Half-Orc and Mark of Finding
by Prince Phantom
Half-Orcs are the stereotypical “hit stuff with a big stick” race, and they sadly don’t really live up to that reputation. Powercreep has definitely been a factor, but the sad truth is that martials require feats to be functional, and races that get a feat at level one like the Variant Human have pretty much always been the best race for martials. This means that Half Orcs really only shine in games without feats, and in that case, what are you doing playing a martial? Let’s get into their abilities so I can explain my point more thoroughly.
Base Half-Orc Features
Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution: A perfect stat array for a melee martial, but with Tasha’s rule that really doesn’t matter as any race can provide that.
Darkvision: Always nice to have.
Menacing: Proficiency in Intimidation is nice, but most Half-Orcs won’t have the Charisma to take advantage of it. Talk to your DM about using Strength for Intimidation checks instead. That’s not a homebrew rule by the way, using different abilities for skills is RAW.
Relentless Endurance: This ability sounds super cool, and in play it can definitely make for some really hype moments. In practice, you drop to 0 from the enemy’s first attack, then go back to 1, only to be dropped again by its second attack. This isn’t a bad feature, it’s just not nearly as good as many people think.
Savage Attacks: This is such a minuscule increase in average damage that it’s almost not even worth calculating. Do not look at this and see a payoff for building a crit fisher. It is not, and those builds are bad anyway. Just like how the Barbarian’s Brutal Critical is a worthless waste of space, this is too.
The base Half-Orc is just not doing anything that remotely makes it worth playing over all the other great options for martial characters, and it does basically nothing to serve spellcasters. This is in serious need of a buff.
Final Rating: 1/5
Mark of Finding
Note that this is replacing all Half-Orc features, unlike some other Dragonmarks which just act as subraces.
Ability Score Increase: +2 Wisdom, +1 Constitution: Perfect for Clerics and Druids, though most people are playing with Tasha’s rule anyway.
Darkvision: Always nice to have.
Hunter’s Intuition: Perception is the best skill in the game, so getting to add a d4 to that is good enough already. Survival is a bit more situational, but in the right campaign it could be good to have.
Finder’s Magic: Hunter’s Mark is one of the most overrated spells in the game. Any bonus action attack feat will always do more damage than it. Locate Object on the other hand is one of the most underrated spells in the game, and has incredible utility in the right circumstances.
Spells of the Mark: Faerie Fire and Longstrider are nice additions, but the rest of the list is incredibly situational. Nothing here is really exciting me much at all.
This is definitely an improvement over the base Half-Orc, and has some actual use on spellcaster classes. Still, there are much better options that can accomplish anything this is trying to do.
Final Rating: 2/5
Half-Orcs are just simply outclassed by tons of other options, even ones found in the PHB. If the flavor is what you’re after, just play a Variant Human and flavor your character to have some Orc-like traits. Skip this option altogether though.
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