Gnoll: Feral Fiends

Feral Fiends

All gnolls share certain traits. There is a strong, instinctive bond between gnolls of the same bloodline. Gnoll clans can and do fight one another, and they see struggles for dominance within a clan, but pack mentality is a powerful force within gnoll life. This is ref lected in battle: Gnolls are pack hunters who work together to bring down their prey, ganging up on an enemy instead of striving for individual glory. Beyond this, gnolls are shaped by two forces: the primal nature of the hyena, and the pure malevolence of the demon.

The Butcher's Blood

The gnoll followers of Yeenoghu embrace the fury of the fiend, which results in their legendary brutality. Aggression is a tangible force within the soul of the gnoll. A demonic desire to shed blood and spread chaos drives gnolls toward the chaotic evil alignment.

Such gnolls do not claim lands of their own; instead they live in nomadic bands accompanied by hyenas and slaves, wandering the frontiers and fringes of civilized nations in search of prey. They attack any traveler or settlement they believe they can defeat, and the only people who survive such an attack are those taken as prey. This is no mercy. Gnoll prisoners are tortured physically and psychologically; every clan has slavers (known as tantekurash, or “spirit breakers”) who specialize in this work. These gnolls possess the insight to ferret out weaknesses and to spot when a victim has truly given in or when a spark of hope remains. Those who cannot be broken are soon devoured by their carnivorous captors, typically in front of other prisoners as a further act of torment. Those who surrender become slaves and are forced to maintain the camps of the nomadic gnolls between raids. Those who excel at this work might be kept alive; otherwise, they eventually are consumed by their vicious masters.

Although the experience is a horrific one that can leave scars on those who survive it, it is still possible to rescue someone from such slavery. It might take weeks or months for a victim to recover, but eventually they shake off the horror. But an unfortunate few fall into a deeper abyss. Broken by the horrors they have witnessed, they respond by embracing what they have seen and devoting the remnants of their lives to Yeenoghu. Known as kryshtantel (“savage souls” in the Abyssal tongue favored by these gnolls), these slaves accompany the gnolls into battle. Most of the savage souls are little better than beasts; the gnolls treat them much the same as the trained hyenas they hunt with.

A rare few embrace the creed of the Beast of Butchery with their intelligence intact, effectively becoming gnolls in human form. These savage souls are the most dangerous of all; they travel ahead of the clan in search of victims, evaluate the defenses of villages, and perform acts of sabotage before their gnoll “kin” strike. For the gnolls of Yeenoghu, cruelty and bloodshed are a source of joy and a reason for living. They have no interest in conquest. They don’t seek honor or glory. They revel in the hunt and kill. Gnolls take great pleasure in life, and a gnoll victory feast is a wild frenzy of celebration.

The pack instinct of the gnoll remains strong among the Butcher’s Brood, and they rarely turn on their own. However, this loyalty doesn’t extend to other clans. Gnolls might form temporary alliances to take down a powerful target or if the scourges say it is the will of Yeenoghu. Clans of equal strength could agree to take separate paths, ensuring they won’t compete for the same prey. But should a clan come upon a wounded or weaker clan, odds are good that they treat it like any other potential prey; the lessons of the Ruler of Ruin are hard and bloody.

Yeenoghu’s children enjoy large-scale acts of destruction and the clan as a whole massacres villages and settlements. However, gnolls enjoy the hunt as well as the slaughter, and occasionally a smaller pack splits off from the main clan in search of diversion. Although such a group might attack a party of adventurers outright, they might also use mimicry or other tricks to split up a party, drawing out the conflict. Gnolls occasionally choose to let prisoners escape so that they can hunt them down again; such a refugee could stumble across the path of a group of adventurers, with the gnolls in near pursuit. If the adventurers are clearly too powerful for the gnolls to defeat, they do not engage in a frontal assault, but they might make a sport of trying to kill the former prisoner by refusing to engage the adventurers directly and sniping at the innocent.

Omens from Beyond

Of all the demon lords, Yeenoghu is perhaps the most active on the Material Plane. He shows support to his followers by sending them omens in the form of visions, dreams, and signs. As such, gnolls instinctively look for such omens to guide their activities, and they find them in many places.

Among the signs that gnolls rely on are the blood trails and spatters left behind after making a meal of an intelligent humanoid. They attach significance to a number of other phenomena as well, including the sight of arrows in flight, the rush of the wind, and sounds of howling or cackling laughter that have no discernible source.

The Soul of the Hyena

Gnolls agree that Yeenoghu crafted their race from demon and beast. But not all gnolls worship the Beast of Butchery. Though the fury of the fiend runs through the blood of the gnoll, some reject this demonic heritage and find solace in the spirit of the hyena that lies within them. Over the course of generations, this has produced clans of gnolls that are less savage than the Butcher’s Brood.

