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Orcs have been in D&D since the beginning, featuring in the Humanoid Power Ladder as the 1HD Humanoid. They’re inspired by Tolkien’s orcs, and are present both in the Monster Manual and the Vault.

The Lore

I didn’t expect this, but here we have an entry about sapient humanoids where both books agree. Neither has anything nice to say about orcs.

Orcs compete fiercely with gnolls for the title of Least Reasonable Humanoid. They worship Gruumsh, the one-eyed Chaotic Evil god of slaughter and destruction, whose commandments result in behavior that’s almost indistinguishable from that of a Yeenoghu worshipper. Being a god, Gruumsh technically doesn’t want to see the world destroyed, but the difference is lost on the poor sods on the receiving end of a raid by either set of worshippers.

Orcs organize themselves in large tribes who will usually move into a region, take over a natural cave complex or an empty town (possibly after emptying it themselves), and fortify it into a defensible base. Then they split into smaller bands of scouts and raiders to methodically plunder the surrounding region, and move on once there’s no more loot to be had. Sometimes a chief will take a liking to a given home base and order the tribe to settle in it, which means those raiding parties will range much farther out. Their preferred terrain are hills and mountains, which means they end up fighting dwarves a lot of the time.

Orcs take slaves in their raids, but never manage to keep them for long because they always end up working them to death in short order. They’re also gleefully cannibalistic towards anyone not of their tribe, even other orcs. They routinely work alongside ogres, because it’s super easy for them to bully ogres into service.

Most GMs I know tend to tone down their campaign’s portrait of orcs from the unrelenting badness described above. Eberron shows them in a much better light, having not just one but two different Lawful Good orcish cultures dedicated to guarding against aberrant and demonic invasions (respectively). Even in old D&D they were not always the opposition: hiring orcish mercenaries was a common thing for adventurers to do, and it wasn’t always assumed that the orc encampments you found in a given area were hostile and there to be raided.

The Numbers

The numbers below were built with the “unrelenting badness” version of the lore in mind, but they could be used for non-evil orcs with relatively little change. It’s also possible to turn other “natural humanoid” stat blocks into orcs by swapping signature traits around, as usual.

Orcs are Medium Natural Humanoids and typically Chaotic Evil. They have low-light vision and base Speed 6.

Their other mechanical tricks change between books. In the Monster Manual all orcs have a +2 bonus to speed when charging, and all non-minions have an attack called Warrior’s Surge, which allows them to make a melee basic attack and recover 25% of their HP. Most MM orcs are also trained in Endurance.

The Monster Vault makes the speed bonus less universal, and replaces Warrior’s Surge with Savage Demise, which allows orcs to immediately take a standard action when they drop to 0 HP. This is stronger than just making a basic attack, because allows them to charge or use special attacks.

Orc Drudge (MM)

This level 4 minion is probably the closest thing you have to the classic 1HD orc. It wears hide, wields a club, and gains the orc speed bonus to charges.

There’s a level 9 version named the Orc Warrior which is described as wearing nicer gear (scale, light shield, battleaxe), but has pretty much the same mechanics.

Orc Savage (MV)

A Level 4 Minion Brute, updating the Drudge above. Instead of a club, it carries a bunch of handaxes, which it can use for melee or ranged attacks. It also has Savage Demise, so they’ll always be able to attack at least once when they die. Makes those controller AoEs a bit more of a double-edged sword. “I fireball the horde!” “They all charge you while on fire!”

Orc Raider (MM)

A Level 3 Skirmisher with 46 HP, representing a veteran who’s a little tougher than the rank-and-file.

Raiders fight in melee with a Greataxe and throw Handaxes at range. Killer’s Eye allows them to ignore cover and concealment when making ranged attacks at a range of 5 squares or less, which will almost always be the case. They also have Warrior’s Surge, which heals them for 11 HP.

Battletested Orc (MV)

Conceptually equivalent, but mechanically different from the Raider shown above. This is a Level 3 Soldier with 50 HP. It wears scale, and wields a heavy shield and a battleaxe, with some handaxes for ranged combat.

The Battleaxe deals +5 damage on a charge and have a higher base damage than the handaxes, which means the orc will only really use the latter if there’s some sort of chasm between it and the PCs.

