"Curiously, while their hair and eye color takes after the human parent—in addition to their more humanlike appearance in general—a half-orc’s skin is always the same color as their orc parent (most often grey or green) but a few shades lighter. They also only have four toes like an orc." - the Athas Chronicle This has sparked a debate of legitimacy. I need an historian or lore master do orcs have 4 toes or 5 the closest I can find is that the 4 toes may be from a book in the dark sun setting.
Well, that depends. If you want your half orcs to have four toes, they have four toes. If you want them to have five, they have five.
The way I figure it, "half orc" is a bit of a catch-all term for a bunch of people with a wide spectrum of traits from each side of their lineage. Some appear to lean more heavily toward their orcish ancestry, others toward their human ancestry. It would be too much of a crunchy mathematical hassle (and replete with racially-charged dangers of our own world's historical experiences) to further define any one individual as a percentage of Orc vs Human.
So half orcs, like every other species, are a widely varied people, with infinitely diverse assortment of genotypes and phenotypes. So, long story short...
The wiki you're referring to at theathaschronicle.fandom.com seem to be homebrew material. In 5E rulebook Orcs and Half-Orc don't have 4 toes specifically.
If you want to use this fan material, it also says ''Many adventuring half-orcs possess five toes'' so a PC could have 4 or 5 as wished.
I'm pretty sure the lore varies depending on setting and author. Unless your source is official or applies to your game's setting, you shouldn't take it for gospel.
It would be too much of a crunchy mathematical hassle (and replete with racially-charged dangers of our own world's historical experiences) to further define any one individual as a percentage of Orc vs Human.
Why? We already have tons of people sending their DNA to laboratories in order to know the exact percentages of their ancestry. Woke social justice warriors never complained about it. The only thing wrong about it is the fact that it's actually a scam. Those numbers are highly inaccurate, so much so that if you were to send the same DNA sample multiple times, you'll get vastly different results each time. There's also the fact that the police use those databases to catch criminals. It doesn't matter if you never sent your DNA to those labs, you only need one distant cousin to do it to have your whole family harassed by the police because someone with matching DNA committed a crime.
In 5E rulebook Orcs and Half-Orc don't have 4 toes specifically.
Although I've never seen anything about the number of toes they have, official art clearly shows them with five fingers. I don't think it would make sense on an evolutionary level to have a bipedal creature with an unmatching number of fingers and toes. I'm willing to bet that they have five toes in all official D&D settings.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
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"Curiously, while their hair and eye color takes after the human parent—in addition to their more humanlike appearance in general—a half-orc’s skin is always the same color as their orc parent (most often grey or green) but a few shades lighter. They also only have four toes like an orc." - the Athas Chronicle
This has sparked a debate of legitimacy. I need an historian or lore master do orcs have 4 toes or 5 the closest I can find is that the 4 toes may be from a book in the dark sun setting.
Well, that depends. If you want your half orcs to have four toes, they have four toes. If you want them to have five, they have five.
The way I figure it, "half orc" is a bit of a catch-all term for a bunch of people with a wide spectrum of traits from each side of their lineage. Some appear to lean more heavily toward their orcish ancestry, others toward their human ancestry. It would be too much of a crunchy mathematical hassle (and replete with racially-charged dangers of our own world's historical experiences) to further define any one individual as a percentage of Orc vs Human.
So half orcs, like every other species, are a widely varied people, with infinitely diverse assortment of genotypes and phenotypes. So, long story short...
"Do half orcs have four toes or five?"
Yes!
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
The wiki you're referring to at theathaschronicle.fandom.com seem to be homebrew material. In 5E rulebook Orcs and Half-Orc don't have 4 toes specifically.
If you want to use this fan material, it also says ''Many adventuring half-orcs possess five toes'' so a PC could have 4 or 5 as wished.
I'm pretty sure the lore varies depending on setting and author. Unless your source is official or applies to your game's setting, you shouldn't take it for gospel.
Why? We already have tons of people sending their DNA to laboratories in order to know the exact percentages of their ancestry. Woke social justice warriors never complained about it. The only thing wrong about it is the fact that it's actually a scam. Those numbers are highly inaccurate, so much so that if you were to send the same DNA sample multiple times, you'll get vastly different results each time. There's also the fact that the police use those databases to catch criminals. It doesn't matter if you never sent your DNA to those labs, you only need one distant cousin to do it to have your whole family harassed by the police because someone with matching DNA committed a crime.
Although I've never seen anything about the number of toes they have, official art clearly shows them with five fingers. I don't think it would make sense on an evolutionary level to have a bipedal creature with an unmatching number of fingers and toes. I'm willing to bet that they have five toes in all official D&D settings.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player