Legends of Belariath

Ogres

Ogres are best distinguished and known for their huge shaggy bodies and extraordinary ugliness. This pales in comparison to their general lack of intelligence, however. They are slow to move and slow to think, but once they begin an action or a thought process, they become virtual juggernauts due to their natural tenacity and great strength. Ogres are muscular and often appear to bulge both around their bellies and their arms and thighs. This makes them prized soldiers in the Empire during times of war, as their bulky bodies provide excellent cover for frail casters. Their weapon of choice is the club, be it a fallen tree or the corpse of a foe; their meaty fists a close second.

It should be noted that ogres are considered a 'hungry' race; capable of inflicting a great deal of harm on the objects of their desires. An Ogres' 'affection' a dangerous thing for any non-ogre to earn. Given that the Ogre understandably prefers the company of other races as bedfellows, let it be known that they are ridiculously rough and will probably leave their chosen 'plaything' sore.

Character Creation

Starter Classes: Warrior, Shaman, Artisan, Entertainer, Layman

Advanced Classes: Warlord, Necromancer, Earth Mage

Starting Stats:

	STR	INT	AGI	RES	STA	SPL	LFE
Basic Stats	6	1	1	2	9	2	7

Ogres: An Investigation

By Sterbew Ranticdoiy, Researcher and Scholar.

Physical Characteristics

Ogres are generally considered to be ugly, brutish, almost primitive creatures worthy only of suspicion or destruction for their general savagery. Many severely doubt their value as a subject of study given all this, and thus my work has seen much criticism over the centuries, but still I maintain that it's their primitive, or rather their rudimentary nature which makes them so very worthy of the most scrutinously investigative process.

They are built much as all mortal races are built; two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, ten fingers and ten toes. They range considerably in height but average out at roughly nine feet, almost never exceeding ten. Their mouths bear several rows of teeth built more for crushing and grinding than ripping and tearing, though this should not suggest they are anything but omnivorous. It is not at all uncommon for minor tusks to form in an Ogre`s jaw, nor for ridges to develop in their brows, excess of bone-growth around the skull making head trauma a particular rarity.

Excessive hair-growth is a commonality among Ogres, and a sign of status among males and females alike. Though their thick skulls are often bald, massive beards tend to develop which are by no means confined to their faces, 'manes' of chest-hair frequently growing so long as to brush the ground between their feet. Some Ogres are born with considerably less hair than others, and rarer still are some born without body-hair at all, this a somewhat freak occurrence which earns much derision in Ogre society. Ogres take a great deal of pleasure in the process of shaving; too much in fact, the experience one they find exceedingly addictive. Many ogres have locked themselves away to perpetually shave their bodies, and thus the act is looked upon as shameful amongst them.

Birth, Life and Death

Though ogres are terribly lusty creatures, that lust is almost entirely directed toward the races outside their own. That being said, Ogres are still incompatible as mates with any other race of the World now known, so one may wonder how it is that Ogre's reproduce. It's a little known fact that in almost all cases they'd much prefer not to, though on random occasions throughout their adult life an almost irresistible urge will drive them to seek out a partner of their own kind. This mating-frenzy is rarely a mutual affair, and thus one Ogre typically has to subdue the other, the process itself agonizing for both parties, and leaving them drained and depleted for days.

When an Ogre is born into the world, they are not at all unlike ourselves as infants and children, if not rather more self-sufficient, every bit as bright as your average elf-child. Alas once maturity is reached the Ogre is doomed to a gradual, sometimes rapid decline into imbecility, not only struggling to learn new things, but actually losing major portions of their previous cognizance. It has been a great tragedy of my life to behold Ogre young I'd taken as students forgetting all I had taught them in the years to follow their coming of age.

Death comes hard to Ogre-kind, even given their propensity to wage needless combat. Elf kind boasts its longevity, but we are still vulnerable to the elements, still require outside sources of sustenance to fuel our continued existence. Amazingly, this is not so for Ogres. All the necessities of our everyday lives are just luxuries for them, Ogres able to survive conditions that would render most mortals dead in moments. Their minds never cease to wither however, and eventually they take to perpetual stillness; a stillness which, by my own observation, can gradually lead to the Ogre's calcification, their bodies slowly solidifying into a dense substance akin to limestone. It is hard to classify this state as 'death' without further study, as certain tests suggest an Ogre can perhaps be roused from this state if only they could summon the will.

Traditions and Taboos

Ogres, though generally disliked by most mortal races, frequently have an inherent affection and natural accord with the Nymphs, Pixies, and Nixies of the world. Often-times they'll take to tending, braiding, and making little homes of Ogre's massive beards, something which the Ogres not only seem to tolerate, but often quite enjoy. I cannot count the number of times my Oread assistant Nyshla has utilized this relationship to save my life from a needlessly enraged Male.

