Alewelian Orcs

Orcs are the last of the major races, and are widely (if not entirely justly) considered the least of them. Tribal, primitive, and uninterested in civilization, Orcs tend to exist on the fringes of the Empire, usually acting as “barbarian auxiliaries” for more organized imperial forces. They didn’t group up with anyone else during the last cataclysm either, instead isolating themselves in hidden tribal encampments – rather like hornets. Harmless enough if left alone, but if you find and disturb an orc colony, the swarm will come boiling out to attack – but unlike most primitives, they come pouring out driving a wide variety of heavily armed vehicles.

Orcish vehicles are death traps. They offer little to no protection to the driver, they have to be steered, they tend to flip over and/or explode, and their range is relatively short even if they are pretty fast. They tend to be covered in spikes, and skulls, and bolted-on weapons. Oh so many spikes and weapons. They aren’t really for serious TRAVEL. They’re for riding into battle and pursuing fleeing enemies, for launching attacks from, for making quick escapes, and for fighting duels on top of (no matter HOW insane that is).

Orcs tend to treat their vehicles as creatures rather than as mechanisms – and that’s because that is exactly what they ARE. They’re usually elemental spirits taking temporary forms to go roaring around the landscape having a bit of excitement. That’s why Orcs don’t need complicated maintenance, or to spend a lot of time on repairs and finding fuel, or even a large garage to keep them in. Instead they just come boiling out of their camps and caves riding a variety of absurd-looking contraptions that certainly should not work – but which nevertheless roar around firing huge rocks and spears and alchemical flame and such. Think Mad Max: Fury Road. That’s what fighting Alewelian Orcs is like.

So some orcs survived. They rapidly rebuilt their population by simply breeding faster than everyone else – a consequence of being fully adult at 12, and considered venerable at 40. Their conception of the world seems to be almost entirely animistic, which (in their view) basically allows them to arm-wrestle the spirits of the world to make them do what they want.

Annoyingly to most scholars, this seems to work to some extent, which allows orcs to obtain a variety of services and favors from various spirits – whereby even orcish children can usually claim the occasional favor from minor elemental spirits. While some of them try to extend this notion to things like City Wards (in hopes that defeating the city spirit will make them king of the city) this has never been known to work. The fact that some of them keep on trying tends to make their reputations even worse.

Orc Racial Template:

