, and seem to not be very compatible with magic of any kind: all the ogre varieties in both books fight exclusively with physical attacks.

There’s quite a few varieties. The MM clusters them around the late heroic and early paragon tier, the MV widens that band a little. I’ll look at them roughly on the order of level, but pairing equivalent monsters from both books where appropriate. When an ogre has equivalent versions in both books, the Monster Vault version is usually the better one, so it gets more attention.

All ogres presented here are Chaotic Evil and speak only Giant, though the MM says they might know a few words of Common such as “mine!”, “hungry!” and “kill!”.

Ogre (MV)

Ogres are the quintessential brutes, and this is the quintessential ogre. A Level 6 Brute with 90 HP and Int 4, it wields a Reach 2 greatclub in melee and throws big rocks at up to range 10.

Once per encounter the ogre can perform a Grand Slam, which does double the damage of a normal club attack and yeets pushes the target 2 squares on a hit.

A pair of these might fulfill the classic ogre role of “not-quite-boss fight” for a level 1 or 2 party. Their ranged attacks make them more dangerous than old D&D ogres, though, since the party can’t just snipe at them with impunity.

Ogre Savage (MM)

This is Monster Manual’s take on old D&D ogre. This one is a Level 8 Brute with 111 HP and the same greatclub as its MV successor. However it has no ranged attacks, and its special melee attack is an Angry Smash (recharge 6) that allows it to make two attack rolls and take the best result.

Despite being 2 levels stronger than the Vault ogre, the vagaries of the early math make this one have the same attack bonus and damage. The only difference in their basic stats are the 21 extra HP and defenses 1 point higher. You can still have that not-quite-boss fight using the Ogre Savage as written, only you might want to use one of them backed up by a troupe of weaker minions. Their lack of ranged attacks might mitigate their extra power depending on your party composition.

Ogre Hunter (MV)

This one is a little more sophisticated, though that’s not saying much since it still has Int 4. It’s a Level 7 Skirmisher with 84 HP.

The ogre hunter uses a one-handed Reach 2 club as its main melee weapon, and carries a brace of stone-tipped javelins for fighting at range (Ranged 20). It’s Hurling Charge technique (recharge 4-6) allows it to throw a javelin and make a charge if that hits.

If surrounded, the hunter can Clear the Ground by stomping really hard (Close Burst 2 vs. Fortitude; Minor Action), which pushes everyone it hits 2 squares. If anyone is hit by this attack, the ogre can move its speed. Who would have thought the words “agile” and “highly mobile” would ever apply to an ogre?

Ogre Skirmisher (MM)

Aside from being level 8 with 91 HP, this is pretty much the same monster as the Ogre Hunter above. Its damage is lower due to the math bug, Hurling Charge is an encounter power that always allows two attacks, and it lacks Clear the Ground. It also has a Skirmish trait that gives it a damage bonus on any turn where it moves more than 4 squares. I think it’s safe to say it has been entirely superseded by the MV Hunter.

Ogre Mercenary (MV)

One of those smarter ogres who works for gold. This one is a Level 8 Soldier with 93 HP and an Int of 7. It fights in melee with a Reach 2 morningstar that marks for a turn on a hit, and throws Range 10 handaxes to fight from afar.

Instead of focusing on a single target with the morningstar, the Mercenary can use a Brutal Sweep to attack everyone in a Close Blast 2, dealing a bit less damage but knocking prone on a hit. This is an at-will attack! Alternating both attacks makes the mercenary quite good at keeping the party busy.

Ogre Warhulk (MM)

A level 11 Elite Brute with 286 HP, the Warhulk is otherwise equivalent to the Mercenary above. Its flail basic attack knocks prone instead of marking, and the Brutal Sweep equivalent is an encounter power that otherwise works the same.

This results in a lackluster elite, since it only has one attack per round. If you need an elite ogre, use an upgraded version of the Mercenary above.

Ogre Juggernaut (MV)

This is a Level 10 Brute with 131 HP, representing a larger and stronger ogre than the basic level 6 version. It’s still Large as far as the rules are concerned, though.

Ogre juggernauts have the same attacks as their smaller cousins, a greatclub and rocks, which do more damage due to their higher level. Their signature move is the Juggernaut Push (Melee 1 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6). If this hits, the juggernaut knocks the target prone, pushes them 1 square, and shifts to occupy the vacated square. They can then keep repeating the push-and-shift loop until they have shifted their whole speed! They can stop early if that’s not practical, but for every square they push the target beyond the first they do 1d8 damage do it!

7d8 damage is in line with a level 10 “limited use attack”, but it looks extra impressive because that’s a lot of dice and your PC just got kicked all over the battlefield like a soccer ball.

Ogre Minions (MM)

When fighting an ogre becomes easy, you’ve left the junior leagues. When you routinely face hordes of them, you’ve joined the major ones. Ogre minions come in two varieties: level 11 Ogre Thugs and level 16 Ogre Bludgeoneers. Both use their considerable bulk to pad out the forces of onis, hags, and other powerful paragon-tier bosses. Aside from the level difference, they’re identical.

I’m tempted to make “Bludgeoneers” an official unit name for a bunch of ogre minions. Like Mouseketeers, but with more violence.

Arena-Trained Ogre (MV)

If you take a typical ogre and train them for a few years at the blood-sport arenas of the Black Eagle Barony, this is what you get.

These ogres are Level 14 Brutes with 173 HP and an Int score of 8. They wield greataxes in combat, and aside from their beefy basic attack they can often make Vorpal Sweeps (Close Burst 2; enemies only; recharge 6) that do a bit less damage to each target and deal ongoing 10 damage (save ends).

Simple, but effective. And while this isn’t stated in their stat blocks, those 4 extra points of Int mean this ogre is much more capable of understanding tactics and effectively coordinating with its teammates.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The sample encounters in the Monster Manual are rather typical:

  • Level 8: 1 ogre savage, 1 orc eye of Gruumsh, 8 orc warriors, 2 dire boars. An ogre working as a heavy for an orc party.

  • Level 10: 1 ogre warhulk, 2 ogre savages, 2 ogre skirmishers. And this is a typical “small ogre band”.

Ogres are one of those monsters which I have a hard time finding sympathetic. They’re the embodiment of a particular type of crass cruelty and they fill that role well, even better than hill giants IMO.

Nevertheless, if your main cultural reference for ogres is Shrek then it’s perfectly possible to make them more sympathetic along those lines. While I like the default presentation I wouldn’t mind seeing them in that light either. Just keep those Pathfinder ogres away from my game.

Mechanically the Monster Vault stat blocks are better and you should use them if possible. If you can’t, updating the damage of the MM ogres and giving the Warhulk a second attack (or making it a regular instead of an elite) should make them workable enough. Ogre stat blocks can also be used to represent younger or weaker hill giants, like they were in the classic Against the Giants adventures.