[3.5/PF/3rd Party] Gnolls?

[Novawurmson]

I actually like gnolls quite a bit, but they're mechanically pretty bland. Yay humanoid racial hit dice!

Is there anything out there for gnolls? I found this (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/dragon/367/367_Playing_Gnolls.pdf) pdf; it's 4th Edition, but it's something to work off of. Some kind of cool bonus when charging and some kind of bonus when low on HP seem to be in order. This homebrew (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249871) from the forums seems decent.

[Gwendol]

Have them use the flindbar without EWP. Barbarian seems to be a well-suited class, possibly paired up with ranger. Also, you could use the Zhent fighter sub-levels to give them some free intimidation abilities, to show off their demonic affinity.

[Firest Kathon]

Not very cool, but there is also a PF version of Gnolls (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races) in the Advanced Races Guide. +2 Str/Con, +2 Natural Armor, 60 ft. Darkvision, nothing else.

[JellyPooga]

Races of the Wild has some Feats that are Gnoll only, but they're nothing to shout about. One gives you a Bite attack when raging, or somesuch, IIRC (I'm away from books at the mo).

[Novawurmson]

Not very cool, but there is also a PF version of Gnolls (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races) in the Advanced Races Guide. +2 Str/Con, +2 Natural Armor, 60 ft. Darkvision, nothing else.

-Man..they're even 6RP. That's like "We didn't even try territory," Paizo.


H. Also, you could use the Zhent fighter sub-levels to give them some free intimidation abilities, to show off their demonic affinity.

-Zhent fighter sounds like a good idea.


Races of the Wild has some Feats that are Gnoll only, but they're nothing to shout about. One gives you a Bite attack when raging, or somesuch, IIRC (I'm away from books at the mo).

-Checked it out. Gnoll Ferocity, works just like you said. It's the only Gnoll feat in the book and it says that a DM can approve it for any animal-headed race. Seriously? The ONLY race-specific feat for the race, and any animal-headed race can take it? :: sigh :: Since it's a PF setting, any barbarian can pick up something similar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/animal-fury-ex) as a rage power.

Guess it's time to homebrew something. Thanks again, all.

Edit: Paizo didn't even do their Natural Armor right - it should be 3 RP for 2 Natural Armor.

Edit 2: Here's my take on Gnolls:

Humanoid (Gnoll) - (0 RP)
Darkvision 60 ft.- (2 RP)
Flexible +2 Str, +2 Con - (2 RP)
Medium (0 RP)
Speed: 30 ft. (0 RP)
Xenophobic (0 RP)
Natural Armor+Improved Natural Armor (3 RP)

Plagueborn (1 RP): Members of this race gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease, ingested poisons, and becoming nauseated or sickened.

Swarming (2 RP): Members of this race are used to living and fighting communally with other members of their race. Up to two members of this race can share the same square at the same time. If two members of this race that are occupying the same square attack the same foe, they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in two opposite squares.

Alternate Racial Features:

Some gnolls are adept at using their barking, laughing cry while stalking their prey from darkness to confuse and disorient their foes. These gnolls gain the Shadow Magic racial trait and can use hideous laughter once per day as a spell-like ability. The ability is equivalent to a first-level spell, and the DC is Charisma-based. This replaces the Plagueborn and Swarming racial traits.

Shadow Magic (2 RP): Members of this race add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against spells of the shadow subschool that they cast. Members of this race with a Charisma score of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities (the caster level is equal to the user's character level):

1/day—ghost sound, pass without trace, ventriloquism

[Seharvepernfan]

Here are my homebrewed gnolls, in case you're interested. gnolls
+2 str, -2 int, -2 cha
+5ft. reach in one direction per round (not on AoOs)
35ft. speed
secondary bite attack (1d6)
low light vision
treat greatbows as martial
+2 spot, listen, survival

They are tall and long-limbed, and favor skirmish tactics.

[Sparkzlight]

Just give them NPC/PC classes.

Level 3 Gnoll Adept 3/Barbarian 1 nearly wiped out my 4th level party.

[Novawurmson]

Just give them NPC/PC classes.

Level 3 Gnoll Adept 3/Barbarian 1 nearly wiped out my 4th level party.

Interesting. How did the battle go down?

[Sparkzlight]

Interesting. How did the battle go down?

It was the boss and 3 dire rats.

The Adept/Barbarian had: STR 18, DEX 15, INT 11, CON 16, WIS 12, CHA 6.

The PCs won. The boss was able to knock out the fighter and killed the sorcerer with a critical cleave though. The Adept/Barbarian had a very nice enchanted masterwork great axe. He did pretty well keeping himself alive with a few scrolls and cure light wounds, but at the end the cleric doused him in oil and lit him on fire. Yep. The rogue was murdered by the dire rats. :P

[Novawurmson]

It was the boss and 3 dire rats.

The Adept/Barbarian had: STR 18, DEX 15, INT 11, CON 16, WIS 12, CHA 6.

The PCs won. The boss was able to knock out the fighter and killed the sorcerer with a critical cleave though. The Adept/Barbarian had a very nice enchanted masterwork great axe. He did pretty well keeping himself alive with a few scrolls and cure light wounds, but at the end the cleric doused him in oil and lit him on fire. Yep. The rogue was murdered by the dire rats. :P

Lol. I joined a campaign a while back that had gone through two almost TPK almost back to back. First, they picked a fight with a barbarian in an inn who killed all but one of them. Then, they found a dungeon with swarms of dire rats that killed all but two of them (including the survivor from the first fight).

Apparently, dire rats and barbarians are pretty deadly for low level encounters XD

[sonofzeal]

I built a lvl 10 Gnoll PC once that worked pretty well. Ranger for free TWF/ITWF without requiring huge dex (invest in Str instead), dual-weilding Flindbars, Improved Critical since Flindbars get an automatic disarm check on crits, and a few feats to get that Disarm check huge. One level dip in Barbarian for Rage and Fast Movement, and the result was pretty sweet I think, at least in a humanoid-heavy campaign. And even outside, he had a fairly decent damage output on full-attacks, and some good utility from Ranger.

[Allanimal]

If you want something gnoll-like, there is the Marrash from MM2.
It is a flying "gnoll" that shoots diseased arrows.

[RFLS]

They can be pretty nasty. They shoot Presidents, and I hear sometimes gazebos nest on top of them.

[137beth]

They can be pretty nasty. They shoot Presidents, and I hear sometimes gazebos nest on top of them.

:smallbiggrin:


Now I want to play a "grassy" subrace of gnolls...

[Novawurmson]

Now I want to play a "grassy" subrace of gnolls...

Oh my god, there's going to be a ton of plant-monsters that implant seeds in humanoids and such. Thank you for this incredible pun.