Orcs and Art

With the nod to inclusivity in the 5E Basic Rules, the art has come under additional examination to see if WotC could walk the walk now that they've talked the talk. So how does the art fare?

Numerous sites and blogs have done in-depth frequency and focus analysis and for the most part the numbers are good in terms of diversity and inclusivity. It's obvious with even a flip through of the 5E PHB, so much so some people stuck on a narrow mode of thinking actually comment on there being too many women or persons-of-color (POC)/minorities/non-whites in the art. Seriously.

This post on the Go Make Me A Sandwich blog documents one such exchange and does a good job of highlighting the positive and active depictions of women and POC in 5th edition art. I definitely agree with what the author has to say regarding the topic of inclusive art.

However, I did come across one statement that didn't sit right with me:

CHECK IT OUT, A HALF-ORC PALADIN. This is something I never expected to see! The treatment of race in the Forgotten Realms setting has always been… problematic at best. Orcs and half-orcs have always been depicted with traits that read as a very thinly veiled analogue for blackness. So to see Paladins, who are the literal embodiment of good, being represented by a righteous-as-fuck looking half-orc? That’s revolutionary!

The image being commented on was of this half-orc paladin found in the 5E PHB:

Half-orc paladin, D&D 5E Player's Handbook

There are a number of hyperboles within the statement that could be interpreted as portraying D&D and the Realms as distinctly anti-inclusive (even downright unintentionally racist) throwbacks. While I will not say the game or setting are perfect in every way regarding this issue, I feel there is much more nuance and inclusivity to the game and setting than the statement gives them credit for. Things just aren't as bad as that one statement makes it out to be, though I understand it's exaggerated for the sake of expressing excitement for the recent art direction.

Half-orc paladin aren't revolutionary in D&D and the concept is not foreign in the Forgotten Realms. Whatever this concept may be, it's far from the first instance and not breaking any barriers that still exist.

One example of Forgotten Realms having already knocked down the barrier before 3E came to sweep away the restrictions of older editions was Shield of Innocence an orog* paladin of Torm from the War in Tethyr (1995) novel, the events of which are summarized for the game setting in the Lands of Intrigue (1997) boxed set. Shield of Innocence became the patron saint of the Loyal Order of the Innocents, suffice to say, to earn such an honor meant this orog paladin made the sacrifice needed to live up to his name.

*An orog is an orc/ogre offshoot in 2nd edition (if I recall correctly), later adapted into a type of Underdark-based 'uberorc' in 3E.

As it pertains to the art, let's set some limits at art pieces from the 3E era (or pre-4E) and from WotC and affiliates only. We'll keep things to D&D Core or FR only (as they share the same art trends and cross-pollinate). We'll exclude Eberron because it has a purposefully divergent take on orcs that is in part a reaction to this supposed problematic depiction of orcs in Core and FR. A quick Google search reveals the following:

- We have the half-orc paladin on the cover of Dragon #275, the September 2000 issue. This came on the premier of 3rd edition (released in the summer of the same year, during Gen Con, I assume) when the new edition opened up every class and race combination. So from the onset, the concept found purchase in the main periodical publication for the game for the issue immediately scheduled to follow the wide release of the 3rd edition game.

Dragon #275, September 2000

- There was a half-orc paladin for the D&D miniatures line, released with the Underdark set in 2005.

Half-orc Paladin miniature, Underdark set

- Bringing it back to the Forgotten Realms, in Player's Guide to Faerun, we have art showing line-ups of the different races and ethnicities. For the half-human line-up, shown below, we get a good look at a half-elf, a half-orc and a half-drow. Take a closer look at the half-orc with his sword and armor with the holy symbol of Tyr (scales on a hammer) emblazoned on his breastplate. This half-orc is very likely a paladin of Tyr (or arguably a cleric of Tyr with the War Domain, or maybe a Justiciar). Not that any order or subsect of Tyr's clergy have less stringent commandments, they're all paladin-like.

Half-humans, Player's Guide to Faerun
by Steve Prescott

- Now paladins are most-righteous folk, but it doesn't mean other types of holy warriors are lesser in discipline and devotion.

Races of Destiny gave us a half-orc cleric on its cover.

Races of Destiny cover art
by Adam Rex

Complete Divine gave us the Pious Templar prestige class and the art and sample character provided us with Graaghya, a badass armored half-orc female. While she's still a worshiper of wily old Gruumsh, the Pious Templar is a less barbarian-esque take on one of his followers.