Typically unaligned as opposed to chaotic evil, these gnolls still live as nomadic hunters on the fringes of society. However, they are more likely to hunt wild beasts than civilized creatures, and they take no joy in torture or unnecessary cruelty. These gnolls still love the thrill of the hunt, especially when tracking together with others of their pack; it is this that keeps them tied to the wild life, instead of settling down to form static communities. But they do not attack peaceful villages without serious provocation. They love to hunt and track—not to slaughter. Such gnolls usually come to terms with the humans or other settlers who share their lands, and they might sell their services as trappers or hunters.

Although they trade with members of other species, gnolls prefer the company of their own kind, along with their hyena companions. They do not take slaves, and while they do not kill peaceful humans who come to their camps, neither do they make them feel welcome. These gnolls are still predators and carnivores; while they are not quick to anger, a visitor to a gnoll camp would be wise to mind his manners.

Curious Creatures

Whether they draw on their primal heritage or fiendish blood, all gnolls share many unusual traits. Many of these relate to their similarity to the hyena; others are unique to the gnolls.

Bone Eaters: Gnolls are carnivores. Like the hyenas they resemble, gnolls possess strong jaws and powerful digestive juices, which allows them to consume and digest almost every part of their prey, including teeth and bones. When the Butcher’s Brood strikes a village, it’s not just a case of leaving no survivors—they don’t even leave corpses. Gnolls have no aversion to eating carrion, and stories speak of wandering gnolls digging up graveyards and consuming the corpses; such tales posit a connection between Yeenoghu and Doresain, the demon prince of ghouls.

Gender Issues: The physical build of a female gnoll is almost identical to that of its male counterpart, and in many clans the females are larger than the males. As a rule, it is difficult for a member of another race to tell the gender of a gnoll unless it’s pregnant or actively nursing. Females and males are equally aggressive, and both males and females actively take part in hunting. Although the leader of the clan is typically the strongest gnoll (male or female), lineage is usually traced through the mother.Because of the difficulty involved in identifying the gender of a gnoll, there are folktales based around the idea that gnolls are hermaphrodites or can change their gender; however, neither of these things are true.

Friendly Intimidation: Humans typically find that even friendly gnolls seem aggressive. When performed correctly, gnolls do not consider intimidation to be a hostile act; instead, the speaker is asserting its strength and seeking to establish itsplace in the pack hierarchy. One of the simple ways that this comes across is that a gnoll almost never makes requests; when possible, it makes demands, or at the least firm statements. Instead of “Can I help you?” the gnoll says “Tell me what you want!”—pushing the target to take action.

Childish games: Gnolls aggression starts young. As soon as a gnoll pup is capable of walking, it starts fighting with other young gnolls. Pups seek out small tunnels that adults can’t fit into; in these mazes, they fight to the death. This practice weeds out weaker gnolls, but it also keeps their numbers down—one reason these vicious creations don’t pose more of a threat to the world at large.

The Voice in the Darkness: Folktales say that gnolls can mimic voices to lure enemies into danger. And there is truth to these tales. Some say this is a gift of the gnolls’ demonic blood, a weapon forged by the Ruler of Ruin—and the power is more common among the clans of Yeenoghu. However, there is nothing innately evil about the power itself.

The Language of Demons: The gnoll language is the strongest evidence supporting the theory that gnolls have fiendish blood. Gnolls have an innate knack for the Abyssal language; even if a pup is raised outside gnoll society, the words come to the gnoll from dreams and vague memories. Gnolls also have a knack for the path of the infernal pact warlock. This need not reflect service to Yeenoghu; some gnolls find that they have a gift for harnessing the infernal power that lies latent in their blood, which is a gift of distant demonic heritage.

Gnolls Tactics

Gnolls might seem to throw themselves into battle mindlessly, driven only by fury and hunger, but they do possess a rudimentary form of cunning that is borne out by several tactics they use consistently. Strength, hunger, and fear are the three concepts that every gnoll extols. Strength allows a gnoll to overwhelm, kill, and devour a foe. Hunger motivates a gnoll to go forth and slay. Fear is a weapon used against enemies to make them easy prey. In concert, all three play a role in advancing a pack’s goals.

Butcher the Weak

Gnolls seek only to kill, and as such prefer to deal with weak, easy targets. An enemy that can fight back is an enemy to save for later. Gnolls have no sense of honor, glory, or individual achievement. They care only for the raw number of creatures they can slay. In the face of a gnoll incursion, it is best for refugees to seek shelter in castles and other fortified positions. Gnolls avoid protracted battles if they can, much preferring to slaughter those that can't defend themselves.

