Gnoll have a lot going for them lore wise and I always planned to use them in a campaign at some point. In the meanwhile I would like to know what is your most memorable encounter with them, and any advice or suggestions to flavor them up would much appreciated. Once again thank you for stopping by.
I suggest looking at the gnolls section in Volo's Guide to Monsters. There are a ton of options to flavor gnolls there. I particularly like the chant. As for memorable encounters, My players are about to have one. Facing off against a gnoll high priest attempting to become an exarch of the demon lord Yeenoghu. I intend to work the chant into the encounter.
I had a hamlet fall to a gnoll attack, and by making use of a variety of monsters and whatnot, it led to a number of good surprises. For example, as players walked up into the hamlet they came upon one or two Gnolls and a cluster of six or seven hyenas feeding on a corpse outside a small house. The door was open and there was a blood trail from the door to the corpse. The hyenas ignored the players and continued gorging themselves, and the gnolls engaged the PCs.
Unfortunately for the players, the corpse was created by a Gnoll Fang and so what was (in their eyes) a little scrimmage became a decent fight after one turn. You see, at that point I described a gate to the abyss opening and as the malevolent energy poured forth the hyenas erupted into gnolls. The simple skirmish against two famished gnolls became a pretty decent fight for them against 8 or 9 gnolls.
In that hamlet, the players also stumbled upon an Inn that had been ransacked. The innkeeper was calling for help from inside, screaming and moaning and calling out, "Help me! Oh no! Help me, please!" Additionally, there was a foul stench pouring out of the Inn. When the players entered the Inn, the innkeeper was slouched against the ruins of the bar and a few nearby tables and there was carrion everywhere. As the PCs approached to help and got within five feet a Leucrotta erupted from the rubble and the players were generally surprised.
I love using Gnolls especially the additional versions included in Volo’s. The Gnoll hunters can be especially brutal with their dual longbow attacks. As suggested in Volo’s I play up their savagery and keep them moving between attacks. While more disciplined races would be happy to stay at range and fire off a few volleys and let their melee fighters do the close range fighting, I see the Gnolls bloodlust as driving the gnoll hunters to continue advancing between shots until they eventually loose control as the bloodlust takes over, driving them into melee combat. I will often swap out the spear for a slashing weapon or club as the spear seems unweildly for a hit and run creature.
I also have all Gnolls ignore personal preservation and they will often more on to the next target rather than standing and finishing their current target, they ignore the fact that this will give their opponent a free opportunity attack. They are driven to continued relentless movement and will usually prefer to leave a lone target to join an ally and gang up on a single enemy. They are cowards and bullies and prefer a weak target to an heavily armoured fighter and will eagerly dash past the frontline to get to the softer targets behind. I only ever use them in groups of about a 8 or more with a few scouts running ahead. If you encounter a few lone gnoll scouts you better finish them off fast or retreat to a defensible position because you can guarantee that their pack is not far behind. Gnolls are lots of fun to use.
One concessions I do make is that I will only ever make one extra bite attack on a unconscious character (and certainly not every time) before the gnoll moves on to the next target. I will usually have a couple of Gnolls drag off the unconscious character at 1/4 speed to avoid an outright kill and give the party a chance to risk a rescue or a quick healing spell. By lore the Gnolls should probably rip apart a fallen character but they are already pretty deadly.
Also the Gnolls are quick to flee if the battle is not going their way (cowards) and will use the dash action rather than disengage again ignoring the possibility of the opportunity attack.
The Rothide Clan had been exposed to Masha Strauss's Blight, mutating them into half undead creatures. Not only do the now carry the Blight. (Con save vs 1d4 necrotic damage/being infected with the Blight.) But they now have horrifying mutations, which can be determined by a D8
Rothide Features
1d8
1: Skull is visible through large rotted away hole in face.
2: Fur is stained green with rot and has attracted flies.
3: Blight dripping from it’s maw and other oraphaces.
4:Large Disgusting pustule like growths, glowing green with the Blight.
5: Gnoll is completely hairless, it’s skin turned black as well as it’s eyes and mouth emit a green glow.
6: Gnoll’s fur is patchy and falling out. Gnoll frequently scratches itself. The scratch marks bleed a dark green.
7: Gnoll has bite marks taken out of itself in various places, i.e forearms, hands, fingers.
