D&D 5E Non evil gnoll tribes?

OniDaimyo · May 30, 2017

Are there any books or supplements out there on NON Evil Gnoll tribes? I'm thinking they'd have different names and appearances too. A non Yeenoghu gnoll would probably look not quite so gross and savage as a Yeenoghu gnoll, but not by much. I'm playing a CN Gnoll Barbarian in 5th ed and its fun but I wanted more info on Gnolls that isn't all about the classic Gnoll. He does NOT act like a human btw. He is savage, brutal and agressive but still protective of his friends. He likes to eat most things including other sentient beings that are deemed enemies of the group. But he's eaten other things that are humorous like cotten candy at a circus, ect. I was wondering how funny he'd look eating peanut butter.

Quickleaf · May 30, 2017

OniDaimyo said:
Are there any books or supplements out there on NON Evil Gnoll tribes? I'm thinking they'd have different names and appearances too. A non Yeenoghu gnoll would probably look not quite so gross and savage as a Yeenoghu gnoll, but not by much. I'm playing a CN Gnoll Barbarian in 5th ed and its fun but I wanted more info on Gnolls that isn't all about the classic Gnoll. He does NOT act like a human btw. He is savage, brutal and agressive but still protective of his friends. He likes to eat most things including other sentient beings that are deemed enemies of the group. But he's eaten other things that are humorous like cotten candy at a circus, ect. I was wondering how funny he'd look eating peanut butter.

There's been a few takes on non-evil gnolls...

I know Hamunaptra: Egyptian Adventures (Green Ronin) calls gnolls "Anpur", describing them as descendents of Anubis with lots of taboos around death and funerary customs.

Ath-kethin · May 30, 2017

I suppose it depends on your definition of "evil." The monolithic religious "created by the demon and always devoted to him" version of gnolls is fairly new, to my knowledge, but they've always been described as savage and brutal. In their very first D&D appearance, they were vaguely a cross between gnomes and trolls (hence the name). They became hyena-men a few years later.

If you do a Google search for "2e gnoll" you can find some older edition information, which might be helpful.

KahlessNestor · May 30, 2017

Sounds like you want something like the Znir Pact of Droaam in Eberron.

But it all depends on your campaign setting. I don't know of anything like that in FR, and if it's homebrew you are best off asking your DM if they even exist like that. WOTC declined to make gnolls a PC race for whatever reason in 5E Volo's Guide.

Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app

OniDaimyo · May 30, 2017

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make Gnolls a race eventually. I'm not a DM but yeah I know of the non evil gnolls in Eberron and in a few other settings they exist too. I was hoping there would be ideas on them out there. I would just figure a non Yeenoghu gnoll isn't covered in maggots and other disgusting filth for example. They may still have some blood and dirt on them but would be far cleaner than other gnolls. Still agressive and such but don't slaughter people on sight. I was wondering if the names would be the same or different. And my DM allows Gnolls and other weird things as long as its more PC level humanoid. His world is more like Eberron in that it monsters don't always keep to their MM alingments. He seems fond of Bugbears being NPCs for example and had sentient talking Gorillas lol. So yeah, its NOT your typical D&D world.

Mecheon · May 30, 2017

4E had a lot of good stuff on non-evil gnolls, but I know if anyone's updated that stuff specifically

Kobold Stew · May 30, 2017

In the lead-up to the release of Volo's guide, there was a lot of talk on these boards about whether Gnolls would be/might be/should be a playable race.

Mearls tweeted an answer that seemed definitive, but which (as seen above) was a break from previous editions, that it would never happen. His phrase "in our lore" was referring to what was being added in Volo's. But it seems to him, gnolls should not be a playable race.

Clearly, there was precedent (see this article from 3.5). Hope this helps.

OniDaimyo · May 30, 2017

Yeah and they also once said drow should not be playable back in 2cd ed. So whatever to that. Money talks so if enough players want it I'm sure they will do it. BTW that article isnt from 3.5...its from 4th ed.

Tormyr · May 30, 2017

In Zeitgeist gnolls, minotaurs, and other races formed a nation of monstrous races named Ber, but it is not fleshed out very much.

I made a village of Gnoll Aasimar based on this entry at D&D Wiki.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Aasimar,_Gnoll_(3.5e_Race)
One of the PCs formed a relationship with an NPC and had a half-gnoll kid who became the player's PC in our Age of Worms campaign.

LapBandit · May 30, 2017

I understand people wanting to play different kinds of creature races, but that should largely be guided by setting. If we're going with the 5E MM gnolls, then they could never even approach reasonable action and the answer at my table would be no.