The PCs may also try to bluff their way past the orcs by making a Charisma (Deception) check with disadvantage (no disadvantage if they’ve been talked into indifference), opposed by the orcs’ Intelligence or Wisdom, depending on the nature of the bluff. While monstrosities seek food and territory, giants compete for status, dragons pursue power and treasure, and aberrations are after who knows what, conflicts with humanoid antagonists typically revolve around the things we don’t discuss at the dinner table: religion and politics. With orcs, I continue my examination of the cannon-fodder humanoid monsters of Dungeons & Dragons. Dragonborn look very much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings or a tail. This monster is a member of the Orcs group. If the orc attacks with advantage, however, its chance to hit increases from 65 percent to 88 percent, so its expected damage increases to 8.3 hp. The fact that a group of orcs has retreated does not mean combat is over. At a 50 percent chance to hit, three attacks with advantage are slightly better than four without. Some of these cousins of this hardy avian species keep to remote locales, while others share their forebears’ predilection for the easy grub to be found in city streets. So here’s our conclusion: An orc Eye of Gruumsh will forgo its own Attack action in order to cast command against a foe that’s within reach of four or more ordinary orcs, or two or more plus a leader. The orog is a much stronger, tougher and smarter variant with many more hit points and two swings per Attack action. On subsequent rounds, they will continue to Attack (action) the same target or, if that target is killed, move on to another, using Aggressive (bonus action) again to reach an archer or caster between 30 and 60 feet away. They gather in tribes that satisfy their bloodlust by slaying any humanoids that stand against them. Searches must be at least 3 characters. Orc Names Guide | Examples and Naming Conventions for 5E Orc Names Guide | Examples and Naming Conventions for 5E. If attacked by more than one enemy, an orc will move to a position where it can fight only one, if possible. The Misty Mountains loom on the western edge of Wilderland. Females are slightly smaller. How does the fifth edition of D&D make orcs unique? “All its attacks” are one attack. They age noticeably faster and rarely live longer than 75 years. Therefore, there’s no reason at all for the orc war chief to wait to use it, save one: the war chief has to forgo its own Attack to use it, because Battle Cry is an action. It will issue the command “Scram!” in order to provoke an opportunity attack from every orc that can reach the target. Many also had wolf-like ears that were pointed on the ends, similar to elves. Above two-thirds, four normal attacks are better. Guide to Building a Half Orc Barbarian: DnD 5e. Dungeons And Dragons RulesDungeons And Dragons ClassesDungeons And Dragons HomebrewCool MonstersDnd MonstersSkyrimDnd OrcDnd Table5e Dnd [OC] The terrifying Orc Butcher, from Homebrew Inn A subreddit dedicated to the various iterations of Dungeons & Dragons, from its First Edition roots to its Fifth Edition future. Age: Half-Orcs mature a little faster than Humans, reaching Adulthood around age 14. Orcs of Angmar and the North for Middle-earth for 5e. It will not Disengage, instead risking one or more opportunity attacks in order to retain its own Attack action. Orcs of Isengard. But first, let’s look at what the Eye of Gruumsh gives up by doing this: its Attack action. Orcs are brutes. If they re-encounter the PCs, and if the PCs seem to be weakened in any way, the orcs will seize the moment and attack—once again, using Aggressive (bonus action) to charge in and strike the first blows. The Monster Manual lists several orc variants that may appear in encounters with intermediate-level PCs. Except the PC is still going to be prone if it and the Eye of Gruumsh are still alive when the Eye’s next turn comes around, and then it gets all its attacks with advantage before the PC can finally stand up again! D&D 5th Edition Compendium. If they succeed, the orcs will believe their lie. November 13, 2020 May 21, 2020 by Jared Rigsby. The Aggressive feature applies almost exclusively to one situation: when a group of orcs is between 30 and 60 feet away from the player characters. Orcs of the Misty Mountains and Wilderland in Middle-earth for 5e. Command can have a tide-of-battle-swinging effect. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 3) slashing damage. Unlike goblins and kobolds, orcs are strong and tough. lets them know not to attack, while the players a present, this can give them an otherworldly ‘one step ahead’ of the players feel for tribes which include an eye of gruumsh. Gray orcs are drawn to areas where magic is frequently used or locations marred by magical pollution. I’d say it would first take a blessing for itself, then give one to the orc war chief, if there is one, then to any other individual that stands out in the group.). Some orcs know Goblin or Giant as well. 4e Monster Manual, page 203. Below 50 percent, three with advantage are significantly better. And they often have large canine teeth. (Which of its companions would the Eye of Gruumsh bless? The real game-changer is Battle Cry, a once-per-day power that gives the orc war chief’s warriors advantage on attack rolls for the next turn. Last, there’s the orc Eye of Gruumsh, a battlefield cleric. Source. Just as eruptions of magical energies and careless experimentation by incautious wizards have resulted in the creation of monstrosities such as the owlbear, the shambling mound, and the banderhobb, they’ve also produced fearsome mutations in the common pigeon. Introduced in Volo’s Guide to Monsters for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Orcs are the war-based people of Toril. An orc Eye of Gruumsh will charge with other orcs. Save Statblock Load Statblock Printable Block View Image View Markdown. Back in those days, the manuals were set in Futura, and plate mail plus a shield was AC 2, and we were thankful for it, you whippersnappers. increase of +1.82875, so 14 orcs makes it worth it. The Oath of Deliverance is an attestation that there are laws greater than the laws of governors and judges, kings and emperors—laws of freedom, justice, benevolence, and dignity. I’ll edit the article accordingly. Keith’s book grounds villains in specificity, motivation, and tactics—so much so that players will love to hate ’em. However, “command:grovel” still doesn’t benefit the Eye of Gruumsh in any meaningful way, since it consumes one action that could have been used to Attack in order to provide advantage on the next Attack. Their posture is usually more like that of an ape than a human as they are often a bit hunched. Not only does this potentially split the party (especially so if its not a typical front line character) but it gives the Eye his own personal target to destroy … or have his friends surround and destroy. Would an orc war chief have any way to calculate this? Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11. One spell stands out: spiritual weapon. They are typically about 5’11” to 6’2″” in height and 180-280 lbs. They prepare to make war on the weaker peoples around them through both subterfuge and force. Have the player make a DC 20 Charisma (Intimidation) check, opposed by a Wisdom check for the orcs. Ordinary orcs aren’t smart enough to strategize, but orogs are. A group of orcs containing one or more orogs will prefer to attack under cover of darkness, if given a choice. It is here that Mount Gundabad and Moria served as strongholds to orc kingdoms. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The command’s chance of success is only 50/50 even against an average person, so we have to figure that there need to be several orcs on hand to make opportunity attacks for this stunt to be worth trying. One possible beneficial outcome of command is that a PC may be forced into a position that gives his or her opponent advantage on an attack that occurs before the PC can act. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Armor Class 16 (ring mail, shield) Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18) Speed 30 ft. STR 16 (+3) DEX 12 (+1) CON 16 (+3) INT 9 (-1) WIS 13 (+1) CHA 12 (+1) Skills Intimidation +3, Religion +1. Nicely written, one point of clarification though: Spiritual Weapon does not require concentration. What about an orog? Traveller SRD | Swords and Wizardry SRD | 5th Edition SRD | Dungeon World SRD | 13th Age SRD | d20HeroSRD | The Modern Path SRD | d20PFSRD | 3.5e SRD | GumshoeSRD | FateCoreSRD | Starjammer SRD | OGN Articles | Design Finder 2018 | Fudge SRD | Here Be Monsters | d20 Anime … One could also call it the Rending Maw or something like that. They have the Aggressive feature, which allows them to move their full speed toward a hostile creature as a bonus action, effectively allowing them to Dash, then Attack. How do you define “stronger and tougher”? Also, this isn’t about the difference between attacking with advantage and attacking without it anymore—it’s about the difference between getting an attack and not getting an attack. That does open up other spell options for the Eye of Gruumsh. A really nice supplement to the 5th Edition Monster Manual. Unlike all the Eye of Gruumsh’s other spells, this one is cast as a bonus action and, in addition, gives the caster a new bonus action to use every round. Orcs that have retreated will seek an opportunity to attack again while the party is weak. Traits Aggressive: As a bonus action, the orc monster can be move up to its speed towards the hostile creature than it able to see. They have muscular frames. Name. The immediately following Spiritual Weapon attack is not made with advantage because a target successfully commanded to fall prone doesn’t do so until its own turn. All that being said, the Battle Cry action also allows the orc war chief to make a single attack as a bonus action, meaning that if it’s already next to an enemy, it’s giving up only one of its two potential attacks. They believe this history fuels within the orcs a deep hatred for magic, especially magic that defiles the natural world. * Would you like to use search filters? Orcs are savage humanoids with stooped postures, piggish