Orc

Orcs are perhaps Sulheim's most misunderstood race. While the life of an orc is forged from flame and violence, they refuse to let it make them cruel. Their ancestral home lay deep within the highlands of the Halidom of Élivágar.
As they live lives that are frequently cut brutally short, orcs revel in testing their strength against worthy foes, whether by challenging a higher-ranking member of their community for dominance or raiding a neighboring settlement. Many orcs seek glory as soon as they can walk and carry a blade or club, taming wild beasts or hunting deadly monsters.
Orcs often struggle to gain acceptance among other communities, who frequently see them as brutes. Those who earn the loyalty of an orc friend, however, soon learn that an orc’s fidelity and honesty are unparalleled. Orc barbarians, fighters, and rangers are prized as gladiators and mercenaries. While some human settlements might be hesitant to accept an entire orc community into their midst, a small handful of orc mercenaries can do the job of an entire squad of human conscripts, so long as the orcs are well fed and well paid. Though the belief that orcs are only suited for battle is pervasive among other humanoids, the harsh orc mentality comes from a long history of conflict rather than a lack of ability in other areas.
Orc culture teaches that they are shaped by the challenges they survive, and the most worthy survive the most hardships. Orcs who attain both a long life and great triumphs command immense respect.

Orc Traits

Rarity	Uncommon
Hit Points	10
Size	Medium
Speed	25 feet
Ability Boosts	Strength, Free
Languages	Common, Orc. Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it’s positive)
Darkvision	You have darkvision. You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.

Physical Description

Orcs are tall and powerfully built, with long arms and stocky legs. Many orcs top 7 feet in height, though they tend to adopt broad, almost bow-legged stances and slouch forward at the shoulders. The combination makes for a seeming contradiction, sharing an eye level with most humanoids while simultaneously towering over them. Orcs have rough skin, thick bones, and rockhard muscles, making them suited to war and other physically demanding tasks. Despite the roughness of their skin, orcs scar easily, and most orcs take great pride in the scars they have accumulated. Orc skin color is typically green and occasionally gray, though some orcs have other skin colors that reflect adaptations to their environments.
Orcs consider powerful builds and heavily scarred skin attractive, regardless of gender. A powerful orc makes the hold stronger, and scars are signs of victories won or hardships survived.
Similarly, many orcs consider large, jutting tusks to be more attractive than smaller tusks, since the former make more effective weapons. Many orcs also find tattoos to be attractive, particularly large or painful ones that cover a significant amount of skin.

Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	5 ft. 5 in.	+ 2d6 in.	190 lbs.	+ (2d6x4) lbs.
Female	5 ft. 5 in.	+ 2d6 in.	190 lbs.	+ (2d6x4) lbs.

Society

Most orc communities define themselves through two things: pain and glory. Each earns respect in near equal measure, so long as the pain is borne with stoicism. An orc with many scars who walks uncomplaining with a broken leg draws as much admiration as one who wins a great victory on the battlefield.
Power in an orc hold comes from strength or family lineage. The structure tends to be feudal, with weaker orcs working at the behest of the strong. One mighty orc dying in battle can shake up an entire power structure, leading to squabbling and duels to decide control. Many orcs who tire of being subservient split off to form their own warbands, traveling to new territory.
Young orcs are typically raised by the entire community. Indeed, it would be almost impossible for orcs to raise their young any other way, since twins, triplets, and even quadruplets are quite common in orc families, as are deaths among orcs in their child-rearing years. Many orc holds conduct ceremonies when a young orc comes of age, typically around their tenth or eleventh birthday, during which the new adults are told what their role in the hold will be. For communities that practice ritual scarification or tattooing, this is often when the young orcs receive their first hold-scar or tattoo as well.
Orcs fear very little, but most distrust magic. Magic is seen as a tool that bypasses the physical and allows the weak to contend with the strong, a belief that runs at odds with orc values. While they respect the physical might of some warpriests, and even druids who take on the forms of great beasts, they find arcane and occult magic questionable at best and unethical on the whole. All but the most depraved orc communities see necromancy as a foul art that steals glory from the dead, and their growing struggles against the undead have given them newfound common ground with their humanoid neighbors.