Gnoll have a lot going for them lore wise and I always planned to use them in a campaign at some point. In the meanwhile I would like to know what is your most memorable encounter with them, and any advice or suggestions to flavor them up would much appreciated. Once again thank you for stopping by.
I suggest looking at the gnolls section in Volo's Guide to Monsters. There are a ton of options to flavor gnolls there. I particularly like the chant. As for memorable encounters, My players are about to have one. Facing off against a gnoll high priest attempting to become an exarch of the demon lord Yeenoghu. I intend to work the chant into the encounter.
I had a hamlet fall to a gnoll attack, and by making use of a variety of monsters and whatnot, it led to a number of good surprises. For example, as players walked up into the hamlet they came upon one or two Gnolls and a cluster of six or seven hyenas feeding on a corpse outside a small house. The door was open and there was a blood trail from the door to the corpse. The hyenas ignored the players and continued gorging themselves, and the gnolls engaged the PCs.
Unfortunately for the players, the corpse was created by a Gnoll Fang and so what was (in their eyes) a little scrimmage became a decent fight after one turn. You see, at that point I described a gate to the abyss opening and as the malevolent energy poured forth the hyenas erupted into gnolls. The simple skirmish against two famished gnolls became a pretty decent fight for them against 8 or 9 gnolls.
In that hamlet, the players also stumbled upon an Inn that had been ransacked. The innkeeper was calling for help from inside, screaming and moaning and calling out, "Help me! Oh no! Help me, please!" Additionally, there was a foul stench pouring out of the Inn. When the players entered the Inn, the innkeeper was slouched against the ruins of the bar and a few nearby tables and there was carrion everywhere. As the PCs approached to help and got within five feet a Leucrotta erupted from the rubble and the players were generally surprised.
I love using Gnolls especially the additional versions included in Volo’s. The Gnoll hunters can be especially brutal with their dual longbow attacks. As suggested in Volo’s I play up their savagery and keep them moving between attacks. While more disciplined races would be happy to stay at range and fire off a few volleys and let their melee fighters do the close range fighting, I see the Gnolls bloodlust as driving the gnoll hunters to continue advancing between shots until they eventually loose control as the bloodlust takes over, driving them into melee combat. I will often swap out the spear for a slashing weapon or club as the spear seems unweildly for a hit and run creature.
I also have all Gnolls ignore personal preservation and they will often more on to the next target rather than standing and finishing their current target, they ignore the fact that this will give their opponent a free opportunity attack. They are driven to continued relentless movement and will usually prefer to leave a lone target to join an ally and gang up on a single enemy. They are cowards and bullies and prefer a weak target to an heavily armoured fighter and will eagerly dash past the frontline to get to the softer targets behind. I only ever use them in groups of about a 8 or more with a few scouts running ahead. If you encounter a few lone gnoll scouts you better finish them off fast or retreat to a defensible position because you can guarantee that their pack is not far behind. Gnolls are lots of fun to use.
One concessions I do make is that I will only ever make one extra bite attack on a unconscious character (and certainly not every time) before the gnoll moves on to the next target. I will usually have a couple of Gnolls drag off the unconscious character at 1/4 speed to avoid an outright kill and give the party a chance to risk a rescue or a quick healing spell. By lore the Gnolls should probably rip apart a fallen character but they are already pretty deadly.
Also the Gnolls are quick to flee if the battle is not going their way (cowards) and will use the dash action rather than disengage again ignoring the possibility of the opportunity attack.
The Rothide Clan had been exposed to Masha Strauss's Blight, mutating them into half undead creatures. Not only do the now carry the Blight. (Con save vs 1d4 necrotic damage/being infected with the Blight.) But they now have horrifying mutations, which can be determined by a D8
Rothide Features
1d8
1: Skull is visible through large rotted away hole in face.
2: Fur is stained green with rot and has attracted flies.
3: Blight dripping from it’s maw and other oraphaces.
4:Large Disgusting pustule like growths, glowing green with the Blight.
5: Gnoll is completely hairless, it’s skin turned black as well as it’s eyes and mouth emit a green glow.
6: Gnoll’s fur is patchy and falling out. Gnoll frequently scratches itself. The scratch marks bleed a dark green.
7: Gnoll has bite marks taken out of itself in various places, i.e forearms, hands, fingers.
8: Roll twice.
Now you're ready to kick some butt in a mine shaft full of gnolls.
"Not all those who wander are lost"