Currently I'm working on making a playable Half Dwarf Ogre race, based upon official published material. my primary source is the template from Dragon Magazine #313.
Half-Ogre
by Wade Norton, Dragon #313
Ogre clans rarely develop the sophisticated agricultural or animal husbandry skills need to support their large numbers, and instead resort to taking what they need from more capable, though far weaker, neighbors. These interactions with neighboring peoples do not often result in offspring, but when they do, it is almost always shameful.
Half-ogre children are most often born to orc clans that share habitats with ogres, although half-ogre bugbears and gnolls also exist. Half-ogre humans are rare, and the offspring of ogres and other races even more so.
Half-ogres often stand out among their non-ogre kin as brutish louts, big on muscle and short on brains. Fortunately, this is exactly the sort of combination that makes them valuable to orc clans. Half-ogres born to orc clans face an uphill struggle, but once they reach maturity they are often thrust to the front of any combat.
In the ogre clans, they are considered weaker half-breeds that cannot carry their weight, but once they reach maturity, their slightly higher intelligence can propel them to positions of leadership.
Half-ogres are larger, cruder versions of their non-ogre parent. Their thick mottled skin is covered in coarse brown hair, and they are prone to warts.
Creating a Half-Ogre
"Half-ogre" is an inherited template that can be added to any creature of the giant, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid type (referred to hereafter as the "base creature") from Small to Huge in size.
A half-ogre uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The base creature's type does not change. If the creature is of Small or Medium size, it gains a size category, becoming Medium or Large respectively. See Creature Size Changer for changes to the base creature when it gains a size category. The changes in this template are in addition to the changes outlined there.
Speed: If the base creature's size increased due to the application of this template, its speeds increase by 10 feet.
Armor Class: The base creatures natural armor bonus improves by +2.
Special Qualities: A half-ogre has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special quality.
Darkvision (Ex): A half-ogre has darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Giant Blood (Ex): For all special abilities and effects, a half-ogre is considered a giant in addition to the base creature's type and subtype. Half-ogres can use magic items with racially specific powers as giants.
Abilities: Change from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Int -2, Cha -2.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature if it did not gain a size category, otherwise same as the base creature +1.
Alignment: Usually evil (any).
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature if it did not gain a size category, otherwise same as the base creature +1.
Dwarf Traits
I'm going to be combining the template from above with the dwarf and race, right off the bat I'm removing all cultural benefits (like Tool Proficiency)
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age: Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.
Alignment: Most dwarves are lawful, believing firmly in the benefits of a well-ordered society. They tend toward good as well, with a strong sense of fair play and a belief that everyone deserves to share in the benefits of a just order.
Size: Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.
Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Dwarven Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Dwarven Combat Training: You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.
Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak.
This is what I have so far.
Half Dwarf Ogre
Age: Half Dwarf Ogre mature faster than as humans, but they’re on average, they live about 60 years, the often suffer major health complications from their mixed heritage
Ability Score Increase: Con +2, Str +4, Int -2, Cha -2.
Size and Type: Half Dwarf Ogre stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and average about 250 to 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Armor Class: The base creatures natural armor bonus improves by +2.
Special Qualities: A half-ogre has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special quality.
Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Speed: Your base walking speed is 35 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.
Giant Blood: For all special abilities and effects, Half Dwarf Ogre is considered a giant and can use magic items with racially specific powers as giants.
Reviled heritage: The dwarf cousin of the of the half Dwarf Ogre sees them as an abomination, or at best a pitiful creature. All social roles while interacting with dwarves have disadvantage.
Gruesome Gluttons: half Dwarf Ogre consume four times the amount of food as a normal humanoid of its same size.
Stat penalties are not a good idea and you put in two of them. That does NOT 'counter' the +4 to Strength you put in, all it does is make sure they are never going to be a wizard, bard, sorcerer or warlock. In addition type changing to Giant is probelmatic on lots of levels. No real need to do it, minimal benefits and MAJOR issues later on (Charm PERSON, Dominate PERSON, etc.) They are half dwarf, keep them humanoid.
I would call this race overpowered. Part of the problem is you kept all the 'good' stuff and failed to balance it reasonably. Drop some of it.
This is what I would do, for a half dwarf half ogre:
Half Dwarf Ogre
Age: Half Dwarf Ogre mature faster than as humans, but they’re on average, they live about 60 years, the often suffer major health complications from their mixed heritage
Ability Score Increase: Con +2, Str +2
Size and Type: Half Dwarf Ogre stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and average about 250 to 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Weighty Weapons: You like your melee weapons heavy. For a nominal fee (10 gp) you can have any blacksmith add weights to an existing Heavy Melee Weapon sized for Medium creatures. This takes 8 hours to do and adds 5 lbs to the weapon. Once done the weapon now has a -1 penalty to hit, but anyone with the Weighty Weapons trait or any Large creature now does an extra 1d4 damage with the weapon on a hit.
Reviled heritage: The dwarf cousin of the of the half Dwarf Ogre sees them as an abomination, or at best a pitiful creature. All social roles while interacting with dwarves have disadvantage.
Gruesome Gluttons: half Dwarf Ogre consume four times the amount of food as a normal humanoid of its same size.