Alignment and Religion

A common orc saying is, “You are the scars that shape you.” Violent, chaotic lives in violent, chaotic lands mean that most orcs tend heavily toward chaotic alignments. Less violent clans worship nature deities, whose tenets of fire, redemption, and glory all hold some appeal to orc sensibilities.
While there are orc deities, their worship is surprisingly uncommon among orcs. Orcs believe that if a creature has a face and a name, it can be killed, and so their own deities are targets, rather than objects of reverence. Some orc holds teach that the greatest members of the hold can earn a chance to challenge the orc deities for a place amid the pantheon. Most orcs don’t waste their dying moments praising the divine or praying for a place in the afterlife, but spitting a blood-flecked warning at their deities, promising a new challenger through broken teeth.

Names

Orcs have a harsh, guttural language, and their naming conventions are no exception. Many orc names are simply the Orcish word for a particularly desirable trait, such as great strength, height, or ferocity. Orcs commonly use either their hold name or a name referencing a particularly memorable accomplishment as their surname.

• Arkus
• Mahja
• Onyat
• Uirch

Orc Heritages

Orcs have a long history on the surface of the world, and a far longer history underground. Their hardy physiques and demanding lifestyles have led to various adaptations. Choose one of the following orc heritages at 1st level.

Badlands Orc

Your ancestors hail from the Kingdom of Babylonia, where long legs and an ability to withstand the elements helped them thrive. You can Hustle twice as long while exploring before you have to stop, and you treat environmental heat effects as if they were one step less extreme (incredible heat becomes extreme, extreme heat becomes severe, and so on).

Deep Orc

Your calloused hands and red eyes speak to a life spent in the deep darkness of mountain caverns, where you learned to battle on rocky cliffs and survive with minimal resources. You gain the Terrain Expertise skill feat for underground terrain and the Combat Climber skill feat.

Hold-Scarred Orc

You are part of an orc community that participates in ritual scarification or tattooing. The marks on your skin show your exceptional hardiness and vitality. You gain 12 Hit Points from your ancestry instead of 10. You also gain the Diehard feat.

Orc Ancestry Feats

At 1st level, you gain one ancestry feat, and you gain an additional ancestry feat every 4 levels thereafter (at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level).

1st Level

Orc Ferocity (Reaction)

Trait(s) Orc
Frequency once per day
Trigger You would be reduced to 0 Hit Points but not immediately killed.

Fierceness in battle runs through your blood, and you refuse to fall from your injuries. You avoid being knocked out and remain at 1 Hit Point, and your wounded condition increases by 1.

Orc Superstition (Reaction)

Trait(s) Orc
Trigger You attempt a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, before rolling.

You defend yourself against magic by relying on techniques derived from orc cultural superstitions. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your saving throw against the triggering spell or magical effect.

Orc Weapon Familiarity

Trait(s) Orc
In combat, you favor the brutal weapons that are traditional for your orc ancestors. You are trained with the falchion and greataxe. In addition, you gain access to all uncommon orc weapons. For you, martial orc weapons are simple weapons, and advanced orc weapons are martial weapons.

Beast Trainer

Trait(s) Orc
You have an impressive innate ability to tame and command ferocious beasts. You become trained in the Nature skill and gain the Train Animal skill feat.

Iron Fists

Trait(s) Orc
Your fists have been forged by battle, your naturally tough skin and dense bone further hardened by conflict. Your fist unarmed attacks no longer have the nonlethal trait and gain the shove weapon trait.

Orc Lore

Trait(s) Orc
The hold elders taught you your people’s histories, told tales of great athletic feats, and shared with you the hardships your ancestors endured so that you can pass this wisdom down to future generations. You become trained in Athletics and Survival. If you would automatically become trained in one of those skills (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice. You also become trained in Orc Lore.

Tusks (Orc)

Trait(s) Orc
You have particularly long, jagged tusks perfect for tearing meat from bone. You gain a tusks unarmed attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage. Your tusks are in the brawling group and have the finesse and unarmed traits.
Special You can take this feat only at 1st level, and you can’t retrain into this feat. You can retrain out of this feat only through drastic measures such as breaking or filing your tusks.

