Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spenser" data-source="post: 4284319" data-attributes="member: 5311">I like the 4e gnolls mechanically, as occasional adversaries. But the excerpt implies that Yeenoghu wants his gnolls to take over the entire world. Is anyone planning on building a campaign around this? Gnolls are really savage and bestial and all that, but I think that they need more "oomph" to be a empire-shattering threat, and not just the flunkies of someone else. Hobgoblins are scary, mind flayers are scary, the necromancer zombie invasion is scary, but gnolls... eh. They feel kind of like amped up orcs. I feel like they need a little more.Some random ideas for a gnoll-centric campaign, mix and match as necessary:A) Gnolls are heavily related to were-hyenas, which serve as assassins and spies.B) Yeenoghu worship in human lands is actually very widespread, disguised as a huge mainstream religious movement with major political capital. Turns out that the thought of "unleashing the beast within" is a very powerful, attractive idea to humans, dragonborn, tieflings, and *especially* those uptight eladrin. C) Yeenoghu killed Bahamut (or insert good god here) and took his stuff. See B) above. D) Gnoll bites and claws have an excellent chance of spreading gnoll fever, which can turn you into a gnoll/were-hyena/worshipper-of-Yeenoghu/ghoul.E) Though they do flip out and kill people, gnolls are *not* mammals. They reproduce by budding (or possibly by laying large quantities of leathery eggs) and given enough food, a new gnoll grows to maturity in days. Letting just one gnoll escape can yield a new gnoll menace in a very short time.F) When a gnoll kills you and eats your heart, it might gain some small fraction of your powers and knowledge. It also grows an inch or two. G) Gnolls are infesting and overrunning the Feywild, poisoning and befouling everything. Streams of refugees are flooding out of the Feywild, and the damage to the Feywild is also having ecological effects on the "real" world.H) Gnolls are infesting and overrunning the Shadowfell, poisoning and befouling everything. The damage to the Shadowfell is preventing new dead from finding rest, leading to zombies, ghouls, and worse. Also, gnoll champions are emerging from the shadowfell with kewl Shadowy type powers. I) Gnolls are bio-mechanical masters. They are experts at performing limb grafts, creating war machines out of body parts, etc. Manticores and other "head of X, body of Y, tail of Z" type monsters were created long ago by powerful gnoll mystics.</blockquote>

Verification