Ogres are massive, powerful greenskins standing around seven to eight feet tall with small tusks and hairy bodies. Unlike the dull-witted giants they are sometimes confused with, ogres possess complex emotions and keen senses, though they are often ruled by their passions. An ogre's rage is legendary, but so is their capacity for loyalty and love.
Culturally, ogres mate for life but live in separate tribes divided by gender, reuniting only during mating seasons and festivals. They are deeply connected to nature and their tribal bonds, with elaborate rituals governing interactions between tribes. An ogre without a tribe is considered pitiable, a creature without purpose or protection.
The separate tribes are the reason ogres exist in the shape they do. Gaea made ogres from the same passion-flesh as her other large children, kin in substance to the giants and to humankind, and into them she poured more feeling than a single body was ever built to hold. An ogre's rage really is bottomless, and so is an ogre's love; allowed to run without pause, that much passion would burn an ogre hollow inside a few years. So the making came with a governor built in. The sexes were set to live apart and to come together only in their seasons, which gives all that feeling a rhythm to run on instead of a fire that never banks. This was never advice an ogre might take or leave. Gaea wrote the cycle into what an ogre is, the same stroke that set the tusks and the size, and it has bred true down every generation since.
That is why a tribeless ogre is reckoned pitiable rather than merely unlucky. An ogre cut out of the cycle is not freed by it. It becomes a vessel of enormous feeling with nothing to spend it on and no season to wait for, and the passion that was meant to run in a loop turns and runs inward instead. Ogres know this in the body, which is why the reunion seasons and the festivals are kept with such care, and why the courtesies between the men's tribes and the women's are so elaborate. All of that ceremony is upkeep, the work of keeping the one cycle running that holds a passion-built people together.
A reunion ground at the turn of the season. The men's tribe comes down out of the hills, the women's up from the river, and the long flat between them is crossed at a walk by both sides at once, at the same unhurried pace. No one rushes the approach. The slow crossing is the oldest courtesy the ogres keep, and the festival that follows it can run a full month.
Vitals
- Size: Large
- Height: 7-8 feet
- Weight: 300-400 pounds
Heritages
- Silzar (Plains Ogre) — Nomadic mounted warriors who ride war mammoths equipped with cannons and ballistae across the plains of Silwyn. See Silzar.
- Groyza (Swamp Ogre) — Camouflaged swamp ambushers and skilled herbalists who brew potent poisons from the flora of the southern marshlands. See Groyza.
Game mechanics
Primal Senses
Passive ability. Your senses are primal and sharp. You can track creatures by scent, detecting their presence within 30 feet even through obstacles. You have A2 on perception checks to detect hidden creatures, and you cannot be surprised while conscious.
Silzar (Plains Ogre) — Mammoth Artillery
Passive ability. You are trained in the ways of mounted siege warfare. You suffer no penalties for firing ranged weapons while moving on a mount, and you can reload heavy ranged weapons (cannons, ballistae, heavy crossbows) as an interact action rather than a full action. You gain the Beast Companion talent as a racial ability (it does not count towards the number of talents you have). Your companion is a war mammoth with 40 HP, 30 move speed, and a trample attack dealing 1d10 damage. If your mammoth dies, you can bond with a new one after a month of mourning.
Groyza (Swamp Ogre) — Bog Stalker
Passive ability. You are perfectly adapted to swamp environments. You can move through difficult terrain caused by mud, water, or vegetation without penalty, and you can hold your breath for up to 30 minutes. While in swamp or wetland terrain, you have A2 on stealth checks and your first attack against a creature that hasn't acted in combat deals an additional 1d8 damage.