Monsters in Transition - Orcs

This time around we're going to step up on the monster ladder, but not too far, and take a look at Orcs. The slightly less common, slightly larger goblin of the D&D world.

Orcs are the next step up in the goblinoid ladder. Bigger and stronger than goblins, they typically lead goblins in battle. They also abuse the hell out of them. Usually the first few encounters in a standard D&D game start off with goblins and the go to orcs soon after.

Orcs tend to be stronger and more brutish than the other humanoid races. Early on they are a significant threat to the players, since there standard damage is 2d4+4 which is enough to severely wound or kill many 1st level characters. They are the stock fodder of D&D adventures.

Between Pathfinder and D&D little has changed. Their stats are still the same, their saves are slightly better in Pathfinder (with a -1 to Will instead of a -2). Their main weakness is a lack of intelligence and Light Sensitivity. In daylight and bright light they are dazzled. This sets up an interesting problem for PCs. These already dangerous foes are more likely to ambush at night when the party is asleep and unarmored, and they can make use of their darkvision, making them that much more lethal.

A significant and odd change happened in Pathfinder though, that bears mentioning. Orcs have a trait called Ferocity that lets them take action when they are in the negatives for hit-points. They can only take one action a round and they still lose 1 hitpoint a round, but in Pathfinder you die when you reach negative con score, not negative 10. Bundled with the larger hit die this gives them nearly triple the hitpoints of a D&D orc. They lose those last hitpoints quickly, but it gives them at least a round or two to drop PCs.

That is the significant change. The odd change is that their challenge rating went down to 1/3 instead of 1/2. While characters are slightly more powerful in Pathfinder than D&D, that power doesn't become evident right away, so the increase in killing power and duration paired with a lower CR makes for a dangerous balancing act on the GM's part.