orctober - tusks of blood

Orctober rumbles on. Over at Aeons & Auguries, there's an excellent look at orcish architecture just begging for geomorphs.  Siskoid ponders how orcish refugees face the fall of an evil empire.  And at Meatshield.Net, an unexpected approach to orcish diplomacy.

Beefing up orcs is a typical response if a referee underestimates party firepower.  Orcish wereboars are an unexpected escalation but as Hallowe'en approaches it seems apt.  Plus, why let the hill giants have all the fun?  Orcs hulking out under the full moon and with boar friends sounds fun - I pity any shieldwall facing that.  Orcish boar riders are a staple of fantasy wargaming.  Orc-wereboar hoplites with boars fighting cheek by jowl feels right.  Perhaps not so unexpected after all.

Their culture may be less extremist than traditional orc culture but every inch as selfish.  I peg them as Neutral Evil, might-justified and nasty-tempered, too selfish for obsessive hate or psychosis.  With their  resistance to ordinary weapons, their savagery makes them natural skirmishers.  Lunar rages and extreme selfishness makes them poor mercenaries.  This is a group placated or avoided rather than allied with.  Their hatred for elves comes from competing in a shared environment - the latter know how effective silver arrows are.  Their attitude to regular orcs is usually contemptuous and foreign tribes are offered a chance to swear a painful blood oath.  Sharing blood with lycanthropes is often a changing experience...

orctober - three more flavours of orc

Blame Atom Kid who gave me the Orctober bug.  I then found Chris Shipton's Orctober Calendar 2010 and that was it.  Three more orc variants to prevent outbreaks of YADO (yet another damn orc) syndrome since there's been some problems with certain monsters becoming trite - how unexpected!

Headless
These orcs are unusually tall (7') but lack a head, instead their face is in their belly.  Their increased body mass makes them stronger than normal orcs.  Headless favour bladed weapons or spears and skillfully use shields.  They wear hide breastplates with boar-like belly visors protecting their faces (treat as great helms).  Inveterate cannibals, they take heads for trophies.  Brains are considered a delicacy.  Elven heads are highly sought after.  They are fiercely hierarchical and headless tribes will serve tyrants as soldiers.  
(AC 5/3 on stomach, Strength 16 (+1 damage))

Kijitu
These mis-shapen orcs stand 5' tall due to deformities.  Hunched backs and bulging heads hide a vicious yet cunning intellect.  Their twisted frames are surprisingly agile and athletic, which compensates for ill-fitting armour.  Normal orcs are hated with a passion, kijitu gain a +1 to hit and damage against them. Extremely sensitive to light, kijutu are -2 to hit and they must save vs. Poison or take 1d2 point subdual damage each turn they spend in sunlight, suffering lesions and lupus-like symptoms. 
(AC:7, Int: 10 - 12, sunlight sensitivity, AL: Neutral Evil)

Tattooed Skullfaces
These psychotic orcs venerate demon lords like Juiblex and Orcus, removing their faces with fire, knives and worse until bare bone is revealed.  The rest of their bodies are pierced, scarred and tattooed with lurid greens, ochres, yellows, brown and black designs.  They starve themselves to appear gaunt and skeletal.  In battle, a tattooed skullface's psychosis manifests in ferocious skill at arms.  Evil beings find their wickedness admirable if they are only trusted with murder, mayhem and torture.
(1d6 hit points, +2 to hit with weapons, +4 to reaction rolls with evil-aligned; AL: Chaotic Evil)