Homebrew Orc, TES Species Details

According to most accounts, the Orcish race was created when their patron god Trinimac was transformed by Boethiah. He became Malacath and his faithful became the cursed folk, or 'Orsimer', and were henceforth known as Orcs.

The Orcs say that Trinimac was enraged by Veloth and his cult trespassing on Tamriel during their exodus, and challenged his patron Boethiah to a duel. Just as Trinimac was about to succeed, a second Prince, Mephala, interfered and stabbed Trinimac in the back. Boethiah used the opportunity to curse Trinimac, transforming both him and his followers as well as casting him into a place of choking air and ash. There, Trinimac was reborn in his blood and rage and became Malacath, the God of Curses. The Dunmeri account of events begins much the same, but Boethiah instead triumphs over Trinimac alone and devours him whole. He proceeds to take Trinimacs form and speak with his voice, and together with Mephala showed the Chimer the rules of the Psijic Endeavor. Once he finished, he relieved himself of Trinimac there on the spot. That excrement became Malacath, and his followers became the Orcs. A disguised Malacath, when told one of these accounts, derided the story as being too "literal-minded".

There are several unexplained inconsistencies in these accounts. While some stories claim that Trinimac's duel with Boethiah occurred in the Dawn Era,  Saint Veloth's exodus to Morrowind, which preempted it, was safely within the Merethic Era. Several accounts also exist that seem to imply certain tribes of orcs were present in Tamriel before Aldmeri explorers ever set foot on the province, and thus before the Orcs' supposed creation.

While there is speculation that the 'Orcs' discovered by Topal the Pilot may have been a wholly different kind of Cursed Folk, oral traditions within both the Wrothgarian Orcs and Wood Orc societies claim that they have lived in that land since the Dawn Era, long before the Altmer or Bosmer settled there. Some Orcs have even gone so far as to claim that Malacath has been lying to them and that Trinimac still lives, including notable figures like Gortwog who very briefly made this the official doctrine of Third Orsinium. The conflicting nature of these stories, alongside the diaspora of Orcish culture, has made finding a single agreed-upon origin for the Orsimer an exceedingly difficult task.

Orc, TES Traits

Your Orc character has certain traits deriving from your orcish and elvish ancestries.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Half-orcs mature a little faster than humans, reaching adulthood around age 14. They age noticeably faster and rarely live longer than 75 years.

Size

Orcs are somewhat larger and bulkier than humans, and they range from 5 to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Berserker

You can rage once per day, ignoring the class requirement to do so. You can use this ability again once you finish a long rest. 

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On Your Turn, you can enter a rage as a Bonus Action.

While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Strength Checks and Strength Saving Throws.

• When you make a melee weapon Attack using Strength, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. This bonus increases as you level.

• You have Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

If you are able to cast Spells, you can't cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked Unconscious or if Your Turn ends and you haven't attacked a Hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on Your Turn as a Bonus Action.

Menacing

You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

Relentless Endurance

When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Savage Attacks

When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

Warlike Ways

You gain proficiency in Medium armor, Heavy armor, and three martial weapons of your choice. 

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc. Orc is a harsh, grating language with hard consonants. It has no script of its own but is written in the Elvish script.