This is a page about playable character race. For other uses, see Orc.
Orcs are a playable race.
Manual Info[]
Orcs belong to the dark races, created in the same dark pits as trolls. They mostly are the arch nemesis of many of the intelligent races, as they reproduce quickly and enjoy plundering, killing and spreading havoc in general. The average orc is five and a half to six feet high, weighs 130 to 150 pounds and has a gray to black skin. Their eyes glow red in the dark. Orcs shun sunlight, as it tends to hurt their eyes greatly. Because orcs mostly live in the underground, they are very good at detecting secret doors. Orcs make good Fighters and are also known to spawn mighty Priests serving their cruel war deity, Gruumsh, the One-Eyed and All-Seeing.
Gameplay Effects[]
Skills[]
Orcs train in Backstabbing, Find weakness, Metallurgy and Mining.
Find weakness is a crucial skill for PCs that rely on missile and/or melee combat a lot; players that want to make use of the skill may choose an orc or dark elf if the PC's class doesn't offer it. Backstabbing can be learned from Bart in Dwarftown anyway, and Metallurgy is more or less useless.
Attributes[]
Orcs have a similar stat distribution to trolls, except without as many extremes either way. Orcs are hugely strong, and very tough, but not as strong or tough as trolls. On the other hand, orcs tend to have terrible Mana scores and suffer slight penalties to Learning, Charisma, Appearance and Perception.
Starting Equipment[]
Orcs often start out very well equipped for combat, with most classes starting out with studded leather or metal armor and a decent weapon. Some classes also start out with metal gauntlets and boots. Orcish Paladins and Priests are notable for starting out with a quite rare and valuable everburning torch — which both increases the orcish PC's (usually low) line of sight and makes a useful weapon in the early game.
Lifespan[]
Orcs start out at 11-18 (10 + 2d4) years old and die at 36-47 (35 + 3d4) years old. Their lifespans are thus extremely short, so the biggest threat that orcish PCs usually face in the game is being aged to death by strong undead monsters such as the mass onslaught of ghost lords on D:50.
Power Point and Hit Point Regeneration Rate[]
Orcs have slightly higher than average HP generation rates, and slightly lower than average PP generation rates.
Relations with Other Races[]
Orcs' generally violent and bloodthirsty nature makes them the nemesis of numerous races; orcish adventurers thus tend to treated harshly by shopkeepers of those races. Orcs are claimed to be sworn enemies of dwarves and thus receive very bad shop prices from dwarven shopkeepers (though such shopkeepers still prefer them over dark elves). Elves, gnomes and drakelings also dislike orcs and penalize orcish adventurers in shops. Orcish shopkeepers similarly penalize dwarves, elves, gnomes and drakelings. On the other hand, orcish PCs and shopkeepers get along with others of evil races [i.e. trolls, dark elves and fellow orcs].
Alignment[]
Orcs start off Chaotic, though class can affect this. Orcish monsters are chaotic, too.
Eating habits
Orcs are one of the least fussy eaters of the playable races, just behind trolls. Orcs don't vomit after eating rats, fat worms or cooked roaches, and enjoy eating raw meat (though not as much as trolls). They do not mind engaging in cannibalism, either. Like other non-trollish races, though, they still refuse to eat doppelgangers unless starving.
Other gameplay effects
- Daylight penalties: In open areas (wilderness, Terinyo, bandit village, etc) orcs get -4 penalty to perception and minor penalties to melee and missile to-hit (seems to be dependable on weapon type, in general ~-2 for melee and -4 for missiles).
Suggested Classes[]
With their heightened physical stats and talent at landing critical hits (via the Find Weakness skill), orcs are well suited to melee and missile combat. They make excellent Paladins, Barbarians, Beastfighters and Monks. The latter two classes are particularly noteworthy, as orcs are the strongest race not to suffer very slow level advancements. They are also very potent Archers, due to the Find Weakness skill and tough (but still somewhat nimble) frame.
On the other hand, orcs are perhaps not recommendable as spellcasters, as they tend to have low Learning and terrible Mana, and generally not quite enough strength to balance this out (compared to trollish spellcasters). Although the manual suggests that orcs make very powerful Priests, orcs are perhaps not recommendable for players that want to make the most of Priests' excellent magic-wielding potentials.