It can use the battlaxe for a Hacking Frenzy (close burst 1; enemies only; recharge 5-6), an all-out attack which marks everyone it hits for a turn but makes the orc grant combat advantage for the same amount of time.

Orc Archer (MV)

This archer is level 4 artillery and surprisingly dangerous! It has 42 HP, and wields a longbow.

Basic longbow attacks do physical damage out to range 30, and push 1 square on a hit. They can also fire a bunch of arrows at once in a concentrated volley (area 1 within 20 vs. AC; at-will!). Finally they carry handaxes for melee emergencies, and have Savage Demise for that one last volley.

Orc Berserker (MM)

This is a somewhat boring Level 4 Brute with 66 HP and a greataxe, which it uses to make basic melee attacks. It has no other special abilities aside from Warrior’s Surge.

Orc Reaver (MV)

This is a Level 5 Skirmisher with 63 HP. It gets the charging speed bonus.

Reavers fight in melee with a battleaxe that allows them to shift 1 square on a hit, and throw javelins at range which push the targets 1 square on a hit. Once per encounter they can use Blood-Crazed Charge to make a charge attack right after hitting with a standard one. And they have Savage Demise.

In short, these are far more interesting berserkers than the Orc Berserker.

Orc Eye of Gruumsh (MM)

A priest of Gruumsh, whose initiation ritual consists of gouging out one of their own eyeballs and eating it. This is the only instance of “intra-tribal” cannibalism allowed in orc culture.

Eyes of Gruumsh are Level 5 Controllers with the Leader keyword and 64 HP. In addition to Endurance, they’re also trained in Religion and Intimidate.

These priests fight with spears in melee, and have a variety of spells for ranged combat. Eye of Wrath (Ranged 5 vs. Will) is a minor action fear effect that inflicts -4 AC for a turn on a hit. Swift Arm of Destruction (Ranged 5; recharge 5-6) allows an orc within range to make a melee basic attack as a free action and regain 15 HP on a hit or 5 on a miss. And Chaos Hammer (area burst 1 within 10 vs. Reflex; encounter) does force damage and knocks targets prone on a hit. On a miss it still does half damage.

Warrior’s Surge and Death Strike round out its abilities. Death Strike is a watered-down Savage Demise, allowing a free melee basic attack when the orc hits 0 HP.

Chaos Hammer is a good fight-opener: it’s not a friendly burst, but if the Eye can use it before its buddies charge in, they’ll have an easier time hitting the prone PCs. After that it’s mostly a matter of keeping Eye of Wrath on as many PCs as possible and using Swift Arm on non-minion orcs. This orc’s healing abilities make it a priority target, since it can make the fight a lot harder by keeping the other orcs up for longer.

If you want to make the Eye more Monster Vault-compliant, you might want to replace the healing with some sort of accuracy and damage bonus on the granted attack.

Orc Rampager (MV)

This Level 6 Brute has 90 HP and is another variation on the “berserker” theme. It fights with a heavy flail, and its Berserk Flailing allows the rampager to deal an automatic 5 damage to any enemies that start their turn adjacent to it, as long as it can take opportunity actions. So this shuts down if you daze the rampager, for example. Rampagers have Speed 6 and no charge speed bonus.

In addition to basic attacks, the rampager can, well, Rampage. This allows it to shift up to 3 squares and make basic attacks against three enemies during the shift. It’s an at-will ability too, meaning there isn’t any reason not to spam this every round. Rampagers are death blenders even if they don’t have any edged weapons.

If they can’t reach an enemy, they can toss a Handaxe (Ranged 10) to do some physical damage and push the enemies 1 square on a hit. And finally, there’s Savage Demise for that one last rampage before they go.

Orc Pummeler (MV)

A Level 6 Controller with 76 HP, and a rare martial controller at that.

Pummelers fight with huge Stone Mauls that knock prone on a hit, and once per encounter they can do a Earthshaking Slam (Close Burst 2 vs. Fortitude) that does damage, dazes everyone it hits and automatically pushes everyone in the area of effect 2 squares.

