D&D General Tell Us About Your Gnolls! [+]

[Charlaquin]

Mod Note:
We wound up with two gnoll threads. I've merged them, by request. Hope that's not too confusing.

Carry on!

Thank you!

 

[Parmandur]

I played a Gnoll Fighter in 3.5 for a while, in a campaign where everyone was doing something off the wall (my one friend was. Hill Giant, for instance). Leaned into the scavanger angle, including cannibalism, but was mostly playing him like a Klingon I suppose.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In my Shadowdark game, I'm basically reworking gnolls as Diablo-style goatmen. While they aren't inherently evil or predisposed to demon worship, many tribes have been taken over by those cults. But uncorrupted goatmen still exist as a nomadic people in the highlands and I've even made a player character ancestry for those who want to play them, once my players encounter them. (I've also borrowed from the less-icky parts of Runequest's broo for this.)

 

[aco175]

I have not used them that much lately. I tend to have them in scrub/grassland/desert areas and have not gotten out of the greater Phandalin region. I tended to have them be more bandit raiders that would come in and suddenly attack with swift force and then be gone. Their homes were tented temporary sites where they could move a few time each year. Few could deal with them and adventurers were told to attack them on site, lest they be attacked first.

There was one group who tried to negotiate with a group of them. They were able to trade with one clan since they were at war with another clan and even made some headway towards a peace. I think that one of the PCs established a keep on the kingdom border and some trade was setup. The gnolls were never allowed to come inside though since the townsfolk would attack them.

 

[cbwjm]

Gnolls in my world were created by the Destroyer, a god rather than a demon. They're not a sane race and even the other beastmen (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and ogres) created by the Destroyer rarely want to work with them.

When my players first met some gnolls, it was a tribe worshipping a fire elemental which was able to perform a ritual to turn them into living bombs. Gnolls would charge into the enemy, take a few hits, ignite, and explode upon death. They considered this a blessing.

 

[Tonguez]

I love them brutal and animalistic, cruel and violent. Because that makes it more fun to occasionally subvert it… like with my idea of a gnoll life cleric and where cannibalism figures into his theology.

I went the other direction for my Gnolls, while the all male mobs are cruel and violent raiders and cannibals, the female clans are less so. Clans are made up of a group of sister-families each of which forms a smaller social unit within the wider clan.
This Lineage groups are actually very stable and cooperative in their movements, hunting and pup raising. Gnolls have a Yelp call that allows them to summon their Lineage sisters for support. Related Lienages will cooperate on big hunts or to defend their territory, including against the male mobs.

Of course as the fringe dwelling raiders most interaction of Humans with gnolls is with male raiders and thus most other races have a skewed view of Gnolls as violent cannibalistic raiders

 

[Charlaquin]

I went the other direction for my Gnolls, while the all male mobs are cruel and violent raiders and cannibals, the female clans are less so. Clans are made up of a group of sister-families each of which forms a smaller social unit within the wider clan.
This Lineage groups are actually very stable and cooperative in their movements, hunting and pup raising. Gnolls have a Yelp call that allows them to summon their Lineage sisters for support. Related Lienages will cooperate on big hunts or to defend their territory, including against the male mobs.

Of course as the fringe dwelling raiders most interaction of Humans with gnolls is with male raiders and thus most other races have a skewed view of Gnolls as violent cannibalistic raiders

That’s cool! I could see incorporating the inter-clan cooperation and yelp call parts into my own version.

 

[jgsugden]

I've always had gnolls be big demon worshippers - and slowly transitioned them into being fiends themselves. Technically, I still have humanoid gnolls in my game to address some continuity issues, but for the most part all gnolls are now low level fiends.

While you may encounter them as individuals, this is rare. They almost always engage in combat as swarms/mobs.

When they go into battle they enter a hysterical rage. This rage automatically causes creatures that hear that cacophany to bleed from the eyes and grin uncontrollably. They also can't shut their mouth or close their eyes while they hear the raging laughter. In addition, if you enter within 5 feet of a raging mob of gnolls you have to make a wisdom saving throw (DC 9 only) or you'll succumb to Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter (as the spell). On the plus side, they are so reckless that they automatically provoke opportunity attacks when they enter a square within your reach. They also heal fairly rapidly - automatically healing 10% of their maximum hps every hour.

As Demonic Fiends, the Gnolls are more of a force of nature than thinking beings. They follow certain priorities and are nearly as mindless as the undead in executing them. They have almost no sense of self preservation. First - feast. They kill whenever possible and eat what they kill immediately. That means that if you drop in combat, they will consume your downed PC. Second - scare. They find joy in seeing fear in intelligent beings. As such, they make a show of how feral they are, and relish in hunting down those that are fleeing from them. This makes their priority in combat: 1.) Target those closest to death first (whether wounded or weak), and then those that flee or move away from the gnolls over those that want to meet them face to face.

Gnoll archers use special 'harpoon' bows that shoot oversized arrows. The oversized arrows are poisoned and drag behind them filaments of specially prepared webs that will drag behind a target and effectively grapple them to a spot - locking them down to a spot unless they can beat a low DC (10 generally) on athletics or acrobatics (doesn't require an action, but attempted the first time you try to move and if you fail your speed drops to zero). Because they work as a mob, they make a bunch of ranged attacks. However, they rarely fire twice in a combat as they prefer to close in and consume what they slow down. In fact, most gnoll mobs only carry one shot.

Gnoll leaders are more intelligent, but equally bloodthirsty. They primarily direct the swarms to give them extra attacks, or to allow them to do more complex maneuvering.

My only spellcasting gnolls are psionic in nature and use powers that cause auras and zones of fear, malice, hate and insanity. They also project auras that allow allies to absorb blood in order to heal. Typically, they are just one of the many gnolls in a mob and their presence enhances the mob.

There are Clerics of Yeenoghu, but they are typically survivors of gnoll raids who are captured by a clergy and indoctrinated viciously. As such, they can be of any heritage/race. One adventure had gnolls overtake a fey encampment and I used a sprite/pixie cleric as a war leader - that was amusing. [This was inspired by the Reavers of Firefly Lore]

The best way to combat gnolls is to execute their leaders and then capitalize upon their predictability to guide them in ways that minimize their damage. My more experienced players treat them like hazzards rather than monsters and can often turn them into useful tools of destruction rather than foes by luring them into conflict with other foes that seem weaker than the PCs. Illusions are particularly useful in these attempts.

 

[Charlaquin]

When they go into battle they enter a hysterical rage. This rage automatically causes creatures that hear that cacophany to bleed from the eyes and grin uncontrollably. They also can't shut their mouth or close their eyes while they hear the raging laughter. In addition, if you enter within 5 feet of a raging mob of gnolls you have to make a wisdom saving throw (DC 9 only) or you'll succumb to Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter (as the spell).

That’s freaking metal!

 

[Alzrius]

Fans of gnolls should try and track down a copy of Campaign Magazine #8, which has a short-but-excellent article by Daniel "Delta" Collins on the gnollish language. It's a truly inspired piece, and I heartily recommend it.