Gnolls

It's hard out there for a pimp.

Yet it's easier for a pirate.

Gnolls are a problematic race. Originally created as a tougher monster to kill than orcs, their fluff included the phrase "hyena-like." They are essentially hyena-people. You know the Wolfman? Sort of like that, but all the time.

Then some enterprising individual looked up Hyenas. Specifically, the Spotted Hyena, the biggest, most memorable of the species and the one whose pelt most closely resembles the gnoll's fur colors. Madness ensued. The lack of sexual dimorphism, the female pseduo-penis and anal glands led to a furry-based explosion of gnoll perversion that has yet to abate.

Yet gnolls were not cast to the curb. They remain a challenge for low to mid-level players for GMs who dance around the inherent strangeness of a "hyena-like" race.

Their two main traits in any given setting or edition is that they are evil and lazy. This laziness gives them a fondness for taking slaves, and as any GM knows, you can't beat slavers for properly repulsive villains to make your PCs feel heroic. Unfortunately, when the furries found out about the slavery, their twisted minds immediately jumped to "sex slavery". Please, don't go down that route.

If you do, however, remember that female spotted hyenas have a pseudo-penis which can be utilized. If you're not a /d/M the Hyena link implies that gnoll society, much like the real world Spotted Hyena, is matriarchal in nature anyway. There's a reason we consider them problematic.

Weirdly, their in-game lore actually makes them out as a stereotypical patriarchal brutish species, with men being the ones who run things, but since gnoll lore is usually pretty underwhelming - look at the difference in the AD&D MM manuals for the Gnoll, Orc and Sahuagin; the Orc and Sahuagin entries are at least twice as long - it's kind of understandable why many DMs abandon it.

In D&D of various editions, Gnolls are typically worshippers of Yeenoghu, a Demon Prince known as the Beast of Butchery, who fights a constant, futile battle against the far stronger Baphomet and Orcus. The exception is Eberron, where they are more a neutral species that people don't necessarily like, but who have pulled them out of the mindless rampaging of their past.

In Pathfinder, the Gnolls worship and claim to be children of Lamashtu, a twisted-as-fuck goddess of mutations, madness and miscarriages.

Famously, they originally appeared in Basic D&D as a hybrid of Gnome and Troll (hence the name "gnoll") before being turned into the hyena-folk we know and love today.

Gnolls have a stronger, usually smaller, smarter and more badass cousin called the Flind, which is mostly remembered for being a cannibal ("flind" apparently means "eater of gnolls" in the gnoll tongue) and for wielding solid-iron nunchuks called "flindbars", which gave them the aggravatingly cheap ability to force your PCs to save vs. wands in AD&D to avoid having their weapons yanked out of their hands.

Gnolls have had playable stats in AD&D (via the Complete Book of Humanoids), D&D 3e (via the Monster Manual) and 4e (via Dragon Magazine #367). Flinds had playable stats in only AD&D (CBoH) and D&D3.5 (MM3).

See also, their Wikipedia page

Dungeons & Dragons Racial Stats

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Gnoll

Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity

Ability Score Minimums and Maximums:

• Strength: 6-18
• Dexterity: 5-18
• Constitution: 5-18
• Intelligence: 3-14
• Wisdom: 3-16
• Charisma: 3-14

Hit Point Modifier: +2 HP at first level

Natural Armor Class: 10

Special Disadvantage: Gnolls take damage as Large creatures

Monstrous Traits: Appearance, Bestial Habits

Weapon Proficiencies: Battle-Axe, Long Composite Bow, Morningstar, Two-handed Sword, Any Polearm

Non Weapon Proficiencies: Animal Training (Hyenodon), Close-Quarter Fighting, Hiding, Hunting, Observation, Tracking, Wild Fighting

Flind

Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Charisma

Ability Score Minimums and Maximums:

• Strength: 8-18
• Dexterity: 6-18
• Constitution: 6-18
• Intelligence: 3-16
• Wisdom: 3-16
• Charisma: 3-16

Natural Armor Class: 10

Special Advantage: When wielding a Flindbar, enemies hit must make a Save vs. Wands; failure means their weapon is entangled and yanked out of their grip.