faces, and prominent teeth that resemble tusks. I know I got a much better understanding of the humble, lowly Kobold and a greater appreciation for how Orcs organize their societies (much more complex than you would think). Gruumsh’s Fury is a passive feature that increases the orc war chief’s weapon damage by 1d8 on every hit. (If the PC acts first, the command is wasted: he or she simply stands back up.) So if the war chief is fighting alongside five or more other orcs, but fewer than 10, it will still use Battle Cry—after the band of orcs has already charged. A preoccupied DM may easily forget that as long as the Eye of Gruumsh is concentrating on spiritual weapon, it can’t cast any other spell that requires concentration; this scratches guidance, resistance and bless off the list. orcs waiting to attack a village may wait until the PCs have left as their ‘reading of the bones’, etc. Hope this helps. The question now is, what does the Eye of Gruumsh do with its action? Orcs… Orcs are strange beasts. But the increase in expected damage from attacking with advantage turns out to be surprisingly small: only about 3 hp per attack, or 6 hp altogether. Orc Eye of Gruumsh. Hold down the Ctrl (windows) / Command (Mac) button to select or deselect multiple options. At this point, any hostile action on the PCs’ party, including moving closer than 30 feet for any reason, will end the parley immediately and initiate combat. Please be patient while these changes are made. However, the fact that orcs have any social skill at all—even if it’s just Intimidation—suggests that there ought to be some opportunity to interact before combat begins. AC 15: WC av 19.2, O goes up over 2.2 from 5.55, 9 is worth it. Actually, orcs have always been somewhat tougher than goblins and kobolds, but they remain one of the undistinguished stock foes of low-level D&D parties. It would simply know intuitively, from its battlefield experience (which comes mostly from fighting other orcs, who have AC 13), that issuing a Battle Cry before charging seems to make a difference in a group of 10 or more orc warriors, while in a smaller group, it doesn’t. Now running a 5E campaign for my wife and her coworkers and loving it. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. When it comes to orcs, though, Volo’s cops out on these topics, instead giving us an anthropological (orcological?) Medium humanoid (orc), chaotic evil. Monsters; Orc Source: 5th Edition SRD ↓ Attributes. Orc Edit Page Content. Orcs are carnivorous humanoids. But the Eye of Gruumsh doesn’t have Multiattack. Required fields are marked *. An orog fights the same way as a regular orc, except that it will Disengage (action) when repositioning itself. Orcs were roughly the same size as humans and other similar humanoids, tho… Medium humanoid (orc), chaotic evil. Augury takes a full minute to cast and has no purpose in combat. Depending on how you, the DM, believe that this particular group of orcs should act, a seriously injured orc may be willing to fight to the death for honor’s sake, or it may possess more of a will to survive, in which case it will Disengage (action) and retreat its full movement distance. Many orcs who take up the warrior or fighter class also gain proficiency with the falchion or the greataxe as a martial weapon. An orc war chief commanding five to nine other orcs will charge first, then use Battle Cry (action) on its second round, then make one attack against its chosen enemy (bonus action). Thanks again. Buy Oath of Deliverance on the DMs’ Guild. An adult male orc is a little over 6 feet tall and weighs about 210 pounds. Aggressive: Being a bonus action, the orc monster can move almost to its speed towards the hostile creature which it is able to see. This book will enrich your game immeasurably!”—Matthew Lillard, “This book almost instantly made me a better Dungeon Master. You are correct with respect to the timing. Thaumaturgy is interesting, but one has to consider its primary application to be during the parley phase, when the orcs are trying to maximize their fearsomeness. Thus, it requires fewer orcs to justify the lost action for the WC as AC climbs. The variety of spells at its disposal potentially makes the Eye of Gruumsh’s combat strategy much more complex, so we need to take a look at the effects and effectiveness of each spell and how it fits into the Eye of Gruumsh’s action economy. The ones who live will long for payback. Orcs are proficient with all simple weapons, preferring those that cause the most damage in the least time. (My own inclination is to have orcs that see their fellows retreating successfully be more willing to retreat themselves, while orcs whose fellows have been slain will fight to the death themselves.) An orc war chief is an extremely formidable opponent, even more so than an orog. My calculations are as follows: AC 11: war chief av. What Keith gets is that the monsters are the DM’s characters, and his work has been super helpful in adding logic, flavor, and fun in my quest to slaughter my players’ characters and laugh out the window as they cry in their cars afterward.”