Hill Orc

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This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Orc.

Hill Orcs are Orcs from the upper world who, jealous of the riches which their cousins (the Cave Orcs) possess below the ground, descend in search of plunder and adventure. Hill Orcs are as robust as the Minotaurs, yet they have human-like reserves of magical energy. Their forte is brute-force fighting, and they are skilled at using most hand weapons (particularly axes, with which they are experts), though they are not particularly good at using missile weapons. Orcs are passable users of most types of magic and are particularly skilled with Fire. Many Orcs feel superior to all other species and beings, and they have formed a religion around that idea. Only Hill Orcs can worship Beogh, the Orc god, and Hill Orc Priests start in Beogh's service.

Innate Abilities

• Saprovore 1: Hill Orcs can tolerate rotten meat if they are hungry or worse.
• Hill Orcs gain bonuses when using orcish equipment. For Hill Orcs, orcish armour impedes spellcasting less than other armours, and improves their effective Armour skill. They do slightly more damage when using orcish weapons.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Warriors: Fighter, Gladiator, Monk
• Zealots: Berserker, Abyssal Knight, Death Knight, Priest, Healer
• Warrior-mages: Skald
• Mages: Necromancer, Fire Elementalist, Earth Elementalist
• Adventurers: Artificer

Hill Orc Priests start out worshipping Beogh instead of Zin.

Level Bonuses

• +1 strength every 5th level.
• 10% more HP than average.
• Average MP.
• +3 magic resistance per level.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Hill Orcs receive the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:

• Bread rations are replaced by meat rations.
• All weapons and armor are orcish quality, where such variants exist.

Difficulty of Play

Hill Orcs are an easy species to play, because of their high HP and good aptitudes for combat-related skills. Also, having the Saprovore trait makes staying well-fed a little less of a hassle for them. Hill Orcs can worship Beogh to make the orc-filled early game and Orcish Mines significantly easier. The orcish gear bonus is also notable, as orcish equipment is much more common than dwarven or elven equipment.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	2	Armour	1	Spellcasting	-3
		Dodging	-2
Maces & Flails	1	Shields	1	Conjurations	0
Axes	3	Stealth	-1	Hexes	0
Polearms	1			Summonings	0
Staves	-1	Invocations	3	Necromancy	0
Unarmed Combat	1	Evocations	0	Forgecraft	N/A
Throwing	-1	Shapeshifting	-2	Translocations	-2
				Alchemy	-2
Short Blades	0			Fire Magic	1
Long Blades	1			Ice Magic	-1
Ranged Weapons	-1			Air Magic	-2
		Experience	0	Earth Magic	0

Strategy

Demos' Hill Orc Priest guide