• Witchcraft III: Provides (Str + Dex + Con)/3 Power, Save DC’s (13 + Cha Mod) where relevant (18 CP). Seven basic abilities as follows:
  • Glamour, Specialized and Corrupted for Reduced Cost: Orcs gain a +6 bonus to Intimidate, a +3 bonus on the Save DC’s against their Warcries, and – when shouting orders – can always be clearly understood if they’re using an appropriate language; battle-noise does not interfere. While these effects have no cost, orcs cannot use Glamour in other ways.
  • Hand Of Shadows: Specialized and Corrupted / only for crafting and labor, Orcs are a stone age people. That does not stop them; d20 does not call for any specific tools or materials for Craft and Profession skills – and for an Orc, that loophole is wide open. Do you want ceramic-composite lamellar armor, an adamntine vibro katana, and a lasgun? As long as those are allowed in the setting, an orc can turn them out, starting with a pile of rocks for tools, raw materials, and workspace and accomplishing a weeks worth of work without penalty each day at no cost.
  • Healing: Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect (Double Effect, auto-triggered when the user suffers incapacitating injuries or sleeps, only works on the user, only usable when auto-triggered. Orcs are nigh-impossible to put down save by truly major attacks, fighting on despite massive injuries and swiftly recovering from poisons and such.
  • Hyloka: Specialized and Corrupted / only to use a personal version of Awesome Wrath (The Practical Enchanter, Morale Bonuses of +4 Str, +4 Con, and +2 to Will Saves, but the same basic limitations as a Barbarian’s Rage), lasting up to one minute per level for 1 Power.
  • Infliction Specialized and Corrupted for Triple Effect / requires specialized weapons to use, each with specific infliction effects, user’s can only carry (Str Mod +1, 2 minimum) types of infliction-based weapons at a time, weapons are prone to “running our ammo” on a “1″ or jamming (becoming unusable until a full-round action is spent fixing the weapon) on a “2″. Thus an individual Orc capable of carrying three types of infliction weapons might thus be carrying a “firegun” that projects single-target bolts of flame, a quiver full of exploding (small radius effect) sonic javelins, and a set of lightning gauntlets (touch, only with a metal weapon attack or touch) to boost melee attacks. These may either allow saves or require attack checks.
    • Since Infliction allows a free choice of damage types, Orcs can select weapons (usually nets) that inflict “subjugation” damage; if a creature would be reduced to (-HP) via subjugation, it will become docile for a few days, and then start responding according to how it was treated while subjugated.
    • They are quite free to carry normal weapons as well.
  • The Inner Eye, Specialized and Corrupted / only to read the spirits of armor, weapons, and vehicles. The user may learn the provenance and history of such items automatically and reduces the level of proficiency needed to use such items by one level, two levels if they were crafted by an orc. This effect has no cost.
  • Witchsight: Specialized and Corrupted / only to provide Darkvision, either at 60′ at no cost or 120′ for one power for ten minutes.
• Witchcraft Pacts:
  • Gateway: Orcs are living anchors for Spirits, and their mere presence will allow spirits to occasionally manifest themselves into the physical world (-6 CP).
  • Spirit: The spirits of deceased orcs tend to wander off and join one spiritual faction or another, making them quite hard to Raise, Reincarnate, or Resurrect (-6 CP).
• Advanced Witchcraft:
  • Summoning, Specialized for Reduced Cost and Corrupted for Increased Effect / only to quickly and easily invoke spirit favors, but there is no cost for “placing the call” (3 CP).
  • Spirits Of The Deep: Specialized for Increased Effect (half power cost) and Corrupted for Reduced Cost / only works on spirits who are doing the user a favor, only to apply a “vehicle template” (at a cost of 3 Power), this always results in “orcish vehicles” (4 CP). Note that “destroyed” vehicles simply return to spirit form, rather than actually being “injured”.
  • Mana (2d6) as +6d6 Power, Specialized and Corrupted / only to power Infliction and Hyloka effects (4 CP).
  • Mana (1d6) as +3d6 Power, Specialized and Corrupted / Only to power Healing and Witchsight Effects (2 CP).
  • Mana (1d6) as +3d6 Power, Specialized and Corrupted / only to power Spirits Of The Deep and Infliction Effects (2 CP).
• Fast Learner, Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect (+3 CP/ Level)/ only for Favors and Connections, only from/with Spirits, user must always have more favors of each lower level than of any higher level (6 CP). Orcs often dream of the spirit realm, and there encounter various spirits, drink with them, wrestle with them, and attempt to defeat them in contests. While this suffices to gain minor favors, gaining major or great favors tends to require ritual spirit questing, performing some deed to gain the favor of the spirits, making offerings, or going out and confronting spirits – which is why many Orc tribes “trade” with others to gain the favor of spirits that are less common wherever they live. After all, spirit favors and
• Immunity, needing to pay Spirit Favors back at full value. (Common, Minor, Major, 6 CP). Orcs can get minor favors in exchange for nothing much – and while they must repay larger favors, they do so at one rank less. Thus Minor Favors need not be repaid, Major Favors are repaid as Minor Favors, and Enormous Favors are repaid as Major Favors.

Orcs are actually surprisingly versatile and powerful shamans; even their children – however feral they may be – have fairly formidable weapons and minor spirit favors to call upon. Unfortunately, their short lifespans tend to leave them with little time to learn, extremely immature attitudes, and rather crude social skills. They are noisy, impatient, and all too inclined to summon spirits and get violent whenever frustrated. Unsurprisingly, this makes them unwelcome in most settlements – further limiting their social relationships.

