Straight from Wizards, written by Keith Baker himself. Very very interesting! They even canonize the ideas of gnolls that turn away from Yeenoghu in the document! Furthermore, they go so far as to talk about a possible background for a PC gnoll as being a fugitive because he/she showed compassion or mercy to a foe. Very interesting! My new bible!
Straight from Wizards, written by Keith Baker himself. Very very interesting! They even canonize the ideas of gnolls that turn away from Yeenoghu in the document! Furthermore, they go so far as to talk about a possible background for a PC gnoll as being a fugitive because he/she showed compassion or mercy to a foe. Very interesting! My new bible!
Yes, that PDF is from 4e, when Gnolls were a playable race.
I agree that in 5E this would be a little too powerful. Definitely needs some rebalancing. Maybe an intelligence Ability Score penalty to manage the two +2 bonuses to constitution and dexterity.
You say you are against homebrewing but if you use any version of the gnoll as a player race even if it is an older version, that is still homebrewing. And on top of using a 4th ed gnoll changing the stats for it makes it even more of a homebrew.
It shouldn't be too hard to modify the 4e gnoll race to 5e. For me, I could care less if a concept is either overpowered or underpowered, only that it fits my idea of it and would be fun to roleplay.
For example, I'd make the ability scores +2 CON, +1 DEX. Languages are fine. Speed 30. Darkvision. No skill bonuses.
Blood Fury, Pack Attack and Ferocious Charge can be combined into a single Once per Short Rest ability, gained at level 3. Add (necrotic?) damage equal to your CON modifier to the damage of a single melee weapon attack. Target of attack must have at least one enemy (its enemy, your ally) within five feet of it. If you're at half health or less, add temporary hit points equal to your CON modifier. Short Rest because of the 4e Encounter Power, but could be a Long Rest ability instead.
Optionally, I'd add in proficiency with Constitution saving throws and a copy of the Tabaxi claws.
I don't know how that would match up to what somebody who homebrews more often would come up with, or if it's balanced among the official races. But if fits my idea of the gnolls pretty well. This also does assume that you want to remake the 4e PC race into a 5e PC race. If you wanted to recreate the 5e Monster race into a 5e PC race, I would instead:
Swap the ability modifiers: +2 DEX, +1 CON. Add gnoll to the languages. Replace Tabaxi claws with a 1d4 version of the Lizardfolk's Bite attack (Hungry Jaws optional). Replace Once per Short Rest ability with Rampage as a Once per Long Rest ability. If the gnoll reduces a creature to 0 HP after a melee attack on its turn, it can use a bonus action to move half its speed and make a Bite attack. Hungry Jaws still optional.
Here is the exact text block from the 4e monster manual showing the Gnoll's racial traits.
Note since you haven't played 4th edition: in 4e speed was measured in 5ftx5ft squares. Also an "Encounter Power" was a feature that could be used once per encounter.
I think I remember reading somewhere, I think in MToF, that gnolls were originally spawned from when Yeenoghu first walked the material plane, and they as a people follow in his footsteps.
I'm paraphrasing, so I could be wrong. If you want non-evil/playable gnolls, you might need to look to homebrew
1. There's always exceptions.
2. Different game worlds will have different origins for creatures. Minotaurs are 'spawn of Baphomet' or whatever, but in the Ravnica book, there they are, playable as anything else.
IMHO, the best way to make a playable Gnoll race that is at least somewhat balanced would Beto take the Orc, Bugbear and Minotaur monster statblock, compare it to the playable race version, build a "template" from them and then apply it to the Gnoll statblock.
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I just found this! https://www.wizards.com/files/367_playing_gnolls.pdf
Straight from Wizards, written by Keith Baker himself. Very very interesting! They even canonize the ideas of gnolls that turn away from Yeenoghu in the document! Furthermore, they go so far as to talk about a possible background for a PC gnoll as being a fugitive because he/she showed compassion or mercy to a foe. Very interesting! My new bible!
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ModeratorYes, that PDF is from 4e, when Gnolls were a playable race.
Huh, that also seems kind of OP, also there are two abilities to increase at level 21.
Edit: Ah, I didn't realize it was 4e, that makes more sense.
I agree that in 5E this would be a little too powerful. Definitely needs some rebalancing. Maybe an intelligence Ability Score penalty to manage the two +2 bonuses to constitution and dexterity.
You say you are against homebrewing but if you use any version of the gnoll as a player race even if it is an older version, that is still homebrewing. And on top of using a 4th ed gnoll changing the stats for it makes it even more of a homebrew.
Yeah, dude, I know lol.
But at the encouragement of everyone here who tells me to dabble with homebrewing, I think this is a pretty good compromise.
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ModeratorIt shouldn't be too hard to modify the 4e gnoll race to 5e. For me, I could care less if a concept is either overpowered or underpowered, only that it fits my idea of it and would be fun to roleplay.
For example, I'd make the ability scores +2 CON, +1 DEX. Languages are fine. Speed 30. Darkvision. No skill bonuses.
Blood Fury, Pack Attack and Ferocious Charge can be combined into a single Once per Short Rest ability, gained at level 3. Add (necrotic?) damage equal to your CON modifier to the damage of a single melee weapon attack. Target of attack must have at least one enemy (its enemy, your ally) within five feet of it. If you're at half health or less, add temporary hit points equal to your CON modifier. Short Rest because of the 4e Encounter Power, but could be a Long Rest ability instead.
Optionally, I'd add in proficiency with Constitution saving throws and a copy of the Tabaxi claws.
I don't know how that would match up to what somebody who homebrews more often would come up with, or if it's balanced among the official races. But if fits my idea of the gnolls pretty well. This also does assume that you want to remake the 4e PC race into a 5e PC race. If you wanted to recreate the 5e Monster race into a 5e PC race, I would instead:
Swap the ability modifiers: +2 DEX, +1 CON. Add gnoll to the languages. Replace Tabaxi claws with a 1d4 version of the Lizardfolk's Bite attack (Hungry Jaws optional). Replace Once per Short Rest ability with Rampage as a Once per Long Rest ability. If the gnoll reduces a creature to 0 HP after a melee attack on its turn, it can use a bonus action to move half its speed and make a Bite attack. Hungry Jaws still optional.
Great suggestions! Thank you!
It's at the end of Monster Manual 1 for 4E. There's a lot of races in there. Man 4E had a LOT of options for races and classes.
Published Subclasses
Here is the exact text block from the 4e monster manual showing the Gnoll's racial traits.
Note since you haven't played 4th edition: in 4e speed was measured in 5ftx5ft squares. Also an "Encounter Power" was a feature that could be used once per encounter.
Published Subclasses
1. There's always exceptions.
2. Different game worlds will have different origins for creatures. Minotaurs are 'spawn of Baphomet' or whatever, but in the Ravnica book, there they are, playable as anything else.
IMHO, the best way to make a playable Gnoll race that is at least somewhat balanced would Beto take the Orc, Bugbear and Minotaur monster statblock, compare it to the playable race version, build a "template" from them and then apply it to the Gnoll statblock.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games