On the other hand, Ogres also quite often possess an inherent fear, hatred, or distrust of all things in relation to Dragons, viewing Drak`Sen with particular suspicion or distaste. Many Ogres have found themselves imprisoned, slain, or ran out of town for attacking Drak`Sen unprovoked, or for defiling Imperial emblems bearing the Dragon-crest; typically entirely oblivious of their crimes in both cases.

A source of great anxiety for some Ogres, while anxiety over the issue is still a thing of which they are cognitively capable, is the decline of their minds. A certain sect of Ogre Society I've only recently embedded within my last century of research seems to be in possession of a 'countermeasure' to the decline, a concoction which halts the deterioration, with the side-effect of driving the imbiber quite entirely and irretrievably insane. Those who imbibe are typically locked away for years at a time, their prevailing ravings and howling occasionally interrupted by moments of clarity which have been vital to my following findings and suppositions. Another point of interest is the contents of the concoction itself, which, though not entirely known to me, contains as its rarest ingredient powdered moon-stone. I chose, perhaps foolishly, to sample the substance myself, and found it wholly inert; suggesting its effects are exclusive to Ogre-kind.

Advantages

Boulder-Chested

An Ogres chest is broad and massive, the bones of their breast as thick as wooden planks and as hard as obsidian. Not only that, but their typically near full-body beards are surprisingly flame retardant, and many a swung blade can find themselves tangled up in braided strands before ever reaching ogre-flesh.

Mechanics: So long as an ogre is wearing no chest armor of any description (including cloth items) they receive a bonus to physical and magical defense for every class-enhancing level they receive. I.E at level 1 the ogre receives +1 defense, at level 5 +2 defense, at level 10 +3, all the way up to +7 at lvl 30. Can stack with enchant values.

The Flesh Remains

Ogres, as well as possessing all the longevity of elf-kind, are gifted with an almost otherworldly durability. They can still be murdered by the same methods as most other races, but to die by natural or accidental causes as an ogre is exceedingly difficult. Though a hungry race, Ogres are not prone starve to death nor die of thirst, growing weak and lean without sustenance to the point of near-death, but never actually expiring. When an area they reside in is sealed off and drained of air or they are submerged to great depths in water, ogres enter a sluggish and drunken state, but so long as they are capable of inhaling and exhaling a gas or liquid containing a minimal amount of oxygen, they will not perish; making Ogres more or less amphibious in spite of, or perhaps resulting in a very common fear or dislike of being submerged in water. That being said an Ogre can still be throttled to death if the thickness of their necks is accounted for, Ogres vulnerable to most all the means of homicide.

Disadvantages

The Mind Withers

Though Ogres begin life with near as much potential for intelligence as any other race, learning and developing from youth to maturity in the same way as Human-kind, achieving adulthood means the beginning of their mental decline, which can often be exceedingly steep. Though the rate of decay varies from Ogre to Ogre, all suffer this malady, and the older an ogre grows the more forgetful, dense, and easily confused they will become. After centuries for some and mere decades for others this condition culminates in catatonia. The only 'cure' for this condition is the ritualistic imbibing of a special potion brewed of moon-dust, which only trades the slow decline of the mind for a violent, raving madness. Should an ogre choose and be granted this path, they are rarely allowed back into civilized society, or even the society of most other Ogres.

Toothpicks And Toe-nail Trimmers

Ogres, though not the largest race in Belariath, easily have the biggest hands and feet. Not only is fitting them with gloves and leggings an expensive nightmare, but it makes arming them with anything other than their fists a bit of a chore. Ogres can get past this hurtle if they put their more basic nature aside, but for most trying to swing a blade, be it short-sword or claymore, would be like a human trying to do battle with a nail-file. Even most spells pose a problem for Ogres, as their thick fingers can fumble over the casting postures.

Mechanics: Ogres suffer a 50% markup in the cost of any hand, arm, or leg armor they purchase, though this does not apply to a full set of plate. In addition, an Ogre must either forgo the Boulder-chested bonus in combat, or suffer a -1 to any attacks they make with a weapon or spell(including gauntlets if their offensive bonus is applied) for every +1 to defense Boulder-chested grants.

Combat Modifiers

Disabilities and Their Mechanics

Type:	Attack				Defense				Init
	CloPhy	RanPhy	CloMag	RanMag	CloPhy	RanPhy	CloMag	RanMag
Sight	-30%	-100%	-30%	-100%	-30%	-30%	-30%	-30%	-50%
Hearing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%
Speech	N/A	N/A	-100%	-100%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hands/Arms***	-25%	-25%	-50%	-50%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-20%
Legs/Feet***	-25%	-10%	-25%	-N/A	-25%	-20%	-25%	-25%	-25%
* Attack/Defense Enchantments are not effected, penalties apply to base stats. * Those temporarily blinded in one eye will receive half penalties for blindness to all attacks. ** All penalties are cumulative. *** Penalties are cumulative per limb.