Innate Enchantment (Up to 6500 GP / 7 CP).

• • Psychic Focus (Infliction): Reduces the cost of using a specific psychic ability by 1 power (to a minimum of 1 power) once per round up to three times within the next minute. Characters may only employ one Psychic Focus effect at a time and can never learn to boost more than (Wis Mod +1, 1 Minimum) specific abilities in this fashion. SL1 x CL1 x 2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only = 1120 GP.
  • Immortal Vigor (+12 + 2 x Con Mod HP): SL1 x CL1 x 2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only = 1120 GP.
  • Enhance Attribute (+2 Enhancement Bonus to Strength): SL1 x CL1 x 2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only = 1120 GP.
  • Enhance Attribute (+2 Enhancement Bonus to Constitution): SL1 x CL1 x 2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only = 1120 GP.
  • Resistance (+1 on each save, SL1/2 x CL1 x2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only = 560 GP.
  • Inspiring Word (+1 Morale Bonus to Attacks, Saves, Checks, and Weapon Damage). : SL1 x CL1 x 2000 GP Unlimited-Use Use-Activated x.8 Abundant Magic x.7 Personal Only x.8 requires war-cries and loud announcements of their intentions to inspire friendly spirits to help them out. Such spirits sometimes throw in dramatic heavy metal background music as well to boost the drama, no matter how hard this is on stealth = 896 GP.
  • Bony Hide: Masterwork Studded Leather Armor (150 GP): +3 Armor (treat as Natural Armor due to immunity to stacking limits), Max Dex Bonus +5, Spell Failure 15% (An Orc may spend 1 CP to apply the “Smooth” modifier / Specialized in Bony Hide only) to negate both of these problems).
  • Armor Augment Crystal – Least Restful Crystal (x.8 Abundant Magic = 400 GP). Orcs do not suffer penalties for sleeping in their “armor”.
• The Inward Fire: Immunity / Stacking limits when combining racial innate enchantment effects with external effects (Common, Minor, Trivial (only covers L0 and L1 effects), 2 CP).
• Immunity/Dispelling and Antimagic (Common, Minor, Great, Specialized and Corrupted/only protects innate enchantments that provide personal augmentations, only protects the basic racial abilities, 4 CP).
• Immunity/the normal XP cost of Innate Enchantments (Uncommon, Minor, Trivial [only covers first level effects at caster level one], Specialized/only to cover initial racial abilities, 1 CP).
• -2 Intelligence (-6 CP). Sadly, thanks to their early maturation, orcs tend to miss out on a good deal of the childhood learning, and development of advanced reasoning, that most other intelligent races get.
• Disadvantages (-10 CP):
• Accursed: Rapid Aging. Orcs are fully mature at ten, and elderly at forty.
• Incompetent (Diplomacy). Like it or not, Orcs never really get past the “playground taunts” level.
• Uncivilized: Orcs tend to act like impulsive kids, glorify battle, and solve their problems with physical force. They don’t fit into cities well.

Orcs are not the best when it comes to magic, or organized armies – but when it comes to individual beat downs, they are really very good at it. Sure, an elf may be better with a blade, a dwarf will have more items, and so on – but when it comes to smacking things, bring an orc.

As usual with Alewelian races, Orcs are really quite powerful. They may be on the low end of the social scale when it comes to the major races, but it’s really only the lack or organization that holds them back. Sadly, they don’t to as well in the Imperial Military as might be expected; they don’t do adapt easily to such a structured environment.

