PF2 Orc Handbook

Introduction

The Orc is stereotypically a muscular brute, and while Pathfinder does a great deal to break ancestries away from problematic historical tropes, there’s a lot about the Orc that retains the things about orcs which people really like. They’re strong, hard to kill, and they thrive in melee, but building them for anything else often takes serious work.

Mechanically, the Orc’s most notable unique feature is how hard they are to kill. A Hold-Scarred Orc with the Orc Ferocity feat chain is exceptionally difficult to kill, making them a great option for players who tend to draw a lot of attacks or who just want to flirt with death a bit more than they should.

Orc feats are also available to Half-Orc Humans in the legacy rules and to Dromaar heritage characters in the remastered rules.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Remaster Changes

No changes have been made to the Orc in the remaster. Their feat and heritage options from both the Advanced Player’s Guide and the Lost Omens Ancestry Guide have been consolidated into the Player Core.

Remastered Orc

The remaster made no changes to the Orc’s traits, but did consolidate feats from the Advanced Player’s Guide and the Ancestry Guide into Player Core 1 and made minor textual changes to improve readability. Some feats added in supplements like Impossible Lands and The Mwangi Expanse were not included. If those feats are available to you in your game, check the Legacy Orc section, below.

Orc Ancestry Traits

  • Hit Points: Above-average hit points, which is helpful since orcs are more inclined to pursue melee classes.
  • Size: Medium. Medium and small size have few functional differences in Pathfinder 2e.
  • Speed: 25 ft. is standard.
  • Ability Boosts: Just two Ability Boosts can be limiting, but it also means that you can use the Alternate Ancestry Boosts rule to have two Free Boosts without sacrificing anything.
  • Languages: Racial language plus Common is standard.
  • Senses: Darkvision is really good, and since it’s part of the base race you don’t need to spend your Heritage or a feat to get it.

Orc Heritages

  • Badlands OrcAPG: Buy a horse or a camel or something.
  • Battle-Ready OrcAG: Intimidation and Intimidating Glare are great options if you have a bit of Charisma. If you’re short on skills (low intelligence, few Trained skills from your class, etc.) but want to pick up some Face skills, this is a great choice.
  • Deep OrcAPG: Two very situational skill feats.
  • Grave OrcAG: Negative damage is uncommon, but it’s also very hard to get resistance to it. If you’re expecting to face undead or enemy divine spellcasters, this will be very useful.
  • Hold-Scarred OrcAPG: Diehard is a great feat for front-line martial characters. 2 extra hit points won’t matter much beyond first level, but it doesn’t hurt.
  • Rainfall OrcAPG: A bunch of situational effects.
  • Winter OrcAG: Very situational. If you’re worried about cold, get cold resistance from somewhere.

Orc Ancestry Feats

Level 1

  • Beast TrainerPC1: Neat, but not very good. If you want a trained animal that’s not just a moving target for your enemies, you need either a Familiar or an Animal Companion.
  • Hold MarkPC1: Trained one skill and a +1 bonus to saves against one magic Tradition.

    Note that while this feat uses the same name as the legacy Hold Mark feat, the functions are very different.

