Pathfinder 1E Any gnoll-specific books out?

TanithT · Aug 1, 2012

Has Paizo put out a gnoll race book? If not, what would be the best source of detailed material, culture, etc, on this race? Looking for Pathfinder cosmology specifically.

Set · Aug 1, 2012

Classic Monsters Revisited has a six page section on them, but, IMO, it doesn't really add a ton of lore or interesting hooks to the race, that weren't already kind of there.

The first chapter of the Legacy of Fire AP (Howl of the Carrion King) also has about six pages on the gnoll packs of that region.

1Mac · Aug 1, 2012

It's not Golarion-specific in the slightest, but you might be interested in the Gnoll volume of the Wicked Fantasy line.

paradox42 · Aug 1, 2012

Gnolls show up in the Advanced Race Guide as one of the examples used to demonstrate how the Race Builder (chapter 4) functions; they're the least powerful/exotic example used. This means that you get the racial traits, and the RP cost of those traits, but nothing else- no notes about culture, no alternate racial traits, no racial feats or archetypes, etc.

It's not much of a mention, but just to be sure all this thread's bases are covered, I'm posting this.

Super Pony · Aug 1, 2012

There's also a mention of the eternally warring hordes of gnolls in the afterlife in Book of the Damned 2: Lords of Chaos in the short write-up of Lamashtu contained there-in.

The article in "Howl of the Carrion King" mentioned by Set is probably the best example of a "gnoll specific resource" that you're going to find for official pathfinder materials.

Leif · Aug 1, 2012

If you're into antiques, you can check ebay and similar places for:

1. The Slayer's Guide to Gnolls, Mongoose Publishing 2001 [MGP0002] -- contains everything from Gnoll physiology to habitat, society, scenario hooks, and more. This is a d20 product released under OGL 1.0, so it's intended for D&D 3.X, but Pathfinder is a d20 game also.

2. Dark Folk - Trolls Orcs Goblins Kobolds Gnolls; RoleAids, 1983 (RoleAids707) -- Has a small amount of social data, from what Gnolls like to eat to what kinds of pets they prefer, and then it has a reasonably complete adventure that features gnolls (but the maps are weak) called "Wedding Sacrifice," for 6-10 characters of levels 3 to 6. Obviously, this is intended to be used with 1E AD&D, since that's all there was in 1983, but the ideas and fluff are still usable. I haven't read this product all the way through, so I can't vouch for it, but if memory serves, RoleAids stuff was largely crap. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, this may not be a wholly crappy book itself, but it is sure to bear some of the stench of other RoleAids foulness, so caveat emptor!

1Mac · Aug 2, 2012

Leif said:
1. The Slayer's Guide to Gnolls, Mongoose Publishing 2001 [MGP0002] -- contains everything from Gnoll physiology to habitat, society, scenario hooks, and more. This is a d20 product released under OGL 1.0, so it's intended for D&D 3.X, but Pathfinder is a d20 game also.

For what it's worth, you can still buy this in PDF.

Leif · Aug 3, 2012

Leif said:
If you're into antiques, you can check ebay and similar places for:

1. The Slayer's Guide to Gnolls, Mongoose Publishing 2001 [MGP0002] -- contains everything from Gnoll physiology to habitat, society, scenario hooks, and more. This is a d20 product released under OGL 1.0, so it's intended for D&D 3.X, but Pathfinder is a d20 game also.

1Mac said:
For what it's worth, you can still buy this in PDF.

Oh! PDF is definitely the way to go then!

prosfilaes · Aug 3, 2012

A Brief History of Gnolls (available from DriveThruRPG) has both the 1912 short story by Lord Dunsany that created the Gnolls, and the 1951 short story by Margaret St. Clair based on that story that Gary Gygax based his gnolls on. If you want to go back to the start, that's a good place to go.

Super Pony · Aug 3, 2012

prosfilaes said:
A Brief History of Gnolls (available from DriveThruRPG) has both the 1912 short story by Lord Dunsany that created the Gnolls, and the 1951 short story by Margaret St. Clair based on that story that Gary Gygax based his gnolls on. If you want to go back to the start, that's a good place to go.

Here is Lord Dunsany's Tale And Here is Ms. St. Clair's Tale Gygax's original description of the Gnolls was that they were a combination of gnome & troll...which would sort of fit the stories of St. Clair and Dunsanay. The hyena heads came later on, but the original gnoles are pretty creepy and cool all on their own.