D&D 5E Monster creation help wanted.

[Gorg]

They have a death domain in the DMG which could give you ideas. If you want to make them a cleric to represent the tribal shaman then I'd suggest just picking a wisdom score that you want them to have, at least a 14 would be my recommendation for a low-level shaman, 16+ for more powerful ones.

If you want to use the druid spells, you can just assign them, or if you want some sort of method to your madness, then grant them access to spells as a druid and then layer the death domain over top so that they have a bunch of nature themed spells with some necromancy spells available to them as well. You might even want to grant them a special ability to summon a couple of giant hyenas as a special ability of the caster.

I don't know how I missed that- I'm READING through the damn DMG atm...

I'm thinking along the lines of that second paragraph. In the notebook where I'm working on this project, I added the Death Domain, and it's powers to the standard Gnoll Pack Lord. This guy is NOT your typical Gnoll, and I'd like him somewhere around CR 2, maybe 3, if that's what it takes.

I dropped multi-attack and Incite Rampage, and started with the standard Gnoll's abilities. I increased his Int to 9 (average intelligence, no bonus or penalty), his Wisdom to 14 (+2), and Charisma to 12 (+1).

So, one attack action/ round; no Con bonus to HP; reduced Str and Dex bonus's to Gnoll averages, and he now has a decent, but not great Wis bonus, and a small Cha Bonus. So he's more resistant to mental effects and such.

I kept Rampage as a nasty little fallback.

Now, I'm working out how to sub in that cool summon ally ability instead of some other domain/Cleric ability.

Yeenoghu is a Demon lord, so I want to stick with that theme. Reaper and Touch of Death fall right in line, there.

 

[cbwjm]

Now, I'm working out how to sub in that cool summon ally ability instead of some other domain/Cleric ability.

Yeenoghu is a Demon lord, so I want to stick with that theme. Reaper and Touch of Death fall right in line, there.

Yeah the death domain abilities I think work real well for a demon lord's followers.

For the summon ability, I'd base it off one or two spells, conjure animals (conjuring 2 giant hyenas) or summon animal (summoning an hyena like beast using the slot equivalent of whichever is their highest spell slot available), I've used the latter for a rat cultist who summons up a giant rat to fight his enemies. Either way though, I'd also remove the concentration requirement.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Edited

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

You know, you had me right along until that terrible pun at the end... That's punishable by allowing a 4 yr old with sticky hands to handle your lucky dice for a few minutes.

Noooooooo!

 

[aco175]

You can look at the Anchorite of Talos from Dragon of Icespire Peak (DoiP) as an example. Might have some ideas for you on a half-orc with shapechange and casting powers.

I tend to give monsters and NPCs anything I want since they do not need to follow rules. Try to make things interesting and fun.

 

[Gorg]

I think I'll just do that: Give the Shaman the spell slots of a 2nd level cleric, along with the death domain powers and spells. Plus a special summon animal ability 1/long rest. To summon 2 hyenas.

The necromancy cantrip afforded by the domain will be chill touch. Still thinking about the spell list.

Perhaps even the Legendary ability to create those special gnolls FROM hyenas. Not applicable to combat, but it provides a logical story for how they come to be. Coupla those and the shaman will spice the HELL out of a Gnoll band! That should scare the crap out of players, who THINK they know all about Gnolls.

 

[Rune]

However, I'm kinda torn on WHAT kind of spell caster it should be. My first thought was Cleric, as the Gnollish god plays a pretty significant role in Gnoll life. Then I thought Druid! And then Warlock. The last seemed tailor made for this- a caster who makes a pact with an extra planar power.

However, Gnolls are stupid. As in 6 intelligence stupid. NOT a good fit for an arcane caster... Plus the fluff that goes along with the class just doesn't gel well with the concept of Gnolls.

But warlocks don’t use or need intelligence. Would you not allow a PC warlock with a 6 intelligence?

 

[aco175]

Shapechange power into a giant hyena or a spectral hyena. You only need one monster stat to keep track of, or just one special attack while in animal form. A spectral hyena could have DR or something to aid defense.