Give orcs a +2 on intimidate checks. Since there size is naturally imposing. And since Orcs get no automatic bonuses, like quick to master or etc...they outta have some racial feats or bonuses.

Actually Thomas, the standard player descriptions of half orcs as huge brutuses are wrong. They are not much larger (if at all) than your average human male though stronger to racial traits (on average more muscular). The 7 foot tall 500lb walls of solid muscle that are seen as descriptions often in game would be freaks of nature.

The +2 to str actually is one of the better bonuses racially you can have, and why many new players or players more interested in the mechanics of a build choose half-orcs for the str bonus, social stat minimizing builds. Coupled to darkvision, half-orcs get some of the better racial bonuses in EfU, and do not need anything more.

SF: Intimidate.

Plus, when using intimidate, can't you choose which stat you're using as the base for it (ie - you can use either your charisma or strength bonus)? Or is that only in PnP?

If so, then orcbloods WOULD be more intimidating than others, because they are generally a bit stronger than your average human.

Intimidate is a Charisma based skill. If you want your character to be intimidating, make him or her have high charisma, invest in intimidate skill points, or take the feat Skill Focus: Intimidate as Ladocicea has said.

If your character is going to be intimidating, it needs to be properly represented. I personally rank significance on: charisma, skill focus, points invested in skills, points from gear, and the 1d20 roll (if it's called for), in that order. The actual IG/RP action that you do that is intimidating also envelopes everything as far as "how intimidating is it?" goes.

High strength does not mean you are intimidating. Racially being a half-orc does not mean you are intimidating.

Let us learn to embrace the subtle separation between Intimidating and Frightening. An Ogre is frightening, but an Ogre is not intimidating. That an Ogre may be described as intimidating is merely a device by which you avoid saying frightening.

<---- A small man, all of five feet tall, balding, with a grim and sardonic smirk, subtly reminds you of the gleam of crossbows in the nearby windows, and suggests that your cooperation would not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Ogre big, ogre smash.

As I said, I must have been thinking PnP (or maybe World of Darkness? Hell, I never know these days).

Though I'm going to have to disagree with the statement that size and obvious strength do not make for good intimidation.

By that logic, Sammy the Elven Bard with a Charisma of 18 (oh yeah, he's a real cutie-pie, completely lovable), would be more intimidating than Grumgrosh Soulrender, the 6'4, musclebound Barbarian who has 4 ranks in Intimidate, but a Charisma of 9.

That doesn't make sense to me.

Intimidate isn't just looking burly. Sammy probably wouldn't be using his size to be intimidating; he'd be making threats and so forth, in my opinion.

Yet that wouldn't stop Sammy's OOC player from using intimidation as a skill, in a less sublte way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sammy walks over to Grumgrosh Soulrender.

Sammy: "Hah, look what we have here?"

Grumgrosh is 6'4, and decked in weaponry and armor. He glares down at the 5'3 elf, who makes a scary face. Grumgrosh, seeing that Sammy is trying to be intimidating, also puts on a scary face.

While we all know Sammy probably wouldn't use intimidate (for which he has no ranks) in this manner, if the player wanted him to stare down the half orc (who does have ranks in intimidate), he would now make a roll, for which he would have a bigger bonus than the half orc, who is supposedly trained in intimidation, but isn't really a people person.

The joys of cross-class.

For crying out loud. Intimidation is NOT about looking big and mean.

Intimidate is your ability to make a person BELIEVE that you have the power to harm them in some way.

If you're a huge muscle bound brute, you don't need intimidate. You have the ability to back up your words.

If you're an 18 CHA elf, then you're still intimidating, but it's more likely in a subtle way. This is where you put on your evil face and you tell the person exactly how you're going to cut off every one of their fingers and feed them to your dog aif they don't do what you want.

Intimidation is what social skill classes have when they don't have the physical strength or capability to rock your face normally.

So if you're a 9 CHA half-orc, don't make threats. Just beat the shit out of someone, and let it speak for itself.

Shouldn't a huge, musclebound half-orc (with ranks in intimidation, remember!) get a bonus, just because the person being intimidated can really believe you have the capability??

I'm not saying a cha-18 elf can't be intimidating, but your statement about the subtle threats would imply that perhaps the elf had some actual skill in intimidation... this is a PC with no ranks!

... who has a better bonus simply because the half-orc is unlikable, has bad breath, and is anti-social (... lol though even just the bad breath might help with the intimidation ; ) ).

And plus, a half orc with any intelligence would realize that sometimes you can't simply "beat the shit" out of whoever is irking your chain (we don't all play big, dumb brawler half orcs).

From the look of things, no amount of earnest debating is going to get Half-Orcs, an already strong race, a small boost.

If you want your Half Orc to be specifically intimidating, put up its CHA, take some ranks in intimidation, and take the relevant feats.

End.

Ah, come on, some of us (me, mostly) like to argue. ^^

=)

It is a moot point, however. Intimidate has been clearly defined by D&D 3.0 as a Charisma based skill. I think we've just about covered everything here!

Skill rolls are only for NPCs anyway. Whether or not a PC is afraid of another PC for any reason is entirely up to them to determine based on their character.

While we do expect people to roleplay their stats, as Kotenku said, a big halforc. People will have reactions to that alone, whether it be disdain, cameraderie, or fear (as LTS noted). A 9 CHA halforc will likely be too busy avoiding people to run around trying to intimidate them with words anyway!

Intimidate is using the implied threat of something happening to negatively effect someone else in order to gain something from them.

An example would be: Bill is an accountant at a big office who has the boss's ear. He's an average suit and tie guy. You want a big raise from the boss. Bill makes you do favors for him and you do them because he implies that if you don't, he'll tell the boss things and you'll never get a raise. Bill is using intimidate to get what he wants. If Bill never threatens you, but you still do the favors because Bill is a 300 pound biker with a skull tattoed on his face, you're doing them because of your own -fear-, not because he's intimidating you in the sense of the DnD skill.