D&D 5E Gnolls: Playable or Not?

[MonsterEnvy]

And more specifically in FR that's the ones from Menzoberrenzan. There is supposed to be a surface colony that has to to with Vhaeraun or Eilistraee. That's I think in 3rd Edition FRCS.

Incorrect here. The Monster Manual from 3e onward puts them as neutral evil by default.

 

[Dualazi]

Not a difference anymore, and not entirely accurate: two Greyhawk characters are referenced in Volos Guide in the previews we have, this is a book with relevance to the multiverse, thanks to Elimenster.

Unless it actually details how the character options and monsters fit in to those particular settings, then no, it is not a generalist book. If they include mentions of Goku and Krillin that doesn't make it a Dragonball​ supplement.

It is something Lord of the Rings and by extension d&d absolutely fails at-- the simple idea that you have a whole damn population of people and thus you have the depth and diversity of a whole population. And maybe there are reasons to come into conflict with them that can be hardly resolved without violence. Yet, at the same time, maybe there are aspects of them to admire and respect. The "other" isn't necessarily simply comprised of the worst of your own culture.

All human conflicts throughout history had this complication. Why can't a fictional scenario in a fantasy world carry the same?

At the risk of misrepresenting you again (though I hope I don’t), it’s because there’s no reason to do so. There’s nothing inherently better or advantageous about going from strictly defined qualities to the more nuanced and morally grey from a storytelling perspective, they’re merely different types of stories. This is only more so in D&D, where forces of morality have real effects, and lend themselves to more classic (or cliché, if you prefer) tales of heroism triumphing over patently and provably evil foes. Some people dig that, some don’t, but it’s definitely what I would say D&D lends itself to most prominently.

Additionally, fantasy settings don’t require that same level of diversity for the simple version of being a fantasy setting. They’re not bound by realistic concerns, and biological and especially magical influences (like gnolls’ demonic taint) can certainly lead to higher degrees of homogeneity than would be found in real life.

 

[tom.zunder]

I disagree. There are many non D&D RPG settings that address societal reasons for conflict either alongside or interweaved with supernatural. I would say D&D has been weak on this but I recently played DDAL05-03 and was struck by the fact that it was primarily a social scenario dealing with post Dragon cult Parnast in Faerun. I also note that much of Mystara seemed formed by and driven by a range of social drivers as much as unexplained 'others'


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[doctorbadwolf]

If internal consistency mattered, gnolls would be mostly natural humanoids of a insular bent, many of whom are demon worshipping psychopaths.

 

[Azzy]

Drow are normally neutral evil.

They were originally chaotic evil, and the 3e happened. It's one of those changes that I Lloathe.

 

[Azzy]

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).

And that was based on setting-neutral lore from 2e.

The way gnolls are being portrayed in 5e is new lore for the setting as well.

Yup. This is one of the top reasons that I was turned off to 4e—there was a lot of abandonment of previous edition lore. That's great if it's specific to a certain setting, but retrofitting as setting-neutral or for established settings is annoying, at best, for me. I want continuity, and not a fan of these changes.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

They were originally chaotic evil, and the 3e happened. It's one of those changes that I Lloathe.

Why it makes more sense for them to be neutral evil. They have a ton of laws (That are more or less made to be broken.) and very little in common with general chaotic evil types unless they are acting in small groups.

Which is noted in their lore. On their own or in small groups they trend towards chaotic evil. But in Drow cities and large groups they tend to reign their chaotic natures in. For the more do whatever you can get away with type of neutral evil.

 

[OniDaimyo]

Gnolls aren't all evil. There are a rare few who are peaceful but they are still agressive. Eberron has some gnolls for example who are peaceful.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Gnolls aren't all evil. There are a rare few who are peaceful but they are still agressive. Eberron has some gnolls for example who are peaceful.

That is because Eberron is a different setting. Lots of monsters have a verity of alignments there.

 

[OniDaimyo]

NOT just Eberron has non evil gnolls. Eberron just actually has some examples of some.