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Gnolls: Playable or Not?
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<blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6929674" data-attributes="member: 6855057"><p>I made this thread before the great server crash, and it was huge there. Since the most recent podcast has Perkins specifically talking about gnolls as the first topic, I felt maybe it deserved to be brought back.</p><p></p><p>Gnolls are one of the oldest monstrous humanoids that can arguably be described as unique to D&D. Though their name is taken from the "gnoles", a race of malevolent forest goblins in two of Lord Dunsany's stories, and the White Box version was a similar "gnome/troll hybrid" little monster, the D&D gnoll became definitive in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, after it changed to a race of hyena-men. Now, despite being predatory in nature and culturally defined by the worship of the Demon Prince Yeenoghu, gnolls have actually been playable in every single edition that their hyena-man format appeared in; they had 1e stats (although I think that was for the gnome-trolls) in the Known World Gazetteer "The Orcs of Thar", they then went on to appear in the Complete Book of Humanoids for AD&D/2e, no fewer than four 3rd edition books (Monster Manual, Forgotten Realms: Unapproachable East, Savage Species, Races of the Wild), and in Dragon Magazine #367 for 4th edition. Even Pathfinder has rules for them, I believe, although I couldn't tell you where.</p><p></p><p>Traditionally, gnolls were described as having been created by a bestial demi-deity named Gorellik, who was so savage and disinterested in the mortal realm that he didn't even notice his people being stolen from him by Yeenoghu. In 4th edition, they were instead created directly by Yeenoghu, which is something that 5th edition has retained (although Perkins doesn't seem to want to admit it) - however, this was also explained in the aforementioned "Playing Gnolls" article to not make gnolls into an Always Chaotic Evil race. Although born from demonic corruption, at their hearts, they are still hyenas, a creature that, although intimidating, does have a place in the natural world, and thusly gnolls can reject the alien cruelty and brutality of their demonic lineage.</p><p></p><p>I might as well quote the relevant segment of the article:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With this long lineage, gnolls may not be as popular for the "redeemed monster" racial role as orcs or goblins or kobolds, but they do have a fandom. And it was reasonable to expect they'd appear in Volo's Guide to Monsters with a PC writeup. I mean, they're traditional, at this point, if nothing else.</p><p></p><p>Except... that's not the case. The first clue was a twitter from Perkins saying that gnolls were "too demonic" to be playable. In a recent podcast talking about the gnolls, he states that redeemed gnolls are "possible", but that the possibility wasn't something they were going to play around with much. Despite the fact that we know gnolls are getting a fairly detailed writeup, complete with both the return of the Flinds (elite gnolls), 4e's Fangs of Yeenoghu (demon-priests who can convert hyenas into new gnolls just like Yeenoghu) and even the Shoosuva - a demonic gnoll-ghoul that first appeared in Dragon Magazine #63 and went ignored until Dungeon Magazine #112.</p><p></p><p>So, the purpose of all this? To see what people think. Do you think he's right to say that gnolls should not be playable? Or do you think that there's both enough historical precedent and that "DMs have the right to make up lore for their own settings", something acknowledge in their 4e PC writeup, that gnolls should get some kind of official PC stats, if it turns out that they aren't even getting the "quick and dirty" PC rules that Volo's Guide is supposedly going to have for some races?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="QuietBrowser, post: 6929674, member: 6855057"] I made this thread before the great server crash, and it was huge there. Since the most recent podcast has Perkins specifically talking about gnolls as the first topic, I felt maybe it deserved to be brought back. Gnolls are one of the oldest monstrous humanoids that can arguably be described as unique to D&D. Though their name is taken from the "gnoles", a race of malevolent forest goblins in two of Lord Dunsany's stories, and the White Box version was a similar "gnome/troll hybrid" little monster, the D&D gnoll became definitive in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, after it changed to a race of hyena-men. Now, despite being predatory in nature and culturally defined by the worship of the Demon Prince Yeenoghu, gnolls have actually been playable in every single edition that their hyena-man format appeared in; they had 1e stats (although I think that was for the gnome-trolls) in the Known World Gazetteer "The Orcs of Thar", they then went on to appear in the Complete Book of Humanoids for AD&D/2e, no fewer than four 3rd edition books (Monster Manual, Forgotten Realms: Unapproachable East, Savage Species, Races of the Wild), and in Dragon Magazine #367 for 4th edition. Even Pathfinder has rules for them, I believe, although I couldn't tell you where. Traditionally, gnolls were described as having been created by a bestial demi-deity named Gorellik, who was so savage and disinterested in the mortal realm that he didn't even notice his people being stolen from him by Yeenoghu. In 4th edition, they were instead created directly by Yeenoghu, which is something that 5th edition has retained (although Perkins doesn't seem to want to admit it) - however, this was also explained in the aforementioned "Playing Gnolls" article to not make gnolls into an Always Chaotic Evil race. Although born from demonic corruption, at their hearts, they are still hyenas, a creature that, although intimidating, does have a place in the natural world, and thusly gnolls can reject the alien cruelty and brutality of their demonic lineage. I might as well quote the relevant segment of the article: [B][/B] With this long lineage, gnolls may not be as popular for the "redeemed monster" racial role as orcs or goblins or kobolds, but they do have a fandom. And it was reasonable to expect they'd appear in Volo's Guide to Monsters with a PC writeup. I mean, they're traditional, at this point, if nothing else. Except... that's not the case. The first clue was a twitter from Perkins saying that gnolls were "too demonic" to be playable. In a recent podcast talking about the gnolls, he states that redeemed gnolls are "possible", but that the possibility wasn't something they were going to play around with much. Despite the fact that we know gnolls are getting a fairly detailed writeup, complete with both the return of the Flinds (elite gnolls), 4e's Fangs of Yeenoghu (demon-priests who can convert hyenas into new gnolls just like Yeenoghu) and even the Shoosuva - a demonic gnoll-ghoul that first appeared in Dragon Magazine #63 and went ignored until Dungeon Magazine #112. So, the purpose of all this? To see what people think. Do you think he's right to say that gnolls should not be playable? Or do you think that there's both enough historical precedent and that "DMs have the right to make up lore for their own settings", something acknowledge in their 4e PC writeup, that gnolls should get some kind of official PC stats, if it turns out that they aren't even getting the "quick and dirty" PC rules that Volo's Guide is supposedly going to have for some races? [/QUOTE]
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