If someone makes an opportunity attack against the pummeler, it can counter with an Intercepting Swat (recharge 4-6), which allows it to make a free basic attack against the offender. This is labeled as a Free Action, which means there’s no limit to the number of times it may be used in a round. And we also have Savage Demise.

Orc Storm Shaman (MV)

This likely represents another Gruumsh priest, but “Storm Shaman” is generic enough that you could use it as a primal caster or even a priest of some less evil god like Kord.

They’re Level 6 Artillery with 54 HP, who prefer to stay far away from their enemies and attack with Lightning Strikes (ranged 30 vs. Reflex), which do level-appropriate lightning damage to their targets and 5 to another enemy within 5 squares of that.

Once the PCs close to medium range the shaman can use a Vengeful Whirlwind (Area burst 1 within 10 vs. Fortitude; enemies only; recharges when first bloodied), which does “thunder and lightning” damage and knocks prone on a hit. After the enemy falls down, the shaman can still slide it 2 squares! On a miss, the attack does half damage and the shaman slides the enemy 1 square.

And that’s not all! The whirwind persists for a turn as a zone that deals 10 thunder and lightning damage to anyone caught inside.

The shaman fights with a scimitar in melee, but only if it has no other choice.

After the shaman is first bloodied, it starts Wind Walking until the end of the encounter, which gives it a flight speed of 8 but requires it to land at the end of every move. Savage demise completes the shaman’s repertoire.

Orc Bloodrager (MM)

Bloodragers are Level 7 Elite Brutes, likely representing champions or subchiefs. They have 194 HP, but are much harder to kill than this number indicates.

Bloodragers fight with Greataxes, have Warrior’ Surge, and can also make basic attacks as a reaction when they’re hit by adjacent enemies. And any time they hit a bloodied enemy with an attack, Blood for Blood makes them deal +5 damage and heal 10 HP.

Between their high HP pool, the trickle of healing from Blood for Blood, and the 48 HP healed by Warrior’s Surge, you’re going to be fighting the bloodrager for a loooong time. It makes sense for it to have no MV equivalent, as it relies entirely on a tactic that fell out of favor (monster healing).

Orc Chieftain (MM)

Chieftains are Level 8 Elite Brutes with 216 HP and the Leader keyword. Their leadership skills are represented as an aura 5 named Blood of the Enemy, which grants bloodied allies inside a +2 bonus to damage.

Commanders fight with Greataxes, which have the High-Crit property, and can Inspire Ferocity in an ally that just dropped to 0 HP as a reaction, allowing them to make a melee basic attack before croaking. Warrior’s Surge is its last ability, healing 54 HP.

With a bit of an update, chieftains make excellent additions to a party otherwise composed of MV orcs, since I would definitely make Inspire Ferocity stack with Savage Demise (the Ferocity attack happens first, then the action from Savage Demise).

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The selection on any one of the books gives us enough variety to make entire adventures with all-orc encounters, and this is what the large selection of sample encounters gives us. Rather than listing them all in detail, I’ll mention the non-orc monsters tossed in, since I would guess they’re a nice representation of typical orc allies.

Over the several encounters listed, we have the following orc allies: dire boars, dire wolves, ogres, and there’s even an oni here, though in this case I would say the oni is running the show.

Mechanically, I think the Monster Vault orcs are by far the best. Despite the name, Savage Demise is very effective and doesn’t run the risk of making fights drag on for too long like Warrior’s Surge.

Lore-wise, well, there’s a reason orcs are almost always used as the main example for why D&D’s traditional take on “savage humanoids” is problematic. I tend to prefer settings which make them at least equivalent to humans in variety, where their alignment is an individual choice and not a species-wide label. Eberron’s guardian orcs are quite nice as well. Wizards of the Coast has recently committed to improving the way they portray orcs and other humanoids, but I think we’ve yet to see the results of those efforts.

One interesting thing you could do is to use the lore above for Gruumsh worshippers of any species. It would make perfect sense for Gruumsh to be a jealous deity who demands exclusive worship even in a polytheistic setting, and requires his worshippers to follow this violent raiding lifestyle. Sure, there are orcs in there, but a little signature trait swapping you could have humans, dwarves, and even elves filling the same role.