Overwhelm the Strong

Gnolls attack intelligent prey that is capable of resisting them only when the most powerful omens from Yeenoghu compel them to do so. They cooperate to gang up on each of the individuals in a group of explorers or adventurers, or if the prey is more numerous they rush forward in waves. The creatures will crawl over their own dead to climb a castle's walls and kill all within it. A commonly held belief is that a fortress besieged by gnolls needs ten arrows for each one to keep the creatures from scaling the walls.

Spread Far and Wide

Gnolls never set up permanent camps, though they might linger for a few days at the site of a particularly great slaughter as they devour the corpses of both their victims and the gnolls killed in battle. During this time, the hyenas that follow a pack of gnolls feast until they become bloated, then burst open to spawn more gnolls. In this manner, gnolls replenish their ranks before wandering off in ragged bands to continue their rampage.

Kill from a Distance

Almost every gnoll carries a bow scavenged from a past victim. Gnolls use ranged attacks mainly to prevent their prey from fleeing, rather than softening up their targets with an initial barrage of arrows before an assault. A target wounded by a bow shot becomes easy prey for any gnolls near it. Some particularly clever gnolls have been known to use burning arrows to spark fires, cutting off their prey's escape routes and driving victims into their jaws.

Leave No Survivors

A band of gnolls lives in a state of eternal war with everything it encounters, aside from fellow worshipers of Yeenoghu. To keep from being detected between major raids, the gnolls move through the wilderness with as much stealth as they can marshal. They never leave survivors in any group they set upon, and will pursue a fleeing enemy for days to prevent it from getting to a town or a city and raising an alarm. If the area they hunt in becomes too well-defended, the gnolls relocate in search of easier prey. Large tracts along the fringe of civilization might be devastated before the wider world becomes aware of a gnoll threat.

Leaving the Pack: Gnoll PCs

Gnolls can be interesting player characters. The question the player needs to answer is why the gnoll has split from its clan, leaving the wilds to live among humans and their cities. Here are a few paths to consider.

The Fugitive: Among the Children of Yeenoghu, the greatest crime is compassion. There is no room for mercy in the Butcher’s Brood, and a gnoll who lets victims live is stealing blood and souls from the Ruler of Ruin. The fugitive is a rare gnoll who turned against a fiendish upbringing and found light in the darkness. Perhaps this happened while killing a spirit breaker to help prisoners escape or perhaps the gnoll turned of its own accord in the midst of a massacre. Whatever the crime, the fugitive is now hunted by its own clan.

The Exile: The exile might have similar roots to the fugitive—the gnoll who turned against the savage ways of its people. But it is not being hunted. This gnoll is the child of a powerful scourge, and Yeenoghu has shown her visions of the PC’s destiny. She claims that her offspring will become the greatest scourge of all, spreading blood and terror across the land—and that this time of wandering is part of this destiny. The exile has been branded with a mark that speaks of its destiny, and the gnolls of its clan do not hunt it—nor do they have anything to do with the exile until its time for it to become a monster of legend. Can the PC become a hero? Or is it the exile’s epic destiny to become the right hand of a demon prince, spreading terror across the land? This is an especially interesting path for a fiend pact warlock. Your power is drawn from your demonic heritage—by developing it, are you committing yourself to the dark path?

The gladiator: Gnolls are powerful warriors, and in lands that have yet to outlaw slavery, gnoll pups can fetch a healthy price. The gladiator was raised to fight and kill,and to use its feral instincts to earn gold for its master. Perhaps it escaped captivity; perhaps the gladiator killed its master and ran. Either way, the gladiator has lived a harsh and brutal life, and it has seen little to love in the human world. This gnoll is grim and stoic—but perhaps its PC companions can help the gladiator find hope and a reason to live besides slaughter.

The orphan: This gnoll was found as a child and raised by members of another race. As such, it hasn’t inherited the brutal ways of its ancestors; despite its frightening appearance, this gnoll can follow almost any path imaginable. At the same time, it might find strange and savage instincts lurking in its soul. One of these is the Abyssal tongue, which comes to it unbidden. This gnoll might discover that it is an effort to restrain itself in battle and that its blood calls it to slaughter. Can the orphan ignore these primal impulses, or will they drag it down? Whatever draws a gnoll away from its clan, many instincts remain. The pack is a powerful force for a gnoll, and it is difficult for a gnoll to be alone. Whether exile or orphan, a gnoll is drawn to find companions; this makes a gnoll a natural member of an adventuring party which will become its surrogate clan. Although a gnoll is likely to test and challenge other members of the party at first, seeking to establish a clear social hierarchy, once that is in place it will likely be loyal to its friends, to the point of laying down its life for its chosen pack.

Physical Qualities

Gnolls tower over humans, with the average gnoll standing over 7 feet tall. Despite their physical strength, gnolls are lean; gnolls are rarely musclebound, and they move with remarkable speed. Their eyes are bright green or yellow, and gleam whenever they catch the light. Gnolls are covered with a thick coat of fur, which generally ranges from light to dark brown; depending on the clan, this might be a uniform color, or broken up by stripes or spots. A number of gnoll bloodlines have members (both male and female) who possess crestlike manes of hair that run from the head and down the spine; these rise up when gnolls are frightened or angry.

