Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6984077" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>The Gnoll entries include a good variation in CR, and the <strong>Flesh Gnawer</strong> comes in at a solid CR 1. This makes them pretty good for combat fodder for many levels - their HP and damage output keeping them at least relevant up until level 9 or so - and so you can probably expect to make heavy use of them after a while. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/gems-of-war/images/e/e5/Troop_Gnoll.png/revision/latest?cb=20160128204845" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The Flesh Gnawer picture in Volo’s has a lot of character. Though it is very static - in essentially the same pose as the Flind and Witherling - the Gnawer has a very well done face, which is busily emoting a deranged world view to the observer. I’m also quite taken with the human hand which is jauntily stuck into the waistband, a nice snack for later. </p><p></p><p>The Flesh Gnawers get a flavour text so short that it barely counts as present. They are more feral than other Gnolls, they don’t bother with ranged weapons, and they can run fast to finish off enemies. The Gnoll section in chapter one says essentially the same thing - they lurk around at the start of battle, and then rush from wounded warrior to wounded warrior as though ‘shot from a bow’. In other words, you should use these guys as generic dudes for the players to kill in the game, they do not have hidden reserves of roleplaying potential for you to tap. </p><p></p><p>As I mentioned above, the Gnawer comes in at a useful CR 1. You can pretty much use these guys for the whole of tiers 1 & 2, to varying degrees of merit, and they should at least do <em>something</em>. Be aware, however, that your Cleric player will really start emphasising <em>Spirit Guardians</em> after a while if you lean on them in every combat. That isn’t bad - the spell is effectively a class feature, and letting a player get use out of it is no bad thing - but be warned that you’ll need to mix in ranged dudes as well. Not to worry though - the next statblock is the Hunter, who has the ranged options covered. </p><p></p><p>This statblock is pretty standard for CR 1. You get 22 hp, medium AC, and stats hovering around the 10 on average. They get the <em>Rampage</em> trait of all Gnolls, and they get three melee attacks for normal damage. The only really unique thing here is the <em>Sudden Rush</em> ability, whereby the Gnawer can move up to 120ft [<em>Correction: 90ft.</em>] a round and not provoke opportunity attacks. That sounds like a great way to have the Gnawers materialise in melee with the party backline, even if the Gnawers cannot attack afterwards, and in general means that you can put real pressure on the party to kill the Gnawers before they bring down the party squishies. It also makes them very effective at running away from fights that they are losing, so you could contemplate some kind of an ambush, with these guys drawing the players into a killzone with some Hunters or whatnot. Either way, this incredible movement is clearly the central mechanic of the Gnawer, and I imagine that most parties will really grow to hate these guys for that exact reason.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6984077, member: 32659"] The Gnoll entries include a good variation in CR, and the [B]Flesh Gnawer[/B] comes in at a solid CR 1. This makes them pretty good for combat fodder for many levels - their HP and damage output keeping them at least relevant up until level 9 or so - and so you can probably expect to make heavy use of them after a while. [IMG]http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/gems-of-war/images/e/e5/Troop_Gnoll.png/revision/latest?cb=20160128204845[/IMG] The Flesh Gnawer picture in Volo’s has a lot of character. Though it is very static - in essentially the same pose as the Flind and Witherling - the Gnawer has a very well done face, which is busily emoting a deranged world view to the observer. I’m also quite taken with the human hand which is jauntily stuck into the waistband, a nice snack for later. The Flesh Gnawers get a flavour text so short that it barely counts as present. They are more feral than other Gnolls, they don’t bother with ranged weapons, and they can run fast to finish off enemies. The Gnoll section in chapter one says essentially the same thing - they lurk around at the start of battle, and then rush from wounded warrior to wounded warrior as though ‘shot from a bow’. In other words, you should use these guys as generic dudes for the players to kill in the game, they do not have hidden reserves of roleplaying potential for you to tap. As I mentioned above, the Gnawer comes in at a useful CR 1. You can pretty much use these guys for the whole of tiers 1 & 2, to varying degrees of merit, and they should at least do [I]something[/I]. Be aware, however, that your Cleric player will really start emphasising [I]Spirit Guardians[/I] after a while if you lean on them in every combat. That isn’t bad - the spell is effectively a class feature, and letting a player get use out of it is no bad thing - but be warned that you’ll need to mix in ranged dudes as well. Not to worry though - the next statblock is the Hunter, who has the ranged options covered. This statblock is pretty standard for CR 1. You get 22 hp, medium AC, and stats hovering around the 10 on average. They get the [I]Rampage[/I] trait of all Gnolls, and they get three melee attacks for normal damage. The only really unique thing here is the [I]Sudden Rush[/I] ability, whereby the Gnawer can move up to 120ft [[i]Correction: 90ft.[/i]] a round and not provoke opportunity attacks. That sounds like a great way to have the Gnawers materialise in melee with the party backline, even if the Gnawers cannot attack afterwards, and in general means that you can put real pressure on the party to kill the Gnawers before they bring down the party squishies. It also makes them very effective at running away from fights that they are losing, so you could contemplate some kind of an ambush, with these guys drawing the players into a killzone with some Hunters or whatnot. Either way, this incredible movement is clearly the central mechanic of the Gnawer, and I imagine that most parties will really grow to hate these guys for that exact reason. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
Top