Ilneval sounds like a really great place to start for a half-orc character: be a half-orc, despised by other orcs, finds an adventuring party, finds some level of brotherhood with them, but then realizes Ilneval is counter-intuitive to that, then he abandons that god to become a paladin of Tyr or something.

"and it wields a deadly broadsword that causes profuse bleeding in those it strikes" I think it's rather amusing that a sharp object is enchanted to cause things it hits to bleed. That's a very redundant ability when you get down to it.

Orc's are I feel, and I believe Tolkien (who did construct the Orc, almost though not entirely from whole cloth) see Orc's as the lowest point that humanity could reach, nothing but war, conquest, and if your lucky wanton industry that exists to facilitate those things. Orc's should be an example of what happens whene a culture becomes so obsessed with power dynamics, and the notion of Might makes Right, that nothing of their humanity remains.

Love the Salvatore quote at the beginning.

I love how weirdly specific this video's topic is.

I appreciate these pantheon specific breakdowns. In my setting I have religious schisms between tribes based on the primacy of certain gods. One group even had a cult to Yrtrus that considered radioactive metal to be a holy gift.

When it comes to orcs specifically, I think the argument to humanize them is strongest since, to my understanding, even their Tolkienian origins regarded them with a certain limited degree of pity despite them being fundamentally evil - or, rather, perhaps _because_ they were fundamentally evil. So twisted were they by Morgoth - which was something that was, mind you, completely outside their control - that they're simply incapable of good, which is something only further reinforced by how often they're used as nothing more than tools of war. Killing an orc could almost be regarded as like putting down a rabid dog; it's not only heroic since it spares any who may have otherwise suffered at its hands, but outright merciful compared to letting it lead its miserable and cruel existence. Because of this, there's a certain tragedy to orcs within the context of Tolkien which inherently makes some people want to see them "break out" of this malevolent nature - as it's a far more hopeful and optimistic fate for them than the aforementioned alternatives.

We've been educated by the dear bard about demons, devils, evil gods, chaotic gods, and neutral gods, and now I say, the stars are right, and the time is at hand! For a video about good gods in D&D.

Some of this art is so fucking cool. People’s talent always amazes me!

Esper thanks for putting this video up buddy. My next session, my player characters will be travelling to Orc dominated region of my homebrew setting. Tons of useful information here my man!

ive always loved the orcs, mostly because of shadow of war and 40k, hell my first dnd character was an old orcish warlord. and in my world i my sister and i made i decided to put a spin on the orcs, as in old old times they were a civil but savage culture, but as a result they drifted further from the overbearing gaze of gruumsh, and in his wrath he destroyed the whole civilization back to the stone age, and with this new knowledge of shargaz, i think i might add him in that primordial story as an inciting force that made gruumsh go extra crazy

Malacath is the BEST Orc God & the most morally good.

Good video indeed. I suggest to read the monster mythology update that Aulddragon did in his blog. In this enormous work there are the AD&D 2e information for gods of monsters(dragons, beholders, orcs, trolls etc.).

This have become my new favorite page!!! Crush your competition with S M Zeus.

Thanks. This fits my world well and helps me to explain things.

I'm a big fan of these deity videos. Fascinating stuff.

Would the orc gods still be bad if Gruumsh was not screwed over by the other gods?

I love this channel

Didn't Obould Many-Arrows technically become a god or at least an exarch?

The orc Shadow God seems to be more along the lines with death God of disease seems to be more along the lines of the undead

I recall watch a Mr. Welch video about orcs in Mystara: they're something else then the typical orc (a strain of beast men that were originally created by a Chaotic immortal by reincarnating the most evil mortal souls to server as her army) but he did mention there was a relatively small group of the more typical D&D orc that were allowed to settle in Mystara. As soon as the typical D&D orcs were cut off from their pantheon they tended to become Lawful (good).

Honestly, I made a world so far where some orcs have stopped following grummsh and started finding places to settle down. although there are some who still VERY much serve Grummsh to the highest bitter and will 100% commit genocide if he calls it, some orc tribes have even decided to move into some cities (minus elven ones, obviously) and have even been hired by certain military groups as mercenary bands or other related jobs. they also, funnily enough, have joined forces with the globlinoid races, as well as races like Ogres, Ettins, Trolls, etc. to make what is now called the Orcen-Goblin clans (some races are still excluded, such as gnolls or drow).

Dope video. For my half orc’s background I created a lost / forgotten neutral god to be part of his arc. All orc gods are evil, but only because they were made that way. There is room to create other paths and still nod at the old lore

I didn’t know that little tidbit about ilneval, that’s really cool. And it seems that as an evil pantheon, all of the members are technically plotting against one another. Interesting…

Orcs probably have the most interesting pantheon of gods in my opinion frankly makes them incredible antagonist in a d&d story as well as the interpretation of the lore to make "good" orcs is entirely possible but unlikely most likely good orcs would have to be removed from the gods or unknowing from there pantheon 🤔

Finally, It needed to be said.

OH.... Hello a new video.

I kind of feel like shargaas could be just an avatar or aspect of the demon lord of undeath Orcus. At any rate they are quite similar.

Love Orcs, they were actually the main antagonists for one of my campaigns I ran. Usually the Orcs of my world are nomadic and attack villages and caravans just to survive, However, suddenly out of the blue they start to become organized and became a serious threat. The orcs of my world had a pantheon they forgot due to how their society became destabilized and lost most of their history. Their main god was Nnar the Grotty, came to be because the goddess of love and fertility cheated on her husband. The husband, the God of War, discovered this and was obviously furious. He ripped the child from her womb and cast it from the heavens before falling into a river of tar in the underworld.

26:45 That dude is straight up riding a bat.

The orc pantheon are not just gods who give benefits in exchange for servitude but they care for their people. They seem like a family

Have there be depictions of d&d orcs or their deities as large pig, boar or other porcine beings? Cuz series like sao war of underworld, Kuma bear, konosuba, Peter grill, reincarnated as a slime and so on depict orcs as porcine people...for...some reason...

I made an orc god for my setting named Roa Jogen and he's a brutal war god that can crit on 11-20 (stacked epic boons), but can also be a really chill guy and wants you to try mushrooms.

It's incredible how much Warhammer took from dnd in the 80 anda 90 nurgle it's a copy of the orc deasease god and I think it was grimgor it's a copy of the patron god of orcs among a lot of things

How's the large scale campaign idea coming

DO A VIDEO SPECIFICALLY ON HALF-ORCS

Any chance we’ll get a Druid subclass ranking?

Spoiler space Your top pick, Shargaas, reminds me of not a demon lord but of Pathfinder's Four Horsemen, leaders of the neutral evil daemons, as that entire race is focused on the death of everything in the multiverse.

Evil is only _"good"_ to test the sharpness of your blade.

Shargoss sounds like the Most Emo

Orcs are the humans with all the good aspects removed.

The better goddess of the orcs is without a doubt luthic. She's the backbone of the orc pantheon. But the worst would be ol one eye. 😅

Orcs are so silly. Thanks for the videos, Esper.

Do you really need to add all the loud rock music to your videos, I sometimes listen to them while falling asleep and all the loud music makes that impossible

What is it? What do you smell?

Is there a good orc god? Kind of like there is a single good drow goddess?

And you left put 1e/2e. Dragon magazine..

This guy has a PhD in Dnd, haha

Real life. Perfectly good cave: *exist* Humans: "Lets build a house." DnD Perfectly good cave: *Exists* Humans: "We've got to get away from the goddess of caves!" Real life 0 DnD 1. See this is how you build a good story. Give things an explanation.