I need a question settled.

[Badger]

Well here is the question. What exactly is the fringe benefit of being a High Priest of an Orc cult. (long story basically a Hero conversion of NPC character me and my friend created for another system ). My friend and I have been discussing this one. I am thinking it is equivalent to higher nobility, he thinks lower nobility. Heck, it may even be worth Head of State for all I know. Essentially, possibly most influential person in a several thousand strong band of orcs. Well, at least 2nd most powerful, the warchief may have been stronger chain of command wise.

[Curufea]

Depends on the setting.

Traditionally it would be like a witchdoctor or shaman in relation to the chief of the tribe. ie they can overide the chief, especially on matters spiritual, but shouldn't push it too often.

[Outsider]

It also depends on how powerful a couple 1000 orcs are in your campaign world.

Is the typical orc the match for a peasant levy, a town militiaman, a professional soldier, or a knight?

How big are the armies that typically get marched around in wartime in the setting? Thousands orcs might not be all that powerful if all their opponents typically raise armies in the tens of thousands, or more.

[Badger]

Well in that particular setting that we had it. I would say the army size we be about even. I'd say the particular orc group in question would be about 4-5,000 strong. Typically the biggest armies wouldnt be much larger than about 10,000. And in any case most battles (barring major wars, which never ended up in gameplay, though not an incredibly long-lived campaign by the way) were small skirmishes fought in small bands. Course this particular character actually was an outcasted human who for some reason when captured somehow through luck fulfilled some orcish prophecy that caused them to think he was their major god's messenger sent to help them defeat their enemies. I forget all the major details as it was close to 10 years ago. But I'd say this band would represent an equivalent of a healthy-sized fiefdom/small-sized kingdom at least. If not more (compared to other races' armies/kingdoms they would face). Hope this helps paint a more accurate picture.

[Markdoc]

I'd vote for a perk equivalent to lower nobility or something similar for the simple reason that Orc Society is generally depicted as being less organised than human. If the chief orc and the high priest have an argument and the chief kills and partially eats the high priest, it's not likely to be taken as a mortal insult to the cult. It just means the high priest wasn't tough enough - his second in command takes over and kills a few of the chief's friends (if he can) just to show he can't be pushed around.

In contrast if a human king kills (or has killed) the Archbishop, his action is likely to be greatly disapproved of - even without the eating part - and is likely to have severe repercussions, even if he is strong enough to get away without direct challenge.

So "rank" in a more structured society should be worth more: it gives you a little more protection/privilege.

cheers, Mark