Illustration of a horned Ogre with blue, rippled skin that looks like ice. They are muscular, have spiky armor that is part of their body, and they glow from within. This artwork is an alteration of an ice giant illustration by Artie_Navarre.
Pronunciation: OH-grz
Overview: Ogres are giant humanoids that are the physical embodiment of destructive forces. Each Ogre embodies a specific destructive force that determines their appearance and capabilities.
Physical Description: Ogres are giant. On average, they are nine feet tall, though individual heights varies widely. Ogres are humanoid with bulky builds, pointed ears, and large mouths. They frequently have tusks and horns.
Ogres can embody fast forms of destruction, like thunder storms, hail, blizzards, ice storms, avalanches, land slides, insect plagues, floods, fires, hurricanes, tornados, sandstorms, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. They can also embody slow forms of destruction, like glaciers, droughts, epidemics, plant and animal infestations, and wind, water, and ice erosion.
Most of each Ogre’s appearance and physical traits are determined by the specific destructive force they embody. For example, a Thunder Storm Ogre might have dark, purple-gray skin that is constantly flickering with lightning, while an Ogre that embodies earthquakes might have brown skin covered in dips and ridges that look like tectonic plate boundaries.
Senses: Each Ogre’s senses are influenced by their destructive force. For example, Thunder Storm Ogres frequently have electroreception, while Earthquake Ogres often have vibration detection, and Fire Ogres often have heat vision.
Diet: As the embodiment of destruction, Ogres are known for their large appetites. What each Ogre eats is based on the type of destruction they embody. For example, a Fire Ogre might eat wood and other flammable objects, while a Wind Erosion Ogre might eat un-eroded stone, and a Tornado Ogre might eat building materials.
Common Mental Characteristics: Being the embodiment of destructive forces, most Ogres highly aware of any situation that calls for destruction or change, whether it is a toxic relationship that needs to end, social dynamic that needs to change, justice that needs to be administered, a new technology that needs to be embraced, or a community that needs new leadership. Ogres perceive the change that is needed and are frequently the ones that make it happen. Because destruction can also be renewing and intensely creative, these changes are often as constructive as they are destructive.
Magical Affinities:
- Affinities that Vary: Based on their type of destruction, many Ogres have Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Weather, Animal, or Plant Magic.
- Summoning Magic, especially summoning elementals associated with their type of destruction
- Affliction Magic
- Healing Magic
- Enhancement Magic
Common Species Traits:
- Additional Sense based on their destructive force
- Regeneration: Ogres that embody forces, like fire, that regenerate the land are frequently able to regenerate themselves.
- Permanent Defense: Many Ogres have physical forms that protect them like a shield or armor, such as Ice Storm Ogres that are covered in a sheet of ice. Others have physical forms that are always moving, like Tornado Ogres that are constantly shifting around, making dodging an unconscious action.
- Immunity to their own destructive force
- Malleable Form: Ogres that embody wind- or water-based forces frequently have malleable bodies.
- Flight: Ogres that are the embodiment of storms or wind-based forces frequently can fly.
- Amphibious: Ogres that embody water-based forces are usually at home both on land and in water.
- Huge Form: Ogres that embody large-scale forces, like hurricanes and earthquakes, are sometimes take able to take on an enormous form
Common Vulnerabilities:
- Dietary Restriction: Some Ogres need to eat something that is hard to get, like un-weathered stone, or need to eat such large quantities that sufficient food is difficult to obtain.
- Specific Damage Vulnerability for the thing that reduces or ends the power of their type of destruction. For example, a Fire Ogre might have a specific damage vulnerability to water or cold.
- Emotionally Reactive Magic
- Danger Amplification
- Other Possibilities: Based on their type of destruction, some Ogres have Permanent Glow, Noisy Form, Water Absorbent Body, or Sinks like a Stone
Origins: The Three Rules of the Other Realm shaped Ogres out of a wide range of destructive forces.
Prominent Cultures: Even though they eat different things, their large appetites often make it difficult for Ogres to live with each other in large groups. As a result, most Ogres tend to spread out, living independently or in small groups. Because most Ogres love change, it is common for Ogres to move around and many embrace migratory lifestyles. Ogre children are particularly destructive and need a lot of physical space, so groups with young children, whether migratory or stationary, usually stick to wilderness areas and the wider spaces on the edges of larger societies.
When living in wilderness, most Ogres are drawn to areas that have a lot of their type of destruction. When living dispersed among other species, Ogres tend to gravitate toward occupations that manage destructive forces, like managing controlled burns, and those that are directly destructive, like harvesting natural resources and demolition. Because they embrace change, many Ogres are also radicals and activists.
Respectful Portrayal Note: As a monster with a long history in mythology, folk tales, and fantasy stories, Ogres have collected a range of negative portrayals that reproduce harmful stereotypes about marginalized people. Here are some important ones to avoid.
Fairy tale and fantasy ogres are often depicted as ugly in fat-phobic and ableist and ways. If you choose to make your Ogres ugly, please avoid making them fat or using disabled traits, like skin conditions, unusual tooth spacing, and atypical limbs, as a way to make them ugly. While there is nothing wrong with depicting a fat or disabled Ogre, these are stigmatized traits that need to be handled respectfully.
Ogres are also frequently depicted as having “low intelligence,” which is an ableist stereotype about people with cognitive disabilities. If you choose to depict an Ogre with cognitive disability, please do the research needed to depict that specific disability with accuracy and sensitivity.
Along with stereotypical “low intelligence,” Ogres are frequently depicted wearing stereotypically “tribal” clothing. These depictions are based on stereotypes of colonized peoples as “primitive” or less socially evolved. While it isn’t wrong to depict indigenous Ogres, these kinds of depictions need to be done with the care needed to avoid reinforcing harmful ideas.
Finally, Ogre heights up to nine-feet-tall are within the range of real-world human heights. As a result, Ogres will have the same height-based access needs as people with disabilities that increase height. Please do what you can to portray these access needs accurately and avoid harmful stereotypes.
Ogres are part of the Crossroads Setting for the tabletop role-playing game, Magic Goes Awry. Click here to go to the list of vibrant and unique magical people from the Land of Crossroads.
