Feeding a pack of gnolls

[tomBitonti]

Hi,

I was wondering ...

If I populate a castle with a pack of 30 gnolls (all fighting adults),
and fed them with a steady supply of cattle, how many days of food
would a single cow provide, and, what is the difference between
keeping the cows alive (need grain, but have mostly fresh meat),
and packing the cows in salt (not fresh, but don't have to manage
a herd).

I figured, very approximately, that a steer provides about 2000
lbs of usable meat, and that a gnoll eats about 5 lbs of meat a day.
So for about 30 gnolls, thats about 1050 pounds per week, so about
two weeks per cow.

There is the problem, with live cows, of the gnolls going on a binge,
but there is a BBEG in the castle that is preventing that.

 

[Wilphe]

A little bit of googling suggests that 2000lb of meat from a cow is optimistic:

http://www.kansasbeef.org/PDF/Break Down Brochure.pdf

An 1,150 lb. steer doesn’t yield 1,150 lbs. of beef. On
the average, that steer yields a 714 lb. carcass. Approximately 146 lbs. of fat and bone are trimmed off leaving about 568 lbs. of retail beef cuts. Very little of the other 582 lbs. is lost, however. It includes about 27 lbs. of variety meats (liver, heart, tongue, tripe, sweetbreads and brains), plus by-products

So you are looking at about 600 lb of edible material per cow.
Caveat:
Realisitic pseudo-Medieval cows won't be as big as modern ones.
Caveat II:
They're gnolls, their definition of "edible" is probably broader than a humans

There's about 1200 calories in a pound of beef.

Male Humans are supposed to take about 2500 a day, but gnolls are bigger and these ones are more active, so maybe 4800 is better. That would give 4lb each a day and a total of 120lb a day

Your cow will last five days, it would need to be preserved somehow for human consumption at the end of that time, but I doubt gnolls would care, they might even prefer it a bit stinky

 

[frankthedm]

What a Chaotic Evil carnivore needs to eat will be nowhere near as much as it will try to eat. Gnolls are nothing but trouble. I hope you don't have any cares about keeping your castle clean since any servants will be eaten by the gnolls as soon as any rationing begins{if not sooner]. Then go the smaller gnolls, then the mid sized, by which time the situation is a cannibalistic free for all.

Speaking of such, is the BBEG handing out the food on a daily basis? Getting the food to gnolls will be a problem itself since the gnolls will swifty make a bloody mess of just about any organized situation and eat anyone they are not afraid of. Having the gnolls distribute the food amoung themselves is another prize winning idea that will make it on the Mistakes BBEGs Make! list.

For food and CR economy, 40 hobgoblins and 30 goblins are a much better value and a lot more likely to follow orders.

Gnolls would not be picky. The lower intestine is about the only thing I view a gnoll would refuse. And what one gnoll refuses, he forces a weaker gnoll to eat.

568 lbs. choice cuts.[Top dogs get this]
27 lbs. of variety meats (liver, heart, tongue, tripe, sweetbreads and brains)
555 lbs- N lbs of lower intestine lbs. of by-products
146 lbs. of fat and bone [how much nutritious marrow does bone have by weight?]
N lbs of lower intestine to be force fed to smaller gnolls by larger gnolls.

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

Stronger gnolls might even resort to cannibalism to get rid of insubordinates tho maybe the weaker ones might do it to survive.

 

[tomBitonti]

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I'll go with a week per cow (slightly high, but close enough).

Distribution *would* be a mess, but I'm assuming that the question will be
which gnoll gets which choice bit of meat. As well, these gnolls are conditioned
soldiers, and the BBEG (a leveled vampire) is out of their league.

As a followup, I'm thinking that in the wild (so to speak), the gnolls tendancy would
be to gorge themselves when they had the opportunity. Restraining this tendency --
putting them on a rations schedule -- seems to be one of the harder nuts in this
messy scenario. If the gnolls didn't need to be at the ready all of the time, tossing
a cow out into the central courtyard once a week and letting the gnolls have at it would
be simplest.

 

[Huw]

Gnolls are basically humanoid hyenas. Checking with wikipedia, I found this snippet:

Hyenas have extremely strong jaws and compared to their body size, they are one of the most powerful of the mammals. They also have a very powerful digestive system with highly acidic fluids. This makes them capable of eating and digesting their entire prey, including skin, teeth, horns, hooves and even bones. Since they eat carcasses, their digestion system deals very well with bacteria as well.

Gnolls could make one cow go a long way, when a half tonne cow can provide half a tonne of meat.

 

[diaglo]

gnolls are gnome/troll hybrids. at least they are in OD&D(1974)

 

[zeb.hillard]

For some reason I can't get the raptor feeding scene from Jurassic Park out of my mind...with the BBEG levitating the animal above the gnolls, and all of them leaping up with their vicious snapping jaws trying to get a piece...

 

[tomBitonti]

Raptor / Gnoll Pit

For some reason I can't get the raptor feeding scene from Jurassic Park out of my mind...with the BBEG levitating the animal above the gnolls, and all of them leaping up with their vicious snapping jaws trying to get a piece...

Ya, I was thinking about adding a pit into the castle courtyard, and
doing about the same thing. Or, having a platform lift out of a shaft
with the cow onboard. Would be a cool scene to have the players
take the up elevator, to be greeted by a scene of cow-carnage and
gnolls lurking in the shadows.

 

[Xyanthon]

What a Chaotic Evil carnivore needs to eat will be nowhere near as much as it will try to eat. Gnolls are nothing but trouble. I hope you don't have any cares about keeping your castle clean since any servants will be eaten by the gnolls as soon as any rationing begins{if not sooner]. Then go the smaller gnolls, then the mid sized, by which time the situation is a cannibalistic free for all.

I agree with Frank on this one. Gnolls would probably eat way more than they needed to out of sheer gluttony. I wouldn't imagine a 2000 pound cow would last a pack of gnolls more than a few days.