Homebrew The Freewalking Gnoll Species Details

Gnolls are tall lanky humanoids who appear to be upright walking hyenas by and large.  They are Covered in a green tinted brown fur that sports a plethora of black spots and a mohawk like mane of hair that that begins on the top of the head at around 4 to 5 inches wide and extending halfway down their backs.  The mane which always is a different color than their fur, can be almost any color will bristle up in response to agitation whether it be anger or fear and be up to around 5 inches long at the head and tapering to much shorter as it goes farther down its back.  While impressively strong, they appear to be thinner than their strength would indicate they should be.  Freewalkers only are visually different from their Yeenoghu enslaved brethren in their eyes which are a yellow-green rather than the red gleaming orbs of their savage cousins.

Freed from their demonic lord's influence either by some miracle or curse that made the ritual fail and reverse into a rejection of the Gnoll, they often are ostracized by their clan if they are not killed outright as some sort of heretic.  The rituals are typically performed on the juvenile and young adults who have proven to be strongest in the clan so the Freewalkers tend to be a step up from the typical Gnolls one might encounter.  Those that flee their clans with their lives may fine the rest of the world not as accepting of them either however.  They often lead short and lonely lives but some can find a niche though most commonly they find work in more nefarious occupations.  Still exceptions do exist and it is possible for a Freewalker Gnoll to achieve some semblance of a life, though they tend towards the more martial classes, it is not unheard of for them to become spell casters, though sorcerer and warlock tend to be far more common than a wizard.  Their most common and seemingly favored classes are Ranger and Barbarian as those two fit well with their more feral nature though Druidic magic is also relatively common among these rather rare creatures.

The Freewalking Gnoll Traits

Your Gnoll character has the following racial traits.

Demonic Empowered Claws and Bite

You have a great toothy maw that can deliver a devastating bite and You have claws that can be employed for fighting and for climbing.  The claws inflict 1d4+ str slashing damage or can be used to gain advantage on athletics climbing checks while your bite inflicts 1d6+str piercing damage.

You can deliver a bite as a bonus action once you are 5th level or higher due to the aggressive nature and increasing skill level.

Gnoll Frightful Presence

You are an imposing beastial being who can use that to scare others rather easily, but you have more difficulty in trying to control animals and cannot use mounts unless there is an investment money to get a tolerable creature than can stand you.  Hyenas are a notable exception to this disadvantage however as Gnolls always seem to have a natural connection to the creatures.

Advantage on Intimidation checks and use strength modifier instead of charisma.

Disadvantage on Animal Handling checks for most creatures and cannot use mounts.  The only way around this is to pay double the cost for a mount that is specially trained to be more tolerable than the typical example of their breed.

Hyenas seem to naturally want to follow Gnolls and you are at an advantage on animal handling checks with such creatures.

Acclimated to hot and colt climates

They suffer no ill effects while in very hot and very cold environments as a result of the demonic energies that created them.  This does NOT give them damage resistance, but acclimates them to the environmental cold and heat so they will be equally comfortable no matter the place they live.

Superior Sense of Smell

Advantages to survival and perception checks where Smell can be used.  Their noses are on par with canines and can let them discern scents to aid in Survival tracking and perception checks.  The GM may decide there is no advantage based on many factors such as if it is raining, strong odors in the area and/or wind direction all of which would hamper scent tracking/detection.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

Gnolls reach adulthood at age 8 and live up to 50 years.

Alignment

Regular Gnolls are chaotic Evil but Freewalkers can be of any alignment, though usually are chaotic nature is retained even if they are good.

Size

Gnolls are around 8 feet tall but typically slouch to be around 7 feet tall and are lanky beings who weigh between 230 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Feral Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, you can run on all fours increasing that speed by 20 per round to a total of 50 speed in a round.  This requires you to drop to all fours to do so and you are considered prone while running like this.  This cannot be performed with a weapon drawn nor a shield in use as you need your hands free to do so.

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.

Languages

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

Previous Versions

Name Date Modified Views Adds Version Actions
The Freewalking Gnoll
2/5/2019 10:38:37 PM
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