  • Iron FistsPC1: This makes your fists lethal 1d4 and adds the Shove trait. 1d4 damage is poor for an Ancestry-based unarmed strike; most ancestries grant Agile on 1d4 damage or grant a larger damage die. If you want Shove, grab a warhammer. If you want to fight unarmed, take Tusks.
  • Orc Ferocityspan: This could keep you in a fight long enough to receive healing or to tip things in favor of your allies before you get hit again and go down. But hitting 0 hit points while Wounded is scary, so be sure to take Diehard to increase your Wounded cap and use Treat Wounds when combat ends to remove the Wounded condition.
  • Orc LorePC1: Survival and Orc Lore are too situational to justify serious investment, so you’re spending an Ancestry Feat for one skill that we care about.
  • Orc SuperstitionPC1: Situational by design, but spells and magic effects are Common. In PF2, a +1 bonus is mathematically significant, but it is annoying that you also need to spend your Reaction to use this because it limits your action economy and limits this to once per round.
  • Orc Weapon FamiliarityPC1: This makes the Orc Knuckledagger a Simple Weapon, allowing it to be used by many classes that might enjoy it like the Ruffian Rogue. The Orc Knuckledagger is similar in many ways to the Shortsword, but gives up Finesse for Disarm. This also makes the Orc Necksplitter a Martial Weapon. The Orc Necksplitter gives you the damage die of the Battleaxe and the Traits of the Scimitar, so you get d8 damage dice, Forceful, and Sweep on the same weapon, allowing you to either focus on single targets or split your focus between several.
  • TusksPC1: Basically a shortsword strapped to your face. It’s a decent unarmed strike option, especially since it doesn’t require a free hand.

Level 5

  • Athletic MightPC1: Only situationally useful. This notably makes climbing and swimming much faster, but by this level your party may have access to options which will grant climb/swim speeds.
  • Bloody BlowsPC1: Persistent damage is great, so for any build that relies on unarmed strikes, this can be a significant improvement to your damage output. Similar Ancestry Feats typically don’t become available until 9th level. If you really like this, you can combine it with options like the Changeling’s Accursed Claws and get two sources of persistent damage from each critical hit.
  • Defy DeathPC1: If you’re leaning into options like Hold-Scarred Orc and Orc Ferocity, or if you just tend to have a lot of near-death experiences, this is a great addition.
  • Scar-Thick SkinPC1: Only situationally useful, and you can resolve persistent bleed more easily than most persistent damage by healing.

Level 9

  • Pervasive SuperstitionPC1: A persistent +1 bonus to saves against magic is good. If you don’t have other sources of Circumstance bonuses, this is at least worth considering. You do need Orc Superstition first, so it may not be worth two feats.
  • Undying FerocityPC1: If you’re going to take Orc Ferocity, this is an easy choice. The temporary hit points may be enough to absorb one or two attacks, which will keep you from falling unconscious immediately aftering using Orc Ferocity.

Level 13

  • Ferocious BeastsPC1: If you’re a druid, a ranger, or any other build with that depends on an Animal Companion or a Familiar (or both), this is a great way to keep those precious allies alive.
  • Incredible FerocityPC1: By this level it should be easy for you or someone else in your party to be at least Trained in Medicine so that you can use Treat Wounds and reliably hit the DC of 15 (Proficiency Bonus at level 13 with Trained is +15, so it’s really hard to mess up). Conveniently, Treat Wounds has a 1-hour cooldown so you can use Incredible Ferocity and Treat Wounds on the same timeline (don’t forget the 10-minute time on the Treat Wounds Activity). You’ll be giving up the bonus from Death’s Drums at least temporarily, but it will keep your Wounded score from getting scary.
  • Spell DevourerPC1: This one is hard. Spells and magic effects are common, but are they common enough that you can afford a feat that only applies when you succeed on a saving throw against them? The effect is great in those cases, but it’s still only situationally useful.

Level 17

  • Rampaging FerocityPC1: I wouldn’t consider this essential, but if you’re getting a lot of use out of Orcish Ferocity, this may be worth the feat. It’s pretty exciting to almost die, make one desperate strike, and keep on fighting because you dropped an enemy.

Legacy Orc

Orc Ancestry Traits

  • Hit Points: Above-average hit points, which is helpful since orcs are more inclined to pursue melee classes.
  • Size: Medium. Medium and small size have few functional differences in Pathfinder 2e.
  • Speed: 25 ft. is standard.
  • Ability Boosts: Just two Ability Boosts can be limiting, but it also means that you can use the Alternate Ancestry Boosts rule to have two Free Boosts without sacrificing anything.
  • Languages: Racial language plus Common is standard.
  • Senses: Darkvision is really good, and since it’s part of the base race you don’t need to spend your Heritage or a feat to get it.