Pious Templar, Complete Divine
by Wayne Reynolds

- Then we have a few depictions of half-orcs in non-savage or less savage images. These characters may not all be good or even lawful, but they seem like honest, 'civilized' people going about their business. These pieces offer some respite from the raging, axe-wielding, berserker foaming at the mouth archetype we're so used to seeing with orc art.

Half-orc Samurai, Complete Warrior
by Doug Kovacs
(Now artists for much of the DCC RPG line) 

Half-orc Bouncer, Races of Destiny
by Jim Nelson

Occult Slayer, Complete Warrior

Bloodhound, Complete Adventurer
by Steve Belledin

In the early days of 3E, WotC offered an extensive series of character portrait sketches by many different artists, many of them TSR staples. Amongst them were these non-standard orcs by Sam Wood, one of the initial concept artists for 3E.

Half-orc Wizard, DnD website
by Sam Wood

Half-orc Bard, DnD Website
by Sam Wood

Half-orc Dragonrider, DnD website
by Sam Wood

Lest we think all the non-standard orc depictions were found in the Core books, here are some more Forgotten Realms examples, beginning with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book that started it all for 3E FR:

Racial Line-up, FRCS
by Todd Lockwood
(Note: Female half-orc warrior in sensible armor, more fighter than barbarian.)

Trademeed in Narfell, FRCS
by Carlo Arellano
(Looks like a half-orc inspecting a weapon for purchase.
A marauding orc would just raid the place for steel and goods.)

Further continuing with other FR 3E/3.5E supplements:

Imperfect Companions, Champions of Valor
by Ralph Horsley
(A half-orc in armor with a mace, more cleric than barbarian.)

"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", Power of Faerun
by William O'Connor
(Bodyguard/Chaperon or former adventuring companion)

More civilized seeming orcs were also present in the video game side of the D&D and FR franchise.

Half-orc portrait, Icewind Dale 2 CRPG
(Plate armor, metal shield, and a serene pose and expression.)

As we can see, the notion of righteous and/or civilized half-orcs has been an ongoing concept before 5th Edition was an inkling in Wizard's business plan (indeed before WotC brought out TSR). The recent illustration is another good addition to this trend.

Half-orc paladin, D&D 5E Player's Handbook

Let's just keep in mind it's a trend that was started at least 14 years ago, two D&D editions back (three editions (and almost 20 years) if you count the Shield of Innocence character).

Half-orc Paladin
by Mark Zug

 Make that at least 15 years ago when it comes to illustrations.

Half-orc Paladin
by Todd Lockwood

Sure there are plenty of foaming-mad, barbarian-type 'primitive savage' orc and half-orc illustrations in D&D and FR, but to say that one 5E art piece is revolutionary while imply the setting has done a poor job at offering non-problematic depictions as a contrast is being unfair to the setting and the people who worked hard to inject inclusive and progressive art and lore into the game over the decades.

World Building Exercise with Five Random Races & A List of Fantasy Archetypes

Stumbled upon an old thread on the Paizo forums, Worldbuilding Exercise - Get 5 Random Races, Build a Setting, started by Mikaze based on another thread from another forum. The idea is to roll five d100s and compare the results to the list found in the thread. That gives you five races who will be the primary player races for a setting. Write-up the setting as you see fit, any where from a few paragraphs to whatever level of detail you desire.

I've been messing with the list over the weekend, using the Invisible Castle online dice roller. While my first set of five were fine, I went overboard and put the system to work in develop the races and setting. I used something like 35 sets of 5d100 rolls to flesh out the races and relationships using a few simple rules associated with how often and when a race appears in the rolls. Very soon certain trends appeared. Perhaps it was coincidence or maybe I was looking at the results with bias, but the dynamic started to look like one of my abandoned homebrew settings.

The exercise filled in a few gaps and reinforced ideas I had played with. Soon I folded the ideas from the exercise entirely into my homebrew. Some basic work still needs to be done to integrate the two, but this has the old homebrew well dusted off and ready for some refurbishing.

Ever a glutton for more world building, I used the Paizo board dice roller to run through the exercise again. Took a few tries to get results that didn't mirror the trends of my deluge of d100s (something like 175 rolls). Came across two sets involving gonzo collections of races and will reserve those to fuel later inspiration.

I went in looking for a traditional fantasy setup but found those specific results charged my creativity but zipped it along other directions. The randomness gives results that force you out of your comfort zones. Some of the reasoning for my excessive rolling laid in trying to develop trends rather than settling with the first set (even though my first set contained most of the races already in my homebrew).

Other times the dice spit out a sets that challenge your intent. It makes you consider alternatives, changes your desired world atmosphere, or even leads you to venture into genres you had no idea you wanted to try.

