Thanks for taking the time to read this. I would like to preface this by saying any and all opinions expressed in this post are just that, opinions. I do not claim to be the arbiter of all that is right and wrong. I simply wish to share what is, in my opinion, an unbalanced race.
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.
This is an excellent racial advantage. The trade-off of not wearing chest armor but gaining both physical and magical defense is a fantastic bonus. It does scale particularly slowly, but both early levels and late levels can make good use of this advantage. An important thing to note here is that this means if an Ogre wishes to wear full plate they automatically lose this advantage. This is interestingly balanced because it does allow for a higher defensive bonus than all other simple chest pieces at level 30.. but at a cost.
Now to the corresponding disadvantage.
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.
Here is where things start to go overboard on giving penalties for bonuses. Remember, ontop of everything listed here the Ogre player is already giving up a chest armor slot item to get the bonus at all. That is a considerable penalty unto itself.
...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
Ok, this is a fair penalty. You get a +1 to all defenses, so take a -1 to all attacks. If this is all that it was then this would be perfectly balanced in the most literal of terms. Keep in mind, in order to get this balance of bonus to penalty the ogre player is already giving up their chest armor slot. Up until level 25 that means that an ogre player is getting less than, or equal to, physical defense provided by fairly inexpensive chest armor. So, what the Ogre player gets is bonus magical defense, more than anything, in exchange for a penalty to all attack rolls.
Still, at this point, there is a little more penalty than there is benefit but if we were to stop here the balance isn't that bad. However...
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
If they want their racial bonus they have to forego chest armor, they can wear chest armor and negate their racial bonus. Regardless of that choice, 75% of all armor they could buy all has a rather steep 50% mark up. Meaning even if they did not wish to take their only bonus, they STILL take a penalty.
I feel this was an unnecessary addition and pushes the penalties of the race well beyond the benefits. Forcing a penalty even when advantages are opted out of is going overboard. I feel that if the price mark-up was simply removed that the balance of bonus to penalty would still be in favor of penalty, just not nearly as badly.
Thanks for reading! I invite any, and all, input.