Orc Heritages

  • Badlands OrcAPG: Buy a horse or a camel or something.
  • Battle-Ready OrcAG: Intimidation and Intimidating Glare are great options if you have a bit of Charisma. If you’re short on skills (low intelligence, few Trained skills from your class, etc.) but want to pick up some Face skills, this is a great choice.
  • Deep OrcAPG: Two very situational skill feats.
  • Grave OrcAG: Negative damage is uncommon, but it’s also very hard to get resistance to it. If you’re expecting to face undead or enemy divine spellcasters, this will be very useful.
  • Hold-Scarred OrcAPG: Diehard is a great feat for front-line martial characters. 2 extra hit points won’t matter much beyond first level, but it doesn’t hurt.
  • Rainfall OrcAPG: A bunch of situational effects.
  • Winter OrcAG: Very situational. If you’re worried about cold, get cold resistance from somewhere.

Orc Ancestry Feats

Level 1

  • Beast TrainerAPG: Neat, but not very good. If you want a trained animal that’s not just a moving target for your enemies, you need either a Familiar or an Animal Companion.
  • Iron FistsAPG: This makes your fists lethal 1d4 and adds the Shove trait. 1d4 damage is poor for an Ancestry-based unarmed strike; most ancestries grant Agile on 1d4 damage or grant a larger damage die. If you want Shove, grab a warhammer. If you want to fight unarmed, take Tusks.
  • Orc FerocityAPG: This could keep you in a fight long enough to receive healing or to tip things in favor of your allies before you get hit again and go down. But hitting 0 hit points while Wounded is scary, so be sure to take Diehard to increase your Wounded cap and use Treat Wounds when combat ends to remove the Wounded condition.
  • Orc LoreAPG: Survival and Orc Lore are too situational to justify serious investment, so you’re spending an Ancestry Feat for one skill that we care about.
  • Orc SuperstitionAPG: Situational by design, but spells and magic effects are Common. In PF2, a +1 bonus is mathematically significant, but it is annoying that you also need to spend your Reaction to use this because it limits your action economy and limits this to once per round.
  • Orc WarmaskAG: +1 item bonus to a knowledge skill and Dubious Knowledge. Not especially impressive, but if you rely on knowledge skills heavily you may get a lot of use out of the +1 bonus.
  • Orc Weapon FamiliarityAPG: This makes the Orc Knuckledagger a Simple Weapon and makes the Barricade Buster and the Orc Necksplitter martial weapons. The Orc Knuckledagger is similar in many ways to the Shortsword, but gives up Finesse for Disarm. The Orc Necksplitter gives you the damage die of the Battleaxe and the Traits of the Scimitar, so you get d8 damage dice, Forceful, and Sweep on the same weapon, allowing you to either focus on single targets or split your focus between several. The Barricade Buster does a lot of damage and has a huge magazine.
  • TusksAPG: Basically a shortsword strapped to your face. It’s a decent unarmed strike option, especially since it doesn’t require a free hand.

