D&D 5E Gnolls: Playable or Not?

[Corpsetaker]

So why can't there be a gnoll who is the exception to the rule? I thought when most evil monster races are played they are just that.

Drow are normally chaotic evil and yet there are exceptions to the rule.

 

[hawkeyefan]

So why can't there be a gnoll who is the exception to the rule? I thought when most evil monster races are played they are just that.

Drow are normally chaotic evil and yet there are exceptions to the rule.

I think most people agree that there can be. I think if you said to Mearls that was your character concept, and that you had written up a playable gnoll yourself, he'd probably say something like "cool, I hope you have fun."

 

[dagger]

Mearls would say that to your face, but he would secretly loath you the rest of the day.

 

[Demetrios1453]

But, at the same time, if one is trying to fit 30 races and 100 new monsters into a single book, just how would one go about presenting any sort of depth or breadth to any of them? All PC race write ups have this sort of issue.

I think that this is the real heart of the issue, although I have a slightly different spin on it.

VGtM has a finite amount of space, and there is a lot to get in there. Inevitably, there won't be room for everything they would want to get in, so some things will by necessity be dropped and held back for later. It would appear that playable gnolls would be the case here, and Mearls and the other designers had to come up with a justification for doing so. Granted, it wasn't the best justification, but I don't doubt, given the controversy that has resulted, that we'll see playable gnolls sooner rather than later...

 

[77IM]

After seeing Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, I consider goblins and orcs too evil to be playable, too. Those guys are slimy, rotten, cannibalistic monsters born from muck -- not really PC material.

 

[GreenTengu]

After seeing Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, I consider goblins and orcs too evil to be playable, too. Those guys are slimy, rotten, cannibalistic monsters born from muck -- not really PC material.

Uh-huh... and I guess because of Hellboy II, Elves must be unplayable. Not that anyone would want to play one given the rules made for them in the Harry Potter series. And because of Elder Scrolls, Dwarves must be unplayable-- after all, they are extinct. And since Halflings don't exist in WarCraft, which is all the better for it, I guess they must be unplayable too.

In fact, after seeing Game of Thrones, anyone being anything but a human is just plain silly.

And, you know, in real life? Most common religion is one where the practitioners wear the symbol of their god's execution around their neck and use magic spells to transform bread or cookies and water or wine into his flesh and blood to ritualistically cannibalize him. So, obviously Clerics and religious practitioners shouldn't be playable.

Or.. you know... you could you know... possibly figure out how to compartmentalize one fictional world from another?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

So why can't there be a gnoll who is the exception to the rule? I thought when most evil monster races are played they are just that.

Drow are normally chaotic evil and yet there are exceptions to the rule.

Drow are normally neutral evil.

 

[Dualazi]

Uh-huh... and I guess because of Hellboy II, Elves must be unplayable. Not that anyone would want to play one given the rules made for them in the Harry Potter series. And because of Elder Scrolls, Dwarves must be unplayable-- after all, they are extinct. And since Halflings don't exist in WarCraft, which is all the better for it, I guess they must be unplayable too.

In fact, after seeing Game of Thrones, anyone being anything but a human is just plain silly.

And, you know, in real life? Most common religion is one where the practitioners wear the symbol of their god's execution around their neck and use magic spells to transform bread or cookies and water or wine into his flesh and blood to ritualistically cannibalize him. So, obviously Clerics and religious practitioners shouldn't be playable.

Or.. you know... you could you know... possibly figure out how to compartmentalize one fictional world from another?

If this were a generalized player resource (‘this’ meaning Volo’s), I’d agree wholeheartedly with you. It’s not. It’s explicitly an FR resource, and as such operates within the confines of that lore. If they released an Elder Scrolls supplement, then yeah, I would absolutely expect there to be no dwarf options.

Any competent setting is driven by its internal logic and the general premise it presupposes, and many are stronger for it. Dark Sun wouldn’t be the same if every player cried about not being able to run divine classes and begged for an excerpt to be printed so they can run their super-specific character.

I’d love to see a gnoll printed in some form for the people that want it, but it was a bad idea to include in Volo’s based on the lore Wizards wants to present moving forward.

 

[Demetrios1453]

If this were a generalized player resource (‘this’ meaning Volo’s), I’d agree wholeheartedly with you. It’s not. It’s explicitly an FR resource, and as such operates within the confines of that lore.

Gnolls in the FR setting before 5e weren't demon-infused hyenas, but rather normal humanoids who once worshiped Gorellik and were mostly seduced by the power of Yeenoghu (this is most notably detailed in the 3e supplement Serpent Kingdoms on page 103). The way gnolls are being portrayed in 5e is new lore for the setting as well.

 

[GreenTengu]

If this were a generalized player resource (‘this’ meaning Volo’s), I’d agree wholeheartedly with you. It’s not. It’s explicitly an FR resource, and as such operates within the confines of that lore. If they released an Elder Scrolls supplement, then yeah, I would absolutely expect there to be no dwarf options.

Any competent setting is driven by its internal logic and the general premise it presupposes, and many are stronger for it. Dark Sun wouldn’t be the same if every player cried about not being able to run divine classes and begged for an excerpt to be printed so they can run their super-specific character.

I’d love to see a gnoll printed in some form for the people that want it, but it was a bad idea to include in Volo’s based on the lore Wizards wants to present moving forward.

You state this like you are disagreeing with me, but it further supports my point.

Gnolls aren't included because these are specifically the Forgotten Realms Gnolls as opposed to the Eberron Gnolls or the Nentir Vale Gnolls, the later of which would naturally be a PC race. Similarly, Orcs and Goblins are perfectly fine because these are not Lord of the Rings Orcs and Goblins, but Forgotten Realms ones.

Similarly, the Elves are not the Hellboy ones, the Dwarves are not the Elder Scrolls ones and the settings of WarCraft and Game of Thrones do not get a direct influence on what is and is not included in the book.

I.e. the post I was responding to wasn't making a good point, regardless of whether the poster was being sarcastic or not.