Although these are general traits, the traces of demonic blood in gnolls can produce unusual features. An obvious example of this are the talons of the gnoll claw fighter, but this can manifest in lesser ways. A gnoll might have gleaming red eyes, or black fur with fiery orange spots; a wide range of variation is possible.

Gnolls mature with remarkable speed for intelligent humanoids; some cite this as proof of their demonic heritage and suggest that it is unnatural for a creature to be ready for battle so soon after birth. They have short life spans—in fact, they rarely live longer than thirty years, but they typically remain remarkably strong and vigorous right up to the end of their days. When their strength leaves them, it is a sudden and catastrophic decline.

Playing a Gnoll

Gnolls are primal creatures, and instinct plays a powerful role in their lives. Pack and family bonds are important to them, and while they might squabble to establish lines of dominance, between such challenges gnolls are steadfast allies. In battle, gnolls are strong team players, and they set aside any thought of personal glory to assist an ally. When separated from their own kind, gnolls seek a surrogate pack and are loyal to those they choose as friends.

Gnoll behavior seems aggressive to other creatures; a gnoll is more likely to demand an answer than ask a question. Among gnolls, this sort of intimidation isn’t considered a hostile act; it is a way of establishing strength.

Gnolls are natural predators, and they love the thrill of the chase and the challenge of the hunt. Most prefer the wilds to civilization, but some adapt and come to see the city as another sort of jungle. Gnolls are natural scavengers, and they love to collect trophies of their victories and experiences; these can range from grisly remnants to simple objects that remind them of an event.

Tales say that gnolls were born of the blending of beast and demon, and this is something that should be kept in mind with any gnoll character. The ferocity of the fiend lies within even the noblest gnoll, and this could manifest in many ways.

Gnoll Characteristics: Aggressive, carnivorous, cunning, feral, fierce, loyal, predatory, primal, swift, tough, wild

Male gnoll names: Dagnyr, Dhyrn, Doryc, Ghyrryn, Gnasc, Gnoryc, Gnyrn, Hyrn, Lhoryn, Lhyr, Mognyr, Sorgnyn, Thyrn, Toryc, Yrgnyn, Yrych

Female gnoll names: Dagnyra, Gnara, Gnora, Gnyrl, Hyra, Hyrgna, Lhyra, Lhyrl, Malgna, Myrl, Sargna, Shyrla, Tarnyra, Yrgna

Gnoll Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age. Gnolls reach adulthood as soon as they are spawned from bloated Hyenas that have feasted on blood from the slaughter and live up to 50 years, but rarely do so from their constant marauding.

Alignment. Gnolls are driven by an insatiable demonic hunger and blood-lust that instinctively drives them to slaughter and destroy which makes them both Chaotic unbound to laws and evil as they are corrupted with demonic blood and blessing. However if a Gnoll were to be cleansed of its demonic corruption and severed from its demonic lord it may become a rational sentient being capable of choosing to be good or at least neutral.

Size. Gnolls are between 7 feet tall and 7 foot six inches tall. They weigh between 280 and 320 lbs. Your size is medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Ferocious Hunters. You have proficiency in the Intimidate and Perception skills.

Resourceful Scavengers. You have proficiency with the longbow, the shortbow and the heavy crossbow.

Bite. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Rampage. When the gnoll reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on its turn, the gnoll can take a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Abyssal and Common.

Gnoll Adventurers

Three sample gnoll adventurers are described below.

Dagnyr is a gnoll ranger. His clan turned from the path of Yeenoghu and swore themselves to the goddess Melora, only to be slaughtered a generation later by their own demon-worshiping kin. As the last of his clan, Dagnyr opposed all demon cultists—both the gnolls who slaughtered his pack and humans who follow the infernal path.

Lhyra is a gnoll rogue whose strength and speed make her a force to be reckoned with. Taken as a child and raised in the arena, she had to learn to kill or be killed. When her captors finally dropped their guard, she killed them and escaped, living a feral life in the alleys of the great city. Now she has found a new pack in her fellow adventurers, and she has sworn to use her deadly talents to protect her new family.

Hyrn is a gnoll warlock raised in the Butcher’s Brood. Prophecies say that he will become a mighty servant of Yeenoghu and scourge the world, but he has a strange streak of compassion for a gnoll and fled his fate. His infernal powers have continued to grow, but he has sought to defy destiny by using these gifts for noble purposes; nonetheless, he can feel the darkness of the demon roiling within him, and he fears what he could become.

disclaimer: all fluff is written by wizards of the coast from http://www.wizards.com/files/367_Playing_Gnolls.pdf and Volo's Guide to Monsters