Tuesday 22 January 2019

D&D Monsters: Ogres

Ogres are a common feature in folklore, in which they are typically powerful and brutish humanoids with a taste for human flesh. The word does not seem to go back any further than the Middle Ages, although the basic concept is, of course, much older, and similar beings exist in a variety of ancient myths. Inevitably, they have been widely used in fantasy literature, although they don't appear in Tolkien, since he adapted the same word-root into his "orc".

The D&D concept of the ogre, however, seems to owe a lot to Tolkien's trolls, and as a big, stupid, foe with no particular frills beyond sheer strength, they seem a popular opponent to throw at low-level characters.


1E

As described in 1E, ogres are powerful humanoids, closer in size to the smallest of giants than to humans. The image shows enlarged ears and a flattened face with a sloping forehead. Oddly, their feet bend in the middle, and there is a spur (possibly one of the toes) pointing backwards from the heel. In other respects, however, their build is essentially human-like. Their skin is said to vary from yellow to very dark brown, and to have numerous warty bumps that aren't apparent in the illustration.

Game mechanically, ogres form the highest rung on the stepwise progression of evil humanoids, all but identical to bugbears save for (on average) 5 extra hit points and a 5% greater chance of landing a blow in combat. (There are, of course, more powerful humanoids than ogres, but the stepwise ranking breaks down above this, with the addition of magical powers, or else a significant gap in the progression).

Ogres are notably stupider than any of the weaker humanoids, however, and, in fact, have the same intelligence rating as a gorilla - albeit they are able to speak five different languages without apparent difficulty. The illustration implies a stone age technology, and the description agrees that they only wear furs and skins as armour; if we assume that this provides only one point of protection, they must have skin and/or muscle as resilient as, once again, that of a gorilla. 

The average ogre community numbers about two dozen, with males outnumbering females two to one. Unusually, females are only marginally weaker than males, having just 5% fewer hit points, but weaker they are, and the society (such as it is) is another patriarchal one. As one might expect given the folklore origins of ogres, they have a predilection for eating humanoid flesh... although actual humans apparently don't taste as nice as other "good guy" races.


2E

2E ogres retain the humanoid shape and large size of the earlier version, although their feet now look more normal, and the face is exaggerated and prognathous, rather than flattened. Otherwise, there are few significant differences, beyond a statement that they smell of curdled milk for some reason. (Lactic acid in their sweat, perhaps?) Communities are slightly larger, averaging around 30 individuals, and at least some of them can now learn magic. They seem to be less stupid than before, although still significantly less intelligent than humans.

There's also an aquatic version of an ogre, termed a "merrow". These had first appeared in a 1E supplement after the original Monster Manual, and are similar to their land-based cousins; the same name is used in 5E to refer to a kind of evil merman.


3E

The 3E ogre is less humanoid than the previous versions, with an elongated bestial face, enlarged teeth and a mane of hair that seems to extend over the shoulders as well as the scalp. The overall physique is ape-like, with long, powerful arms, and a stooped gait, although the torso is surprisingly slender (if well-muscled). 

Ogre communities are much smaller than before, since they only live in groups of up to around eight. There is, however, no longer any suggestion that females are less powerful than males, even by a small margin. Ogres' strength has dramatically increased, but the intelligence has dropped back down to the level in 1E, and it's now the case that they typically only speak one language. This, however, is now the Giant tongue, rather than a unique one, and ogres are specifically stated to be a kind of small giant (as it were), and thus unaffected by magic geared specifically towards regular humanoids. 

Ogres also have darkvision, being able to "see" in the complete absence of light. Perhaps surprisingly, this wasn't mentioned in the two previous editions, although it's true of pretty well every other similar being.


5E

There's another dramatic change in the ogre's appearance in 5E, this one seeming to be influenced by the look of trolls in the Lord of the Rings movies. They are stocky, and more humanly proportioned than in 3E, with a jutting jaw, but not an elongated head, and the one shown is, so far as one can tell, quite hairless. Fitting with the heavier build, the text describes them as weighing almost half a ton, about half again what they were said to weigh in 3E.

Strength is down, although still higher than it was implied to be in the first two editions, and intelligence has dropped further still - it's now actually lower than that of a gorilla, which hasn't changed. The text also plays up their overwhelming stupidity, as well as confirming their anthropophagous habits of the first two editions and their general unpleasantness. In terms of their raw statistics, they seem more powerful than before (they have twice as many hit points as bugbears do now, rather than just 33% more), but that's more than compensated for by rules changes that increase the effectiveness of typical player characters.


In most settings, ogres have neither the intelligence or the numbers to have any significant effect on the world. They are reinforcements for evil armies, strong men for crime bosses, and the like. Mystara is an exception, where, as with most evil humanoid races, there is a substantial ogre kingdom. These ogres seem to have a relatively sophisticated culture involving, among other things, yak herding. On the other hand, the ogres of Golarion, which resemble the 5E (and 4E) sort more than the 3E one, are mostly similar to the Forgotten Realms ones, although perhaps with a tendency to live in slightly larger tribes.

The idea of "big stupid humanoid that's not quite a giant" is a sufficiently useful one to be found in many other game systems, although not always under the name of "ogre". Where beings of that name do exist, it's often the anthropophagy that's played up. In Glorantha, for example, ogres are an offshoot of humans magically warped by their practice of cannibalism and demon-worship.  Unlike D&D ogres they are hard to tell apart from humans, are intelligent, and are often physically attractive - superficially charming psychopaths, rather than monstrous brutes. Warhammer ogres, however, while organised enough to form armies (of course...) are gluttonous and violent, with a culture that seems vaguely Tibetan and a habit of riding mammoths.

Translating D&D ogres to other systems that do lack something of the kind is really only a matter of describing a humanoid with a strength and resilience slightly better than the human maximum, an intelligence close to the human minimum, and a particularly thick hide (equivalent to mail armour, usually). Where size matters, they are said to be nine to ten feet in height, although, as noted above, the weight varies dramatically between editions. Combat skill is naturally high, but few other skills are typically noteworthy.


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