Monstrous Traits: Appearance, Bestial Habits

Weapon Proficiencies: Club, Flindbar, Glaive, Long Bow, Long Sword

Non Weapon Proficiencies: Animal Lore, Close-Quarter Fighting, Danger Sense, Direction Sense, Endurance, Fortune Telling, Local History, Looting, Hunting, Intimidation, Reading/Writing, Religion, Spellcraft, Weaponsmithing

Dungeons & Dragons 3.x

Gnoll

• Ability Score Modifiers: Strength +4, Constitution +2, Intelligence -2, Charisma -2
• Size: Medium
• Base Land Speed: 30 feet
• Racial Hit Dice: two levels of humanoid, which gives 2D8 HD, BAB +1, Fort +3, Ref +0 and Will +0.
• Racial Skills: 5*(2+Int modifier), class skills are Listen and Spot.
• Racial Feats: 1 feat of choice.
• Favored Class: Ranger
• Level Adjustment: +1 level.
• Other:
  • +1 Natural Armor Bonus
  • Darkvision 60 feet

Flind

• Ability Score Modifiers: +6 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution
• Size: Medium
• Base Land Speed: 30 feet
• Racial Hit Dice: two levels of humanoid, which gives 2D8 HD, BAB +1, Fort +3, Ref +0 and Will +0.
• Racial Skills: 5*(2+Int modifier), class skills are Listen and Spot.
• Racial Feats: 1 feat of choice.
• Favored Class: Ranger
• Level Adjustment: +2 levels.
• Other:
  • +2 Natural Armor Bonus
  • Darkvision 60 feet
  • Weapon Familiarity (Flindbar) - Flindbars are Martial weapons for Flinds, rather than Exotic.
  • Flinds receive a +2 racial bonus to Charisma checks made to influence Gnolls.

Dungeons & Dragons 4e

• Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity
• Size: Medium
• Speed: 7 squares
• Vision: Low-light
• Languages: Abyssal, Common
• Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Perception
• Blood Fury: While you’re bloodied, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls. This increases to a +4 bonus at 21st level.
• Pack Attack: You deal an extra 2 damage on melee attacks against an enemy that has two or more of your allies adjacent to it.
• Ferocious Charge: You can use ferocious charge as an encounter power.

Ferocious Charge Gnoll Racial Power You lunge toward the enemy and, with a tirade of curses, unleash the wrath of Yeenoghu upon your hapless foe. Encounter Standard Action Personal Effect: You charge, and deal an extra 2 damage on a successful attack. Increase the extra damage to 4 at 11th level and 6 at 21st level. If you are bloodied, double the extra damage and gain an equal number of temporary hit points.

Heroic Tier Feats Any feat in the following section is available to a character of any level who meets the prerequisites.

Butcher’s Lure

• Prerequisite: Gnoll
• Benefit: You can use ghost sound as an at-will ability and gain a +2 feat bonus to Bluff checks when using ghost sound to mimic specific people or sounds.

Carrion Eater

• Prerequisite: Gnoll
• Benefit: You receive a +4 feat bonus to saving throws against poison and Endurance checks made to resist disease.

Claw Fighter

• Prerequisite: Gnoll
• Benefit: You possess vicious claws, which you can use as weapons with a +3 proficiency bonus and 1d6 damage. For purpose of powers and feats, you can treat your claws as light blades, and you are considered to have a weapon in each hand. You cannot enchant your claws.

Gnoll Tracker

• Prerequisite: Gnoll
• Benefit: You gain a +5 feat bonus to Perception checks made to track and to Insight checks made to penetrate an illusion or disguise. You can use this bonus during a skill challenge if you can convince the DM that scent is relevant to the check.

Paragon Feats Any feat in the following section is available to a character of 11th level or higher who meets the prerequisites.

Fierce Charge

• Prerequisites: 11th level, gnoll, ferocious charge racial power
• Benefit: When you use your ferocious charge power, you can choose to make an at-will melee attack instead of a melee basic attack.

Swift Bite

• Prerequisite: 11th level, gnoll
• Benefit: When you bloody a foe, you can choose to deal an extra 1d6 + Strength modifier damage with a bite against the target.

Epic Feats The feat in the following section is available to a character of 21st level or higher who meets the prerequisites.

Brutal Charge

• Prerequisites: 21st level, gnoll, ferocious charge racial power, Fierce Charge
• Benefit: When you use your ferocious charge power, you can choose to make an encounter melee attack power instead of a melee basic attack.

Unified Setting Description

• Unified Setting/Gnolls