Level 5

  • Athletic MightAPG: Only situationally useful. This notably makes climbing and swimming much faster, but by this level your party may have access to options which will grant climb/swim speeds.
  • Bloody BlowsAPG: Persistent damage is great, so for any build that relies on unarmed strikes, this can be a significant improvement to your damage output. Similar Ancestry Feats typically don’t become available until 9th level. If you really like this, you can combine it with options like the Changeling’s Accursed Claws and get two sources of persistent damage from each critical hit.
  • Defy DeathAG: If you’re leaning into options like Hold-Scarred Orc and Orc Ferocity, or if you just tend to have a lot of near-death experiences, this is a great addition.
  • Demonblood FrenzyME: Very situational. Unless you’re in a campaign where you’re facing fiends consistently, this is borderline useless.
  • Hold MarkAPG: Critical specialization effects are excellent, and many martial classes only get them with strict restrictions or don’t get them at all. This is notably one of very few Ancestry Feats that allows you to get Critical Specialization Effects that isn’t in a X Weapon Familiarity feat chain, and it also offers rare access to critical specialization effects for bombs.
  • Mask of PowerAG: One 1st-level innate spell once per day, and none of the options are especially good.
  • Mask of RejectonAG: This only applies to one magical tradition, and only works once per day. Rerolls are great and circumstance bonus is excellent, but with how rarely you’ll be able to use this, it’s hard to justify the cost.
  • Orc Weapon CarnageAPG: Critical specialization effects are excellent, and many martial classes only get them with strict restrictions or don’t get them at all. It’s weird that the Orc gets two Ancestry Feats to get access to Critical Specialization Effects. They cover different sets of weapons, but it’s still weird.
  • Scar-Thick SkinAG: Only situationally useful, and you can resolve persistent bleed more easily than most persistent damage by healing.
  • Victorious VigorAPG: A tiny amount of temporary hit points and the duration is really short. This generally isn’t good enough to cost your Reaction, especially if you have class features that use it like Attack of Opportunity.

Level 9

  • Death’s DrumsAPG: If you have Orc Ferocity, it can be very easy for you to become Wounded without dropping out of a fight, which means that you get an easy +2 bonus to Fortitude saves. However, using Treat Wounds between encounters removes the Wounded condition, so this creates a perverse incentive to not heal, which can put your party into a bad situation or which requires you to rely on magical healing instead of inexpensive Treat Wounds checks.
  • Dragon GripAG: The Riding Drake is a good choice of animal companion for melee mounted combat builds.
  • Mask of PainAG: For characters without a Reaction like Attack of Opportunity which motivates you to keep your Reaction unspent, this is a good way to capitalize on an underutilized portion of your action economy.
  • Pervasive SuperstitionAPG: A persistent +1 bonus to saves against magic is good. If you don’t have other sources of Circumstance bonuses, this is at least worth considering. You do need Orc Superstition first, so it may not be worth two feats.
  • Undying FerocityAPG: If you’re going to take Orc Ferocity, this is an easy choice. The temporary hit points may be enough to absorb one or two attacks, which will keep you from falling unconscious immediately aftering using Orc Ferocity.

Level 13

  • Ferocious BeastsAPG: If you’re a druid, a ranger, or any other build with that depends on an Animal Companion or a Familiar (or both), this is a great way to keep those precious allies alive.
  • Incredible FerocityAPG: By this level it should be easy for you or someone else in your party to be at least Trained in Medicine so that you can use Treat Wounds and reliably hit the DC of 15 (Proficiency Bonus at level 13 with Trained is +15, so it’s really hard to mess up). Conveniently, Treat Wounds has a 1-hour cooldown so you can use Incredible Ferocity and Treat Wounds on the same timeline (don’t forget the 10-minute time on the Treat Wounds Activity). You’ll be giving up the bonus from Death’s Drums at least temporarily, but it will keep your Wounded score from getting scary.
  • Lifeblood’s CallAG: This is only situationally useful, and it encourages extremely risky play. If you do take this, take Diehard.
  • Mask of FearAG: Fear effects are common and the debuff is harsh, so the ability to remove them as a Free Action is very appealing. But if you’re heavily invested in your war mask it’s hard to give it up for a day.
  • Orc Weapon ExpertiseAPG: The Orc Knuckledagger and the Orc Necksplitter are both worthwhile, but I wouldn’t build around them unless you can already advance your proficiency with them just based on Orc Weapon Familiarity.
  • Spell DevourerAPG: This one is hard. Spells and magic effects are common, but are they common enough that you can afford a feat that only applies when you succeed on a saving throw against them? The effect is great in those cases, but it’s still only situationally useful.

Level 17

  • Rampaging FerocityAPG: I wouldn’t consider this essential, but if you’re getting a lot of use out of Orcish Ferocity, this may be worth the feat. It’s pretty exciting to almost die, make one desperate strike, and keep on fighting because you dropped an enemy.