Labyrinths & Liontaurs
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Half-Orcs

You have always felt a bit like an outsider among your fellow humans -- why is that? Why is your temper so short and your night vision so good? Why do you have such a natural talent with animals? Why do you look the way you do? Perhaps you adventure to answer these questions, or because you have a strange wanderlust and deep dissatisfaction that you cannot explain. Or maybe you adventure for the myriad reasons that humans do. Whatever your motive, your temper and your strength often lead those like you into battle.

Details

Introduction: Before there were humans, orcs mounted on dire wolves waged ceaseless, brutal war on the other races. Ultimately, the sphinxes led elves and dwarves in a grand alliance, and they stamped out the orcs utterly. When humans finally did appear, they found only a few cowed and scattered orc clans, and in their naive mercy, they adopted these orcs rather than see them dead. In time, orcs married and mingled with humans, and soon there were no more orcs -- just humans with an orcish lineage. Today, most half-orcs do not understand their heritage, and think of themselves only as a variety of humans. Only a few of the most ancient elves have seen an orc, and only they preserve the knowledge of the orc tongue. NPC elves may recognize you for what you are, especially older ones, though they usually do not mention it.

Appearance: Human looks are so varied! Short, tall, weak, muscular; black, brown, white, green; curly or straight hair; curvy or wiry physique; flat or pointy teeth. You happen to be one of the mesomorphic types with slightly green skin, pointy teeth, and black hair. So what? You're all humans, right? Right?!

That said, not every half-orc has all the physical features of a typical half-orc. Some look nearly human. You must choose at least one orcish physical trait, however, or choose the Fitting In racial power, see below.

Society: Among humans, few suspect that half-orcs have an unusual heritage. However, they are distinctive, and the half-orc "look" is known for brute strength and dim wits. That's sterotype enough to alienate a person; add in a genuine intuition that you are different, and the result is that many half-orcs are angry, or loners, or prefer the company of animals. On the other hand, many half-orcs find good company among laboring folk as well as among criminals, soldiers, gladiators, and fighters. They tend to be neutral in alignment.

Rules

Character Creation: Apply the following adjustments to every half-orc player character.

Tyro Tier (character level 3): Select one of these three powers:

Adventurer Tier (character level 8): Select one of these three powers*:

Hero Tier (character level 13): Select one of these two powers*:

Legend Tier (character level 18): Select one of these two powers*:

* Or select a lower tier power that you have not chosen before.

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