Orc

Orcs vary because they interbreed freely, but most resemble stooped, crude humans with grey-green, bristly skin, a heavy low brow, wolfish pointed ears and a pinkish snout (the pig comparison is overdone). Meat-tearing canines fill the mouth. A red pigment in their human-shaped eyes grants infravision and makes them gleam in dim light. Males reach 5 1/2 to 6 feet; females run about half a foot shorter. They wear garish reds, mustards and murky greens over dirty, rusting armor. Orcish, descended from old human and elven speech, splits into tribal dialects; many also grudgingly speak the local common tongue, and some know a little goblin, hobgoblin or ogre.

Orcs are almost always at war. Polearms are usually glaives, halberds or pikes set against charges, and leaders carry two weapons. Typical armor is studded leather and shield (AC 6). With a subchief along, there is a 40% chance of a standard, granting +1 to attack rolls and morale to orcs within 60 yards. In sunlight they suffer -1 to attacks and morale.

They snipe and ambush in the wilds and respect the rules of war only when it pays, even shooting at truce envoys unless their leader wants to talk. Many slay elves and dwarves on sight. Some tribes are as cruel as legend says, but others have fought for decades and grown chillingly efficient.

Each three orcs come with a leader and three assistants of 8 hit points apiece. Bands of 150 or more add a subchief with 3-18 guards (AC 4, 11 hp, +1 damage, attack as 2 HD monsters, THAC0 19). Every 100 orcs bring a shaman (up to 5th-level priest) or witch doctor (up to 4th-level mage), who gains 1d4 hp per level past 1st and attacks as a 1 HD monster per two levels, rounded up; a 5th-level shaman thus has d8+4d4 hp and fights as 3 HD.

Away from home, 20% of bands guard a train of supplies, loot or tribute: 1-6 carts holding 10-1,000 sp of goods in all, plus 10-60 slave porters carrying 5-30 sp each. Such escorts double the leaders and assistants, add 10 orcs per cart, and answer to a subchief with 5-30 guards.

Three lairs in four lie underground; the rest are wilderness villages. Communities run from forts of 100-400 to mining towns of 500-2,000 to half-buried cities of 2,000-20,000. Every lair adds a chief guarded by 5-30 warriors (AC 4, 13-16 hp, THAC0 17 as 3 HD monsters, +2 damage). Half of underground lairs also shelter 2-5 ogres for every 200 orcs. Surface villages are huts behind a ditch, log rampart and palisade, or captured structures, with 1-4 watchtowers, one gate, and a ballista and catapult per 100 adult males.

Orcs see other races as inferior and slavery as natural. They make rebellious slaves and touchy allies, though great patience can turn a tribe into a useful partner, and shrewd chiefs sell peace dearly. Land matters most, then battle experience, wealth and children. Society is patriarchal and males are rarely faithful. Their gods, led by a giant one-eyed orc, preach hatred and war, and ambitious shamans often feud with the warriors.

Orcs live about 40 years and bear two or three young after a 10-month pregnancy, with heavy infant losses. They prefer game and livestock to people. No predator singles them out, so they make enemies of everyone, under tribal names like Split Skull. Skilled miners and weaponsmiths, they detect new construction on 35% and sloping passages on 25%.

Orogs are disciplined great orcs, perhaps part ogre, 6 to 6 1/2 feet tall, who lead big armies under their own banners. A tribe has a 10% chance of orogs numbering a tenth of its males, and bands of 20-80 hire out as mercenaries. Each has 3 HD, plate mail (AC 3), +3 damage from Strength and two weapons; one leader with 4 HD (THAC0 17) commands each 20, under a single 5 HD chief (THAC0 15).

Orcs breed with nearly any humanoid or demihuman except elves; crosses with goblins, hobgoblins and humans are most common. Most offspring are effectively orcs, though 10% pass as ugly humans. They use class levels: multiclassed limits are priest 4, fighter 10, thief 8. Single-classed, priests reach 7 (Wisdom 15/16/17 for levels 5/6/7), fighters 17 (Strength 18/00 for 11, 19 for 12, 20 for 14, 21 for 17), thieves 11 (Dexterity 15/16/17 for 9/10/11). Distrusted by both parent races, most are neutral leaning lawful evil, and some found wary hermit enclaves with their own gods.