Ultimately after several more sets treading on my homebrew, I gathered the untried stragglers unique from my prior attempts to divine out a setting's concepts from dice. What follows is the thought process involved in that along with the rolls.

Samsaran
Paizo's PFRPG

- Construct-based Humanoid (user defined)
- Tanuki (short racoon humanoids)
- Samsaran (reincarnated blue-skinned humanoids)
- Serpentfolk
- Medusa

Going to throw a wildcard in there in case the serpentfolk and medusa ideas bleed together.

1d100 ⇒ 92: Construct - Okay, the Medusa aren't mythological medusa but human-machine hybrids with the snake element being artificial. The sorceries of this bond is related to the serpentfolk. Guess the medusa and samsarans will be stand-ins for humans. I prefer some version of humans be present in my settings to work as a starting point.

Since Medusa and Samsarans are human derived, still need one more:
1d100 ⇒ 67: Sasquatch, going the Wookie or Mok route.

Using the World Building Exercise 3 thread filled with a hundred fantasy archetypes/roles, I rolled two roles/occupations for each race to create a spectrum of expertise/focus.

- Construct Humanoid: 1d100 ⇒ 42 1d100 ⇒ 79 > Frontier Warriors & Wayfinders (take that as guides and maybe explorers of ruins)

- Tanuki: 1d100 ⇒ 96 1d100 ⇒ 37 > Defenders & Tribal Shamans

- Samsaran: 1d100 ⇒ 10 1d100 ⇒ 43 > Dilettantes & Masters of the Bow (by the gods, they're blue-skinned Elves)

- Serpentfolk: 1d100 ⇒ 14 1d100 ⇒ 84 > Priests & Tacticians

- Medusa: 1d100 ⇒ 73 1d100 ⇒ 34 > Enlightened Ones & Military Leaders

- Sasquatch: 1d100 ⇒ 94 1d100 ⇒ 77 > Skilled Apprentices & Driven Avengers

Only point I really want clarification on is Skilled Apprentices of what? The answer is 1d100 ⇒ 33 Knight of the Silver Sword.

Actually maybe we'll answer what otherworldly archetypes influence the more pious peoples or even the non-pious ones as a few run too close to theme to offer much variety. Included are impromptu rules for narrowing the rolls based on my first impression of the race/archetypes combo.

- The Constructs are influenced by a concept involving (roll three, reduce down to one singular overarching objective or origin): 1d100 ⇒ 71 1d100 ⇒ 38 1d100 ⇒ 29: Stargazer, Unwilling Mage, Pirate

Created by unwilling mages from the stars, the Constructs were used as raiders to despoil entire planets. A cataclysm separated and freed them from their manipulators, destroying what passed for their old civilization (a foothold on this world). They now travail the ruins of said fallen civilization, looking ever towards the stars of their birth. Perhaps they can one day gather the resources and magic to free their creators from the grasp of their ancient overlords.

Tanuki
by Eric Belisle
Paizo's PFRPG

- The Tanuki Tribal Shamans venerate spirits of (a dichotomy with an outlier, a trio, or some complex gamut): 1d100 ⇒ 8 1d100 ⇒ 11 1d100 ⇒ 7: Mysterious Wise One, Spellcasting Warrior, Land's Redeemer

A spiritual archetype for each adventuring role in their society with an overall goal to save or reclaim the land.

- Samsaran ideology involves (roll three, make it a byzantine affair) 1d100 ⇒ 611d100 ⇒ 99 1d100 ⇒ 86: Heretic, Agent, Rebel

Samsarans have a complex society balanced between agency and rebellion with some heretical outliers.

- Serpentfolk have a pantheon (of five at least) 1d100 ⇒ 851d100 ⇒ 10 1d100 ⇒ 28 1d100 ⇒ 53 1d100 ⇒ 14: Dark Curious, Dilettante, Bored Noble, Warrior of the Nameless Good, Priest

- Medusa enlightenment is a concept of two or more seemingly contradictory ideas 1d100 ⇒ 52 1d100 ⇒ 54 1d100 ⇒ 48: War Dancer, Rugged Frontierman, Berzerker Cultist

- Sasquatch have two wildcard factors, one positive, one negative 1d100 ⇒ 51 1d100 ⇒ 69: Crone's Ranger, Storyteller