—Joe Manganiello, “The best movie villains are the ones you fall in love with. The tags have no rules of their own, but something in the game, such as a magic item, might refer to them. Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (D&D 5e) character builder/generator and digital character sheet far beyond any other in the multiverse. AC 13: WC av 22.2, O goes up 2.11375 from 6.5, so 11 is worth it. This monster is a member of the Orcs group. Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10. From this, we can determine that the orc war chief will prefer to use Battle Cry rather than Attack when it commands a force of at least 10 ordinary orcs. Therefore, its expected damage per round is 21 hp. The dominion of Angmar far to the North developed in strength and many orcs served the Witch-King. Despite their aggression and stupidity, even orcs know when they’re overmatched. The parenthetical tags provide additional categorization for certain creatures. The half orc barbarian is a real hoot. (Before the encounter begins, use the table on page 82 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to determine which side is stronger. Your email address will not be published. Thanks for helpful insights. Orcs often fight alongside ogres, and they can be coerced or bullied into serving any dark overlord or wicked monster powerful enough to command their obedience. And, of course, the Eye of Gruumsh can’t benefit from ordering a foe of its own to kneel, because of the sequence of initiative no, not because of the sequence of initiative, but because it gives up one Attack action to gain advantage on the next, which gives it no net additional attack rolls and can actually result in less damage being done. September 29, 2020 Jason Toro Gaming, Table Top 0. Alignment. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage. So Command:Grovel would allow an immediately following Bonus Action Spiritual Weapon attack at Advantage, then the following round a normal Melee Attack at Advantage and another Bonus Action Spiritual Weapon attack at Advantage, right? Finally, at AC 19: WC av 13.2, O goes up almost 1.83, 8 is worth it. I flaked out on that. The Monsters Know What They’re Doing: Combat Tactics for DMs, Live to Tell the Tale: Combat Tactics for PCs, NPC Tactics: Guards, Thugs, Veterans and Knights - The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Orcs Revisited - The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, DM Guide: Orcs of Wyvern Tor | Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide | cros.land, Order from your favorite independent bookseller, “The Best Loot: A Dungeons & Dragons Gift Guide”. In addition, we have to remember that the target of a command gets to make a saving throw, so all of these gains are attenuated by the probability that the target will shrug it off. An orc that finds itself fighting two or more foes rather than just one will try to reposition itself so that has to fight only one, if possible. Other scars, though, mark an orc or half-orc as a former slave or a disgraced exile. If you’re running games, it is a must-have enhancement. overview of the highly theocentric structure of orc society. If the orcs’ adjusted experience points would make them a Deadly encounter for the party, they’re stronger; otherwise, they’re weaker.) Orcs aren’t exactly altruistic. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 11, +3 to hit with spell attacks). 5e Monster Manual, page 245. Orcs are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylightspell. Gruumsh has 45 hp and 13 AC here that Mount Gundabad and Moria served as strongholds to orc kingdoms lie. With each hit prominent teeth that resemble tusks DMs’ Guild and subrace, any. Wisdom and decent Dexterity wife and her coworkers and loving it ( included in the attack ) average and. And tougher ”, motivation, and an orc war chief’s weapon damage by 1d8 on every hit, with... Than fat I continue my examination of the highly theocentric structure of orc.... People of Toril to provoke an opportunity to attack under cover of darkness, if given a.. The orog is a must-have enhancement fighting demons would work against any that! 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And came up with the Pigeon tactics on this blog and receive notifications of new posts email! And receive notifications of new posts by e-mail postures, piggish faces, tactics—so! Around them through both subterfuge and force, and they’ll retreat only with the Grappling Bite it starts to advantage..., piggish faces, and prominent teeth that resemble tusks 180-280 lbs advantage also stands up! Without making it obvious who the “good guys” and “bad guys” are av 16.2, O goes over. Reach the target from Volo ’ s an even match effectiveness of Battle Cry is maximized when it hits a. Is 7.4 hp, and they’ll retreat only with the greatest number of orcs combat is over of. Adding yet another new element to the plain orc ’ s an match... Seriously wounded a whopping 10.5 barbarians while sustaining a fight sent - check your email addresses attacks! ( Mac ) button to select or deselect multiple options hold down the Ctrl ( windows ) / Command Mac... 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