5th Level

Orc Weapon Carnage

Trait(s) Orc
Prerequisite Orc Weapon Familiarity
You are brutally efficient with the weapons of your orc ancestors. Whenever you critically hit using a falchion, a greataxe, or an orc weapon, you apply the weapon’s critical specialization effect.

Victorious Victor (Reaction)

Trait(s) Orc
Trigger You bring a foe to 0 Hit Points.
Your victories in battle fill you with pride and imbue you with the energy to fight a bit longer despite your wounds. You gain temporary Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier until the end of your next turn.

Athletic Might

Trait(s) Orc
Surviving in hostile terrain has given you a great talent for mobility. Whenever you roll a success on an Athletics check to Climb or Swim, you get a critical success instead.

Bloody Blows

Trait(s) Orc
Your lethal unarmed attacks leave bloody gouges or cause severe internal bleeding. When you critically hit with a Strike using an unarmed attack that isn’t nonlethal, the target takes 1d4 persistent bleed damage. This can be because you’re taking the penalty to use a fist for a lethal attack or because you have an unarmed attack without the nonlethal trait due to Iron Fists, Tusks, or a similar ability.

Hold Mark

Trait(s) Orc
You bear scars or tattoos enhanced by the mark of your community’s prowess. When you select this feat, choose one of the options. When you critically hit using a weapon of the listed group, you apply the weapon’s critical specialization effect. You gain a large brand or tattoo in the shape of the chosen emblem or a similar image (for example, the axe could be a bear or other symbol of ferocious strength, while the shield might be a turtle or another symbol associated with a strong defense) and gain the listed benefit.

• Axe axe or pick
• Shield hammer or shield
• Torch bomb or knife

9th Level

Pervasive Superstition

Prerequisite(s) Orc Superstition
You steep yourself in superstition and practice ancient orc mental exercises for shrugging off the effects of magic. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against spells and magical effects at all times.

Death's Drums

Trait(s) Orc
Your life has been spent challenging death itself, and proximity to that implacable foe only makes your heart beat harder. When you are taking persistent damage or your wounded value is 1 or greater, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saving throws.

Undying Ferocity

Trait(s) Orc
Prerequisites Orc Ferocity
You resist death’s clutches with supernatural vigor. When you use Orc Ferocity, you gain temporary Hit Points equal to your level.

13th Level

Incredible Ferocity

Prerequisite(s) Orc Ferocity
Given time to collect yourself after a near-death scrape, you can rebuild your ferocity and withstand additional finishing blows. You can use Orc Ferocity with a frequency of once per hour, rather than once per day.

Orc Weapon Expertise

Prerequisite(s) Orc Weapon Familiarity
Your orc affinity blends with your class training, granting you great skill with orc weapons. Whenever you gain a class feature that grants you expert or greater proficiency in a given weapon or weapons, you also gain that proficiency in the falchion, the greataxe, and all orc weapons in which you are trained.

Ferocious Beasts

Trait(s) Orc
Prerequisites Beast Trainer or animal companion, Orc Ferocity
Since ancient times, the mightiest orc beast tamers would draw out the true fighting spirit of their companion beasts by feeding the creatures a draft incorporating the orc’s own blood. Animal companions or bonded animals you have gain the Orc Ferocity feat, and they gain a reaction they can use only for Orc Ferocity. If you have the Undying Ferocity ancestry feat, all animal companions or bonded animals you have also gain the benefits of that feat when using the Orc Ferocity reaction.

Spell Devourer

Trait(s) Orc
Prerequisite(s) Pervasive Superstition
You don’t just resist magic; you devour it. Whenever you succeed at a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, you gain temporary Hit Points equal to double the spell’s level, or equal to the level if the magical effect isn’t a spell. These temporary Hit Points last until the end of your next turn.

17th Level

Rampaging Ferocity

Trait(s) Orc
Prerequisite(s) Orc Ferocity
Trigger You use Orc Ferocity.
You lash out viciously even as you fend off death. Make a single melee Strike. If this Strike brings a foe to 0 Hit Points, this activation of Orc Ferocity doesn’t count against its frequency.

Scientific Name

Humania sapiens vertagne

Lifespan

50 years

Average Height

5'7" - 6'5"