Orcish Cultural Package Deals include:

Stoneheart Orc (Earth Spirit Affinity):

• War Paint: Double Enthusiast, Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect / only to buy additions to their Racial Innate Enchantment, only to buy enhancements to their Bony Hide (Armor Enhancements, Armor Templates, Armor Crystals, and Armor Upgrades) (6 CP). While this is only 6000 GP worth of extra benefits, item slots are not a worry – so they can use as many “armor crystals” as they like.
• Immunity / The distinction between improvements made on their Bony Hide and racial abilities: Uncommon, Minor, Minor (Covers up to 12,000 GP worth of boosts, 2 CP).
• Proficiency with all Simple Weapons, Corrupted / only those primarily made of metal or stone (2 CP). Note that, in conjunction with their Inner Eye effect, this allows them to use all Martial Weapons made of Metal or Stone proficiently, as well as allowing them to use all Exotic Weapons made of metal or stone that were crafted by orcs proficiently.
• Proficiency with Light Armor, Corrupted / only armors primarily made of metal or stone (2 CP). As with Weapons, this allows them to use all Medium Armors made of metal or stone proficiently and allows them to use all Heavy Armors made of metal or stone by orcs proficiently.

Blood Tide Orc (Sea Spirit Affinity)

• Presence, Specialized for Increased Effect (level two effect: Death Knell) and Corrupted for Reduced Cost / only affects targets whom the user has just reduced to 0 HP or less via melee combat (4 CP).
• Witchcraft / Wrath Of The Sea (6 CP).
• Access to Occult Skill / Vehicles, Corrupted for Reduced Cost (2 CP) / only to grant upgrades to seagoing vessels they command.

Fireheart Orc (Fire Spirit Affinity)

• Witchcraft / Leaping Fire (6 CP).
• +3d6 Mana as 9d6 Power, Specialized and Corrupted for Reduced Cost / only for use with the Leaping Fire ability (6 CP).

Warcrier Orc (Sky Spirit Affinity):

• Mystic Artist (Voice) (6 CP): Orcs shout warcries, and the names of their attacks, and such things all the time – and some few have learned to add some magic to that.
• Witchcraft / Windforge (as per Witchcraft / Nightforge, but solidified air instead of darkness) (6 CP).

Finally, we have the possibly-mythical Wyldborn Orc package deal. Note that this option makes Orcs insanely dangerous.

Wyldborn Orc (Chaos Spirit Affinity)

• Witchcraft / Ridden By The Loa, Specialized for Increased Effect (the user generally remains in control) and Corrupted for Reduced Cost (4 CP) / only to take on a specific “super soldier” or “power armor” template, the user becomes fanatical on some topics.
• Witchcraft / Mouth Of The Earth (6 CP). Boosting their “Infliction” weapons to use d8’s or to cause other horrible effects makes a Wyldborn Orc extremely dangerous.
• 1d6 Mana as +3d6 Power, Specialized and Corrupted for Reduced Cost / only to be used with the two disciplines given above (2 CP).

Unusually, it is not uncommon for Orcs to learn additional package deals if and when they have the extra character points available; all of them are pretty good.

Unlike most of the other races, Orcs apparently handled cataclysms the same way that they handle things like dragon attacks: some go roaring out to fight, some fill their lair with traps and obstacles, and some go zooming off at high speed in their ridiculous vehicles (either to start a new tribe in another location or to hook up with another force) – and while those are most often ground vehicles, air vehicles construction equipment, and tunneling machines do turn up. This makes it almost impossible to catch them all, even if their lair is almost entirely surrounded by a far superior force – and the rate at which they breed makes it certain that for every colony you smash, there will be a dozen more in just a few years time (although once they start feeling crowded they do tend to fight each other). It’s not the most dignified of strategies, and it doesn’t do much to preserve civilization – but almost any other fighting force on the disc can use a bunch of no maintenance required high speed self-propelled armored personnel carriers full of formidable fighters. If there’s a war on, and a bunch of Orcs turn up and want to join your forces… any sensible commander says “ORCS! BE WELCOME! THERE WILL BE GOOD FIGHTING!” loudly and joyfully!