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Ogre

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Ogre
Ogre
(Creature)

Foul, brutish creatures renowned for their violence and greed, ogres are dim-witted giants who capture, torture, and eat smaller humanoids, often solely for their own amusement.1

Appearance

Mountains of monstrous muscle, ogres are terrifying in their appearance. Even the smallest of these hulking brutes stands at least eight feet tall, while some legends put the largest ogres at more than 14 feet tall.2 Humanoid in form, their bodies are hideously distorted and their faces are often naturally twisted and hateful.21

Ogre legs are too stumpy for their massive forms, resulting in a ridiculous hobble that does not diminish their speed. An ogre's upper torso is well-muscled, with disproportionately long arms compared to humans, faces that appear puffy and bloated, and eyes far too small for their swollen countenances. An ogre has a large mouth lined with broken teeth that are nonetheless capable of tearing raw flesh from bone.2 The most gluttonous of ogres can even unhinge their jaw to eat beings as large as a halfling whole.3

Ecology

Ogres are the result of breeding between greater giants and smaller humanoids that soon degenerated into savage, bestial imitations of both. This original pairing must have happened in ancient times, for ogres have been a menace to civilisation as long as anyone can remember.4

Ogre children reach their full size within six years, although the child-like glee ogres evince when smashing bodies and breaking bones make some wonder if they ever reach mental maturity. This rapid physical development is a necessity as few ogres live to even 30 years of age. Since ogres almost always meet a violent end, their natural lifespan is unknown.2

Ogres are nocturnal creatures, and while the sun does not damage them (like the undead) or impede their vision (like orcs), they still hate daylight.2

Society

Ogre and human territories often overlap.

Ogre society is tribal and far removed from any civilised definition of society. Ogres live in tribes consisting of a few families at most. These tribes are ruled over by a "boss", the strongest and most powerful ogre of the tribe.56

Most ogre tribes wreak their greatest havoc during the spring months before the hated sun of the summer months rises to its full prominence. During these spring months ogres descend into the lands of civilised people, often slaughtering entire villages in night-long orgies of destruction and killing. Ogres still regularly raid neighbouring lands during the rest of the year for food and supplies, as well as for the sheer fun of it.5

Ogres delight in remorselessly capturing humanoids, preferring the smallest ones, and torturing them before eating them. The most gluttonous subject their prey to sadistic games, and while the most clever captives can sometimes turn these games against their captors, they must then escape the ogre's subsequent fury.7

Because ogres are both lazy and very impatient, they lack skilled crafters among their ranks. Instead, they steal what they want from smaller, weaker races who cannot protect themselves.8 Ogres have been known to occasionally form alliances of convenience with flocks of harpies who find ogres useful protection and too brutish to be worth tormenting and eating.9

Religion

Ogres tend to worship Lamashtu, the mother of monsters. Many, however, worship more primal deities of the moon or the wild, most of whom are fictitious deities venerated only by a single tribe of ogres.8

On Golarion

Representatives of the Andoran and Cheliax factions of the Pathfinder Society put aside their differences to face an ogre.

Ogres dwell in the dark shadows and dank caves of many of Golarion's mountain ranges. They are more common in the mountain ranges that are wilder and less settled, including many border mountain chains like the Menador Mountains.10

Ogres are a particular threat in the untamed mountain ranges of Varisia, home to the most bloodthirsty tribe of ogres in all of Avistan: the notorious Kreegs. The Kreegs dwell in the shadow of Hook Mountain in the Iron Peaks11 and are regarded for their bloodthirsty nature and their use of the cruel ogre hook. These ogres are supposedly descendants of the Mage Kings of the Wyvern Mountains who had ruled the area since the fall of ancient Thassilon.12

Rumours exist of a tribe of jet-black-skinned ogres in the depths of the Mwangi Expanse who are less savagely cruel than their northern, Avistani kin. Not only are they less barbaric, but some also allege that they even sell their services to certain Mwangi tribes as mercenaries for hire.12

Ogres dwell amongst the northern reaches of the Zho Mountains in the desert satrapy of Qadira.13

In Tian Xia, the hobgoblin nation of Kaoling is home to a significant population of ogres.14

Equipment

Ogres are particularly renowned for their curved ogre hooks, massive picks used to trip and capture prey.3

References

Paizo published a major section about ogres in Monster Codex.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. 1.0 1.1 Logan Bonner, et al. Ogre” in Monster Core, 250. Paizo Inc., 2024
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Wolfgang Baur, et al. Ogre” in Classic Monsters Revisited, 47. Paizo Inc., 2008
  3. 3.0 3.1 Logan Bonner, et al. Ogre” in Monster Core, 251. Paizo Inc., 2024
  4. Wolfgang Baur, et al. Ogre” in Classic Monsters Revisited, 46. Paizo Inc., 2008
  5. 5.0 5.1 Wolfgang Baur, et al. Ogre” in Classic Monsters Revisited, 48. Paizo Inc., 2008
  6. In Pathfinder First Edition, ogre tribe leaders were referred to as "pappy" and always male. This is renamed in Monster Core 251, presumably retroactively, and the gender restriction is no longer present.
  7. Logan Bonner, et al. Ogre” in Monster Core, 250–251. Paizo Inc., 2024
  8. 8.0 8.1 Wolfgang Baur, et al. Ogre” in Classic Monsters Revisited, 49. Paizo Inc., 2008
  9. Jonathan H. Keith. Harpy” in Mythical Monsters Revisited, 24. Paizo Inc., 2012
  10. Tim Hitchcock. Hungry Are the Dead, 31. Paizo Inc., 2008
  11. James L. Sutter. Varisia” in The Hook Mountain Massacre, 62. Paizo Inc., 2007
  12. 12.0 12.1 Wolfgang Baur, et al. Ogre” in Classic Monsters Revisited, 50. Paizo Inc., 2008
  13. Jessica Price. “Adventuring in Qadira” in Qadira, Jewel of the East, 39. Paizo Inc., 2017
  14. James Jacobs, et al. “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 28. Paizo Inc., 2011

External ilnks

  • Ogre (real-world mythological creature) on Wikipedia