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Currently I'm working on making a playable Half Dwarf Ogre race, based upon official published material. my primary source is the template from Dragon Magazine #313.
Half-Ogre
by Wade Norton, Dragon #313
Ogre clans rarely develop the sophisticated agricultural or animal husbandry skills need to support their large numbers, and instead resort to taking what they need from more capable, though far weaker, neighbors. These interactions with neighboring peoples do not often result in offspring, but when they do, it is almost always shameful.
Half-ogre children are most often born to orc clans that share habitats with ogres, although half-ogre bugbears and gnolls also exist. Half-ogre humans are rare, and the offspring of ogres and other races even more so.
Half-ogres often stand out among their non-ogre kin as brutish louts, big on muscle and short on brains. Fortunately, this is exactly the sort of combination that makes them valuable to orc clans. Half-ogres born to orc clans face an uphill struggle, but once they reach maturity they are often thrust to the front of any combat.
In the ogre clans, they are considered weaker half-breeds that cannot carry their weight, but once they reach maturity, their slightly higher intelligence can propel them to positions of leadership.
Half-ogres are larger, cruder versions of their non-ogre parent. Their thick mottled skin is covered in coarse brown hair, and they are prone to warts.
Creating a Half-Ogre
"Half-ogre" is an inherited template that can be added to any creature of the giant, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid type (referred to hereafter as the "base creature") from Small to Huge in size.
A half-ogre uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The base creature's type does not change. If the creature is of Small or Medium size, it gains a size category, becoming Medium or Large respectively. See Creature Size Changer for changes to the base creature when it gains a size category. The changes in this template are in addition to the changes outlined there.
Speed: If the base creature's size increased due to the application of this template, its speeds increase by 10 feet.
Armor Class: The base creatures natural armor bonus improves by +2.
Special Qualities: A half-ogre has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special quality.
Darkvision (Ex): A half-ogre has darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Giant Blood (Ex): For all special abilities and effects, a half-ogre is considered a giant in addition to the base creature's type and subtype. Half-ogres can use magic items with racially specific powers as giants.
Abilities: Change from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Int -2, Cha -2.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature if it did not gain a size category, otherwise same as the base creature +1.
Alignment: Usually evil (any).
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature if it did not gain a size category, otherwise same as the base creature +1.
Dwarf Traits
I'm going to be combining the template from above with the dwarf and race, right off the bat I'm removing all cultural benefits (like Tool Proficiency)
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age:
Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.Alignment:
Most dwarves are lawful, believing firmly in the benefits of a well-ordered society. They tend toward good as well, with a strong sense of fair play and a belief that everyone deserves to share in the benefits of a just order.Size: Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed:
Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Dwarven Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Dwarven Combat Training: You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.
Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak.
This is what I have so far.
Half Dwarf Ogre
Age: Half Dwarf Ogre mature faster than as humans, but they’re on average, they live about 60 years, the often suffer major health complications from their mixed heritage
Ability Score Increase: Con +2, Str +4, Int -2, Cha -2.
Size and Type: Half Dwarf Ogre stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and average about 250 to 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Armor Class: The base creatures natural armor bonus improves by +2.
Special Qualities: A half-ogre has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special quality.
Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Speed: Your base walking speed is 35 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.
Giant Blood: For all special abilities and effects, Half Dwarf Ogre is considered a giant and can use magic items with racially specific powers as giants.
Reviled heritage: The dwarf cousin of the of the half Dwarf Ogre sees them as an abomination, or at best a pitiful creature. All social roles while interacting with dwarves have disadvantage.
Gruesome Gluttons: half Dwarf Ogre consume four times the amount of food as a normal humanoid of its same size.
Stat penalties are not a good idea and you put in two of them. That does NOT 'counter' the +4 to Strength you put in, all it does is make sure they are never going to be a wizard, bard, sorcerer or warlock. In addition type changing to Giant is probelmatic on lots of levels. No real need to do it, minimal benefits and MAJOR issues later on (Charm PERSON, Dominate PERSON, etc.) They are half dwarf, keep them humanoid.
I would call this race overpowered. Part of the problem is you kept all the 'good' stuff and failed to balance it reasonably. Drop some of it.
This is what I would do, for a half dwarf half ogre:
Half Dwarf Ogre
Age: Half Dwarf Ogre mature faster than as humans, but they’re on average, they live about 60 years, the often suffer major health complications from their mixed heritage
Ability Score Increase: Con +2, Str +2
Size and Type: Half Dwarf Ogre stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and average about 250 to 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Darkvision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Resilience: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Weighty Weapons: You like your melee weapons heavy. For a nominal fee (10 gp) you can have any blacksmith add weights to an existing Heavy Melee Weapon sized for Medium creatures. This takes 8 hours to do and adds 5 lbs to the weapon. Once done the weapon now has a -1 penalty to hit, but anyone with the Weighty Weapons trait or any Large creature now does an extra 1d4 damage with the weapon on a hit.
Reviled heritage: The dwarf cousin of the of the half Dwarf Ogre sees them as an abomination, or at best a pitiful creature. All social roles while interacting with dwarves have disadvantage.
Gruesome Gluttons: half Dwarf Ogre consume four times the amount of food as a normal humanoid of its same size.