Ogre

Ogre

Species	humanoid
No. Appearing	1–8
Behaviour	solitary
Range	alpine, desert, steppe, subterranean, woodland
Size	9 ft. tall
Weight	590 lbs.
Intelligence	5 to 6
Armour Class	5
Hit Dice	6+1
Action Points	5
Max. Stride	12
THAC0	17
Hp/Die	d10
Attack Forms	fist or weapon
Damage	1–12 or by weapon type
Special Attacks	strength 18/00, throw stones

Ogres are inhumanly large, tall, hideous-appearing man-like being known to eat ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Their head is disproportionately large, with abundant hair and an uneven, mottled coloured skin noted for large pockets of fat. Ogres are inordinately strong; they are often presumed to be related to giants, but this is uncertain; they are often confused with hill and stone giants, so that tales related to both giants and ogres are often mixed with one another.

Artist: Manzanedo

History

Ogres began to appear on Earth between eight and ten thousand years ago, originating uncertainly in the Eastern Sayan Mountains west of Lake Baykal. Ancient hobgoblin, haruchai and orc scholarship is scanty on this origin, but Sarg Griksta of Yaxjasso wrote that ogre groups appeared intermittently over the centuries as though passing through a planar gate, which came to be known as the Orcrest Gate, due to the discovery of rare gems found throughout the region, called "orcrest".

By the Bronze Age, due to their low intelligence, ogres had formed subservient relationships with numerous races, including orcs, haruchai, cavewights and norkers. This has furthered the strength and influence of these empire-building entities, so that they continue to threaten human and dwarven cultures in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Multiple invasions and warmongering by these humanoid races have spread ogre populations into many parts of Europe, Arabia and northern parts of Africa.

Behaviour

Ogres are always male and have no female counterpart; they do not reproduce. Solitary ogres are are capable within a narrow range of activities, being satisfied with eating, resting and amusing themselves by turning or twirling objects, or by letting animals go in order to recapture them. If solitary, they will carry a club as a weapon (d8 damage), which gives the benefit of their strength bonus (+3 to hit, +6 damage). If they drop the club, they will forget to pick it up and continue to carry on the fight using their fists. Once wounded, they will work themselves up to a rage and will fight until unconscious or dead, not understanding that they should run away.

When serving humanoid masters, ogres will attach themselves to a clan or a troop, who will "adopt" the ogre and take it upon themselves to provide the ogre with a spear (d8) or godentag (2d6). If the ogre drops this weapon, one of the others will urge it to pick the weapon up again. Ogres are able to throw stones that will cause 4-10 damage on a hit (short range 3-8 hexes; medium 9-14; long 15-20), a dozen of which will be readied for the ogre to throw if the clan or troop is defending a village or settlement. When with a troop, the ogre will have partial armour, usually a metal plate and helmet, granting it a +2 to +4 armour class.

Ogres like orcs, haruchai, cavewights and norkers, and when with these groups will cheerfully do as it's told, commonly remaining with a clan for decades, or with a troop until it is disbanded. They do not get along with goblins, hobgoblins or bugbears. Ogres live for somewhere between 90 and 150 years, though it is rare for one to die of old age.

See Also,
Ancient History
Bestiary
History