Orcs and ECL

[Ungtar]

Just because I'm curious, why are they at ECL 4?

[Talos]

Where are you getting the ECL 4 from?

[Ungtar]

Where are you getting the ECL 4 from?

From the scoresheet:

Level: 2 (ECL: 4)

Is that what it means or am I reading it wrong?

[Althasizor]

ECL is what your Effective Character Level is, and so it's calculated after any adjustments. Orcs have a +2 level adjustment, which is why your ECL reads as 4 at level 2.

[Xryon]

This was brought up in the past. From my understanding, mountain orcs aren't supposed to have an ECL at all. Don't think the reason was ever given, but staff decided it was going to stay.

[Ungtar]

ECL is what your Effective Character Level is, and so it's calculated after any adjustments. Orcs have a +2 level adjustment, which is why your ECL reads as 4 at level 2.

Oh, so at level 6 it will be ECL 8 and at level 8 it will be ECL 10? Ok, I think I got it then.

ETA: An ECL seems a little rough considering the only benefit I can see is that you get to bump your strength up past 18 (to 20) at creation. A benefit which is offset by the minus to intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Add to this to the state of the game in which hardly anyone plays the orcs and many are going to see you as a traveling equipment pinata. The factors are why I haven't really been too interested in taking him up past level 2.

[Xryon]

Sorry for the double post, my phone doesn't like me editing. Here's the link for the previous conversation:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16055

Personally, I don't understand the decision to keep the ECL. It's not part of their design, and I'm pretty sure orcs here have more negatives than they're supposed to, anyway.

[Ungtar]

Sorry for the double post, my phone doesn't like me editing. Here's the link for the previous conversation:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16055

Personally, I don't understand the decision to keep the ECL. It's not part of their design, and I'm pretty sure orcs here have more negatives than they're supposed to, anyway.

An ECL of 2 doesn't hurt me as bad as an ECL of 4.

I think I can probably mitigate most of the negatives of playing one just from knowing where things are now, but there's still the two big downsides ... who retrieves an orc's corpse and for a pk-adverse player, I don't know if it's the greatest choice in the world.

Just can't see a real means of enriching the roleplaying community with this one. Which is probably why I almost never see orcs around.

[Xryon]

I played an orc for a very long time, and personally found it to be enjoyable most of the time. Been a few years now, so I'm not sure what it's like now. I rarely engaged in pvp unless it was a tournament, a friendly match, or people deciding it was fun to pick on low-level orcs and I had to get involved.

Really, it's what you make of it. There were a great group of evils when I played that made it really enjoyable, even with the limitations orcs face. It's a potentially interesting RP experience, very different than you'll get with other races. Occasionally you'll get a player that makes an orc purely to embrace the pvp side, but they don't usually last. Flipside to that is that you can often find yourself the target of pvp situations, which makes sense; you're an orc, pretty much everyone hates you.

Basically, it can be really fun, but I think you have to have a specific mindset to prolong it. Definitely not for everyone.