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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Indagare Nogitsune" data-source="post: 8498633" data-attributes="member: 40018">So, to try and show what I'm getting at, here's part of the entry for Gnolls as it currently exists:[spoiler]Gnolls are hyena-headed, demon-worshiping humanoids whose chilling laughter terrifies the quarry of their bloody hunts. They roam the borderlands and raid humanoid settlements, killing and eating their victims and pillaging weapons and treasure. Gnolls prefer to hunt at night, trusting the darkness and their echoing barks and laughter to disorient and terrify their prey. Demonbound Raiders. Gnolls worship the demon lord that they believe created them from hyenas. Every adult member of a gnoll pack has undergone a horrific initiation rite binding them to this demon. In battle, they invite the demon to drive them into a destructive frenzy. Gnolls make no alliances, and in the bloodlust of battle they sometimes turn on even other members of their tribe. The only creatures gnolls don’t attack are the hyenas that follow their packs, feeding on the carrion that gnolls leave behind. Gnolls who aren’t initiated into their demonic cult can be peaceful, and some gnoll warriors manage to turn their back on their pack and live among other creatures, conquering but never truly escaping their fiendish bloodlust. Legends and Lore With a Nature or Religion check, characters can learn the following: DC 10 Gnolls are hyena-like humanoids that raid border settlements and slaughter the inhabitants. DC 15 Gnoll warriors worship demons and sometimes allow themselves to become possessed in battle.[/spoiler]The area I put in bold is my emphasis. Now, the DC 10 isn't great, but it's an average roll and what most people are likely to know. I wish it were more of a neutral knowledge check. The DC 15, however, only further encourage the line of thought that a Gnoll is something you must fight or face it attacking and killing you instead. There's no more advanced knowledge about peaceful Gnolls (despite the entry literally having it there), and while the Narrator can alter these (or anything else), by putting the info in a way that's not on the DCs the designers made sure there was no way a party could get that info. The answer to "Hey, there's a Gnoll, what should we do?" is covered in two DCs neither of which would encourage a peaceful encounter.And how this dips into RL stuff is that certain groups have different religions, oft vilified or said to be demon worship without much cause. Then too, we all know the way humans were treated over stupid things like their appearances. Do we really want that to continue in our fantasy worlds? Even if it's "realistic" it's still so exhausting. I HATE seeing that stuff over and over and over again. I want the designers to be better than "oh this species has always been evil so let's leave it that way until enough people complain about it!"</blockquote>

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