D&D’s 2025 Monster Manual Actually Has More Orc Options Than Ever

No orcs appear in Dungeons & Dragons' new Monster Manual, but there are actually more orc options than ever before in the core rulebook. As part of the new revised ruleset for D&D's Fifth Edition, orcs became a core playable species found in the Player's Handbook. This was a departure from how orcs were treated in older editions, when they were considered a uniformly "evil" species. The underlying lore surrounding orcs in D&D was changed to make the species "setting-agnostic," functionally allowing DMs to decide how they wanted orcs depicted in their games.

The new Monster Manual, out now via early access, contains no specific statblocks for orcs or several other classic species like duergar and drow. These changes were made not to scrub orcs from the Monster Manual or to state that they can no longer be antagonists within a D&D game. Instead, it marks a wider shift in design approach that replaces specific statblocks tied to humanoid species with generic statblocks that can be filled by any humanoid species.

Orcs Are Essentially Still In D&D’s 2025 Monster Manual

Any New NPC Statblock Can Be Used For An Orc

Instead of including a small sampling of specific statblocks tied to certain species, the Monster Manual now includes 45 different humanoid statblocks. These statblocks can be filled by any humanoid species, including orcs, drow, elves, dwarves, or tieflings. Another major change is that the humanoid statblocks include several higher CR options, meaning that potential enemies like orcs and drow can now be used against higher-level parties. Although none of these statblocks have species-specific traits, they do have specialties tied to their occupation or class equivalent instead.

For those worried about utilizing older adventures with orcs using the 2024 ruleset, every existing statblock in the 2014 Monster Manual still has an equivalent with the same challenge rating and general abilities. For example, the 2014 Monster Manual had three specific orc statblocks — a generic "Orc" statblock, a more powerful Orc War Chief statblock, and an Orc Eye of Gruumsh that had spellcasting abilities. Each of these statblocks has an equivalent in the new Monster Manual, so players can still use orcs in existing adventures and new ones.

More Humanoid Options Means More Potential Orcs

Instead Of Three Statblocks, Orcs Now Have Forty-Five Different Options In Monster Manual

Ultimately, the new Monster Manual means that players are no longer limited to a handful of options for their orc antagonists. Even when including the orc statblock options in Volo's Guide to Monsters, orcs never had a Challenge Rating higher than 4 in the original 5th Edition rulebooks. While DMs could homebrew their own orc statblocks or modify existing statblocks to increase their threat level, orcs ultimately were relegated to lower-level campaign foes because of their limited options.

Using the new NPC statblocks, DMs can now have their players face an Orc Assassin (which has a CR of 8) or an Orc Bandit Crime Lord (with a CR of 11). If a DM is looking for an equivalent to the hard-hitting warrior archetypes that orcs are traditionally known for, they can utilize Orc Berserkers or Orc Berserker Commanders instead. For magic options, Orcs can be Cultists, Archmages, or Archpriests. All of these new statblocks provide more versatility and options than what was provided in the 2014 Monster Manual and other official 5th edition rulebooks.

D&D’s 2025 Monster Manual Sacrifices Some Flavor

NPC Statblocks Lack Any Sort Of Ability Tied To Species, Which Robs Combat Of Some Flavor

D&D 2025 Monster Manual art of a character walking the plank

One major downside to this approach is that the NPC statblocks lack any sort of abilities tied to species traits. A tiefling bandit can't hellish rebuke when attacked, nor does an Orc Tough have the aggressive trait that all orcs had in older Fifth Edition manuals. These abilities have relatively little impact during a short combat session, but they do provide some flavor and demonstrate that not all humanoids are the same. While DMs can modify an existing statblock to include these traits, this does feel like a big miss.

Guidance on modifying statblocks can be found in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide.

One solution that Dungeons & Dragons designers may consider in future updates is to provide templates or overlays that add some abilities to NPC statblocks for specific species. It would be helpful to know what kind of spells a drow assassin can use without impacting its CR or how an orc's adrenaline rush ability could factor into a berserker statblock. These sorts of changes would probably soothe a lot of the complaints surrounding the lack of orcs in the new Monster Manual.

Keep in mind that the 2025 Monster Manual is supposed to be the baseline for the new revised version of Dungeons & Dragons. More specialized statblocks for NPCs will likely show up in future campaign adventures or rulebooks. The upcoming Eberron and Forgotten Realms rulebooks might also include statblocks tied to specific orc cultures found in those settings. But if you need an orc to use in your latest D&D campaign, look no further than one of the many NPC statblocks in the 2025 Monster Manual for guidance.