Gray orc is a race introduced with Storm of Zehir.
The orcs of the eastern lands are concentrated in the Moonsea and Endless Wastes today, with a much smaller number scattered through the various lands that lie between. A gray orc looks less bestial than their more savage northern kin, but is still obviously nonhuman. Grey orcs are more apt to wear "civilized" clothing than mountain orcs, though they typically follow a nomadic existence - dwelling in remote, desolate places and eking out a meager existence as best they can. The true power behind a tribe of gray orcs is not the chieftain, but the tribe's high priest, typically an adept or a cleric (often female), who has held the position for many years. The gray orcs are zealots, and the word of their tribal clerics is law.
Gray orcs are just as mean, savage, and barbaric as their northern cousins, but they lack the mountain orc's drive to conquer and enslave. Gray orcs are quite likely to react suddenly and irrationally to events, trusting their heart and instincts more readily than logic. When presented with an opportunity to attack a hated rival, a gray orc doesn't hesitate to attack even having been brutally defeated dozens of times before by the same enemy.
Racial Traits[]
Size: Medium
- Ability adjustments: +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
- Long Gait: Gray orc base land speed is 40 feet. Their gait is long and loping and they can cover great distances quickly.
- Light Blindness: gray orcs suffer a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saves and skill checks in sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
- Darkvision: gray orcs can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
- Scent: Can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. This allows the user to track hidden and invisible targets when using the Track ability.
- Favored Class: Cleric. Although gray orcs are comfortable with the savage life of the barbarian, they tend to be calmer and more collected than northern orcs, focusing their rage and hatred inward. This allows them to excel as clerics of the warlike orc deities.
- Weapon Proficiency: gray orcs are proficient with greataxe and longbow.
- Level adjustment +1: gray orcs are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other, more common races. It will take more experience for a gray orc to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.
Gameplay notes[]
- While listed as a (negative) feat for the PC and reflected on the info tab for the player, the -1 circumstance penalty to attack rolls and saves for gray orcs are not enforced in game play. The penalty to skill checks does, however, always apply while outdoors.
- Even through a Gray Orc can use greataxes and longbows, she can't select Weapon Focus/Improved Critical for them without acquiring Weapon Proficiency (martial) feat. This is a bug and not intended.
Gray Orcs