Random opinions on the half-orc

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A half-orc bard? Heh. Interesting.
Dwarfs in BG2 receive a +1 to Con and a -1 to Dex and Chr. Rather sucky.

(Back on topic)

Although if you think about it, Bhaal have, uh, did it with fire giants, dragons, RABBITS, and god knows what else. Probably gibberlings, too.

Ugh, I'm putting disgusting images in my head.

 

Isn't it -1 dex and -2 ch?
By the way i can see no way why dwarves should get -1dex.

 

@diebysteel
Nay, I just ran a quick BG2 game to check. It's -1 Dex and Chr.

 

In my game its -2, i can't give him more than 16 charisma. Perhaps you have some mod because i remember that in iwd it's 16, too.

 

I do not have much knowledge of the DND rules, but I know for sure that the rules in BG2 and IWD are totally different. For the case of BG2, deathmage is surely right.

 

I know they are different but i can't give a dwarf more than 16 ch. If i click on charisma in the creation it says maximum: 16.

 

Why does everyone look down on Half-Orcs?

Why are some people saying that they cant be role played? It is absolutly possible do do so.

A stupid ugly but extreamly strong orc, sounds cool in my ears.

I also enjoys all those dialouges where the person you're talking to refers to you as a patetic orc.

 

Actually, in BG1, iirc, if you play a half-elf it says that your mother is also a half-elf (implying that he turned into a half-elf and mated with another) which would also explain the half-orc.

Back ON topic, I think half-orcs CAN be role-played, but are generally used for power-gaming. I've never played a half-orc in BG2, so I can't say much more.

 

I believe this is how half-orcs came to exist (there must be other stories too, but I don't know about them).
The orcs are a warring race and when they would ravage some human villages, sometimes they would rape the women. Some of these women would then get pregnant and bore their half-orcs. Of course, these children were cast out and on their own, only having eachother.

Humans hate half-orcs because they remind them of what happened and half-orcs are rare because the above flow of events isn't likely to happen very often.

So there you have it: a reason for why they are so scarce and a little background. As an orc you are an outcast. So he would either be very shy (could be) and cautious or wrathful and angry.
So I do think you can roleplay them.


I agree however that they've made dwarves absolete. Dwarves are fighters. Other races are better for being thieves and magelings. The only class they could also effectifely be is cleric, since noone gets the wis bonus anyway.
I think they should give orcs an dex penalty due to being so big or something and remove the con bonus. That would make them worse fighters and would put the dwarf back on the chart.

 

I believe that dwarves are still better fighters in the BG2 game than half-orcs despite the str and dex advantage of half-orcs.

1) str advantage is negated since you'll use one of many str enhancing items available in the game anyways.

2)the dex disadvantage can be offset as well though it is more difficult.

3) even with the dex advantage of the half-orc, as mentioned above, the dwarf has a tremendous advantage with saving throws. This is particularly important for a fighter who is often the target of the enemies spells.

This is all particularly true for soloing where saving throws are far more important than 1 AC.

 

I agree with Menion Leah. Half-orc should have dex penalty. But I don't mind the con bonus...

 

Whoever hates half orcs must die by my lumbering, low swinging, two handed, two headed axe. AAAARRRGGGHHHH! ( symbolizing barbarian rage )

 

You ought to read the entry on half orcs and half elves in the 3E PHB. It explains there the many ways these could come into existance, quite often through brutal rape.

As for Bhaal, I believe that since he was a god, whatever he mated with kept the form of the mother and the divine essence of the father, as suggested by BG1 character bios.

And why should half orc be a "powergaming choice"? Maybe someone just likes half orcs. No one says you have to use their advantages to abusive levels after all.

 

I fail to see how one or two ability score points constitutes "power gaming," especially when there are so many items to offset natural scores, or even enhance them (Lum's machine comes to mind...), and when you can role to your hearts content during character creation. The real power gaming issue is that you can move ability points up and down at will during character creation, borrowing from one and giving to another.

Besides, there are far worse examples of improper ability scores, like the fact that gender does not affect strength limitations, or that puny gnomes can have 18/00 strength.

The biggest mystery to me with regard to half-orcs is how they can have up to 18 charisma, unenhanced. According to the "real" rules (1st edition), they had the following maximum stats:

Strength: 18/99
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 14
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 19
Charisma: 12

Now, that sounds more like a real half-orc to me.

I think another issue worth mentioning is allowing the non-human races to have altered maximum scores while disregarding the racial minimums. This allows characters to be created with extremely high scores in favorite abilities, and extremely low scores where it is easy to compensate. Racial minimums prevent players from "borrowing" too many points.

 

Hey I like powergaming!

But seriously, I plan on using a half-orc cleric or rogue some time just for the heck of it. And while I'm at it I'm going to do maybe a gnome barbarian, a dwarven druid, and a halfling monk.

 

Sorry Ranger, but two of them are impossible. A gnomish barbarian is an odd choice, but it can be done. However, you won't be able to make a dwarven druid, nor a halfling monk, as druid and monk are restricted to humans and half-elfs. I think if you play a 3rd edition game, you'd be able to do these, but not in BG2.

 

Aldeth, I think he will use shadowkeeper for that.

 

@diebysteel

I always forget you can do that! I am not a big fan of SK in the first place, and if I were to use it, it would be because I wanted to use a piece of equipment but didn't have the stats for it. I wouldn't do it to play a class that was race-restricted. So yeah, you're right, he can use SK, and it just goes to prove what every already knows - I'm an Idiot.