NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Binder Fred" data-source="post: 6150687" data-attributes="member: 63746">Or you could possibly still be an apprentice/page boy and take a level of a non-casting class with a clerical theme tacked on?Thanks. Noted it on my sheet.From the Stony Ashes it is then! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Yeah, I had a similar problem -- though not really with the laughing once I realized that hyena's do it when they're nervous or scared (always put a different spin on things then <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />). My main problem was that D&D gnolls are always culturally portrayed as - well, what you said: evil, savage, demon-worshipping pack-hunters. Except for the spotted hyenas who are primary pack predators though, RL hyenas are *all* scavengers and sometimes solitary endurance hunters (tirelessly chase your prey until it's too exhausted to fight back), plus it seemed like such a waste of an entire race to have them all be a (somewhat shallow) mono-culture. I therefore came up with the following, mostly based on RL stripped hyenas:[sblock=Hyena canites]GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY: Hyena canites have long arms and relatively short legs, giving them a bear-like gait when running on all fours (which they always do when they want to go faster than double moves). They have erectile fur, particularly dense around the back of the neck, which they can puff up to intimidate competitors and would-be predators. EATING HABITS: While most canites are primary hunters, hyena canites are mostly scavengers. Nature's great cleaners, they live off the dead, the diseased, the weak and those hunters unable to hold on to their own prey (that includes silly cultures who choose to bury their deads: hyena canites are adept grave diggers). They have extremely strong jaws in relation to their body size and have a very powerful digestive system with highly acidic fluids, making them capable of eating and digesting their entire prey, including skin, teeth, horns and bones. For this purpose, they also have strong bone-crushing teeth in the front, teeth that can split open and crush bones while keeping the back, meat-cutting, teeth sharp. They tend to scavenge more in daylight hours, thus facilitating the spotting of alighting vultures or crows, to which they react quicker than most other carnivores. When they do hunt, hyena canites are endurance hunters, exhausting their prey before the kill. Over a downed prey, members of differing tribes compete with one another through speed of eating rather than fighting.    Socially, they are solitary to small group scavengers who merge back into family units at the den at the end of the day. CULTURAL NOTES: Canites are among the few mammals to commit neonatal siblicide. A same-sexed litter will result in vicious fighting between the cubs, often resulting in death. In addition, hyena milk is very rich, having the highest protein content of any terrestrial carnivore, and the fat content is second only to the polar bear, so unlike Narasinhai and Dovers, they can leave their cubs for about a week without feeding them. Hyena young therefore learn to fend for themselves from an early age. Two to six weeks after whelping, the surviving youngs are transported to the communal den. Young depend entirely on milk for about 8 months and are not weaned until 12 to 16 months old. Maturation is at ten years, females later than males.    Youths start naked. Raiding hyena canites then start hunting and gathering. The more they can gather, the tougher/the more experienced they are, the more likely they are to eventually attract a mate. Value there is placed mostly on the ability to gather rather than the size of your life-pile. Indeed, extravagant and/or nightly gift-giving is a sure sign of great wealth among hyenas, of unshaking confidence in one's abilty to gather more. Scavenger wars (for dangerous and hard to find items) are a common way of solving disputes while simulteneously furthering clan survival. Dominance ranks in hyena societies are therefore not directly correlated with size or aggression, but with ability (gathering/crafting) and ally networks.    A clan of hyenas can include 5–90 members and is led by a single alpha female called the matriarch.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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