Half-Ogre (4e Race)
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Half-Ogres
Aggressive, strong, and dull-witted, half-ogres are the quintessential brutes.
| Racial Traits |
| Average Height: 7'-8' |
| Average Weight: 400–450 lb. |
| Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution |
| Size: Medium |
| Speed: 6 squares |
| Vision: Normal |
| Languages: Common, Giant |
| Skill Bonuses: +2 Endurance, +2 Intimidate |
| Ogre Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the Club and the Greatclub. |
| Toughness: You gain Toughness as a bonus feat. |
| Angry Smash: When using a weapon from the Hammer or Mace groups, you can use the Angry Smash encounter power. |
| Angry Smash | Half-Ogre Racial Power |
| Your fury drives you to crush the little creatures that annoy you. | |
| Encounter | |
| Standard Action | Melee |
| Requirement: Must be wielding a weapon from the Mace or Hammer group. | |
| Effect: You attack with a weapon from the Mace or Hammer group, but you get two attack rolls and take the better result. | |
| Special: This power recharges when you are first bloodied. | |
Like that of many half races, the half-ogres do not have a happy history. They are usually born from forced unions as means to produce soldiers for armies. They are rarely ever loved or experience kindness, usually being treated brutally unless they showed their usefulness. The ones who survive to sane adulthood are usually lonely beings. As their experience with others has usually been less than savory, they tend to be reclusive from crowds like in urban settings. However, this also means they are extremely loyal to those who show them kindness.
Play a half-ogre if you want...
- to be a large mean creature.
- to be a member of a race that most creatures fear.
- to be a creature that is driven by greed and anger.
- To be a member of a race that favours the Barbarian, Fighter, and Warden classes.
Physical Qualities
A typical adult half-ogre stands 7 to 8 feet tall and weighs 400 to 450 pounds. Their skin color ranges from dull yellow to dull brown. Their clothing consists of poorly cured furs and hides, which add to their naturally repellent odor. Half-ogres boast of great muscular physique and prowess with arms due to their strength and tough body. Their ogreish traits are often minimized but sometimes manifest in pointed ears, protruding teeth, pug-noses, and the like.
Attitudes and Beliefs
Half-ogres are large, greedy, mean-spirited creatures. They are not known for their intelligence, and can often be easily bribed with food or treasure. To half-ogres, size is everything. Creatures smaller than them are treated as inferior and if they feel slighted in any way by them they are quick to attack. As well half-ogres can barely contain their voracity, any item they find attractive or believe is valuable they will claim as their own, even if the item is already owned by another.
They have a very bleak and dichotomous outlook of the world, believing that might makes right. Anyone can be a potential enemy who wants to take from you. The gods are a lost cause that never answer prayers. Many half-ogres are thus misanthropes, with the exception of a few who were "saved" by the kindness of others. While slow to open up, it is possible for half-ogres to revere and protect their saviors like that of a saint.
Half-Ogre Communities
Half-ogres are solitary creatures since, unless they were bred, there are no known half-ogre communities. Most half-ogres are born into roving ogre bands seeking recruitment, and are too frail in such instances to live very long. These are usually left behind for the birds. Other half-ogres are raised in human communities but rarely treated as an equal due to their outward appearance and monstrous birth. Perhaps due to their innate shame, half-ogres prefer the company of humans or ogres rather than with other half-ogres.
Half-ogres get along well with half-orcs, especially since they share similar life experiences speckled with violence and spite. Half-ogres also get along with humans who find their strength useful for labor and military purposes. The smaller races tend to be intimidated by half-ogres and the feeling is mutual, as half-ogres fear that gnomes or halflings can play tricks on them or steal their stuff without getting caught. Half-ogres don’t enjoy the company of elves or half-elves, as they often have the beauty, grace, and acceptance that was denied to the half-ogre.
Half-Ogre Adventurers
First and foremost, half-ogres travel out of necessity, whether it's to earn some money or escape persecution. They sometimes do feel impelled to follow someone they trust to protect them. Other times it may be something like a journey to find self-worth as a race filled with such abhorrence for the world as well as themselves.
Barbarian: Channeling their inner fury, half-ogre barbarians charge into the thick of battle. Their pent-up emotions are their shield and morphine, dulling their pain. Their past of abuse also makes them very resistant to pain.
Fighter: Some are not as willing to risk life and limb and so become fighters instead. They often perform mercenary work based in strength, like bodyguard detail and such.
Warden: Half-ogres who find precious allies become their protectors. Coupled with their natural resistance to pain, they make perfect wardens.
Three sample Half-Ogre adventurers are described below.
Billdu is a half-ogre warden pardoned from hanging by a traveling cleric who advocated on his behalf against the king. She vowed to help him clear his name. That was five years ago, and he is now a free man. He keeps her memory close to his heart and tries to continue her work in her absence, protecting the weak and innocent. One day he seeks to go find her.
Kohra is a half-ogre barbarian who was abused until her late teens, when she finally reared against her "family" and murdered them in cold blood. She was arrested and sold to be a slave to the kingdom, joining the ranks of gladiators who kill and fight for the populace's pleasure. She seeks to unite the slaves to one day lay bloody waste to the kingdom, finally freeing herself.
Rizon is a half-ogre fighter that is part of a mercenary group, the Umbral Wolves. He owes them little to no allegiance save for the fact that they raised him, and not in the kindest of ways. He is secretly bored of them and hopes that their next mission will be their last together, after which he will be able to find another group to travel with.
Roleplaying a Half-Ogre
When creating a Half-Ogre adventurer, here are a few points to consider.
Ill-Tempered. Half-ogres are very quick to anger and slow to calm down. This can bode ill for bar fights and diplomatic situations. They are not afraid to pick bones with party members.
Brutish. If they could, half-ogres would strongarm their way in and out of any situation. This stubborn insistence on strength means they do not like to play around with words.
On Guard. Half-ogres learn at young ages how cruel the world is. Thus, they are always on edge about where the next threat could originate from, be they friend or foe.
Half-Ogre Characteristics: Impatient, stubborn, alert, quiet, impulsive, protective
Half-Ogre Male Names: Diggorot, Goonk, Blug, Xoruk, Vowkurg
Half-Ogre Female Names: Ega, Friru, Blera, Titzug, Borag
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