Serpentfolk
by Florian Stitz, for Paizo's PFRPG

Need to clarity a few of the serpent gods (roll two, pick one)
- Dark Curious & 1d100 ⇒ 90 1d100 ⇒ 24 Scientist or Trap Master
- Dilettante & 1d100 ⇒ 31 d100 ⇒ 56 Sage & Skilled Veteran (couldn't decide 1d2 ⇒ 1, sage it is)
- Bored Noble & 1d100 ⇒ 68 1d100 ⇒ 85 Negotiator or Dark Curious
- Warrior of the Nameless Good & 1d100 ⇒ 40 1d100 ⇒ 19 City Speaker or Questing Knight
- Priest & 1d100 ⇒ 12 1d100 ⇒ 23 War Mage or Spellsword

 The detritus will form the basis of a dark pantheon:
- The Master of Traps or the Masters of the Trap, perhaps an aspect of the Dark Curious Scientist
- The Skilled Veteran, perhaps a dark warrior god of barbarians, tyrants, and atrocities opposes the erudite Dilettante, and probably the Noble Negotiator as well.
- The Dark Curious Scientist antagonizes himself/herself and is the nemesis of the Bored Noble Negotiator
- The Questing Knight (& 1d100 ⇒ 25 Beastmaster) is a crusader who is the bane of the urbane Warrior of Nameless Good.
- An dark arcane War Mage/Spellsword (& 1d100 ⇒ 70 1d100 ⇒ 79 Giver of Blessings, Wayfinder, Construct connection?) contests with the War Priest (& 1d100 ⇒ 451d100 ⇒ 10 1d100 ⇒ 77 Knight of the Realm (another variant of the Priest is the nemesis of the Good City-Warrior?), Dilettante (a relationship with the Dilettante?), Driven Avenger (influence with the Sasquatches?)).

These last few results needed a bit more as they're are all similar to priests/paladins or overlap with another deity.

Medusa
by Andrew Hou
Paizo's PFRPG

The Medusa options didn't offer much for "enlightened", another three gives me: 1d100 ⇒ 21d100 ⇒ 13 1d100 ⇒ 8 Loremaster, Doomspeaker, Mysterious Wise One (connection between the Wise one of the Tanuki and the Medusa beliefs?).

The Medusa are mind-body-integrated, zen-raging, trance-channeling, apocalypse warrior-monks.

Feel like I need more granularity for the Sasquatches. 1d100 ⇒ 90 1d100 ⇒ 17 Scientist, Chosen One
(+) Crone's Ranger and Scientist: The Constructs are rangers, perhaps a Crone works into their history/culture and is connected with the Sasquatches. The Serpentfolk gods (Scientist and Sage) play a positive role for the Sasquatches
(-) Storyteller and Chosen One: Stories foretell a Chosen One who the Sasquatches will have to face or will be hunted by.

There we have it. The formatting is messy, but we have the framework for a setting using two d100 tables of races and archetypes complete with races, specialties, a pantheon and some initial relations and outlooks between the peoples.

Been stuck in a rut of writer's block over the last few months due to school. This exercise removed the initial barrier. There are enough hooks to bite on to jump into a stream of activity if only to develop the present setting points. Time and opportunity permitting, this might be a fun project to scribble away on.

Thirty Days of D&D, Day 2: Favorite Playable Race

Favorite playable race? There's a short, boring answer to this.

Humans!!! 
Frell yeah!

Humans. Some people get sick of playing little old humans, but I find there's always relevant play opportunities present with humans. I dabble in dwarven characters, sometimes elves, or half-elves a little more, but humans are my default as they are for many settings.

Tiefling by Tony DiTerlizzi

The longer answer without relying entirely on the old stand-by of humans? That would be Aasimar. Again, a half-human variant, but why the plain homely aasimar instead of other more thematic planetouched?

The genasi offer an immediate dose of elemental cool, the mortal descended embodiment of primordial forces like fire or air (or water or earth or any of the para- or quasi- variants).

What about tieflings, progeny of the lower planes, spawned by fiends and corrupted or violated mortals (perhaps with a Faustian pact or two amongst their ancestors). Lots of potential there from angsty to noble-despite-their-heritage to utterly without redemption. Sure tieflings are blatantly sexier in the sense of character potential. They have easy, immediate character hooks.

Aasimar by Tony DiTerlizzi

The aasimar by comparison seem more monotone and one-dimensional. Yet they're still firmly outside of the norm and deal with all the same questions, peculiarities, and prejudices as the other planetouched, but that's in-spite of their innate predilection towards goodly tendencies. Depending on the setting specifics there is something 'ur-mythic' about them from the pseudo-Nephilim angle.

They're a spark of the cosmic factions constantly under siege and barely holding back the ravenous hordes of fiends from all sides. Definite underdog vibe to them and I find plenty to work with there.