Gnor
"The twilight sea wherein the bearded and finny Gnorri build their singular labyrinths"
- – H.P. Lovecraft, The Silver Key
Gnorri (singular: Gnor) are a peaceful race of amphibious humanoids native to the Dreamlands of the Cthulhu Mythos. These water-dwellers are "finned and bearded", described as resembling a merman with two, three or four arms and a long, prehensile, serpentine or tentacle-like tail (suckers optional). Mentioned only in passing in the Dream-Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft, they are one of the many, many races who were basically reinvented from the ground up by Sandy Petersen and his team from Call of Cthulhu, with the largest source of such lore basically stemming from "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos".
S. Petersen Fluff[edit | edit source]
Depicted in earlier books as literally resembling bearded (or coral-bearded) mermen, gnorri were redesigned in "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos" with a smoother, more "aquatic alien" appearance. Their "beards" are in fact complex arrays of tentacle-like gills, which absorb oxygen from the water around them. Gnorri consist of three sexes, which are visually indistinguishable from each other by human eyes; males, females, and sterile "builders" who possess an innate affinity for earth elementalism - builders contribute to reproduction by constructing nurseries where males and females go to spawn; females expel masses of tiny eggs from their bodies once or twice per month, and males react to the presence of gnor eggs in the water around them by excreting sperm in a manner likened to sweating. The millions of plankton-sized larvae are consumed in wide abundance by other natural predators, but sheer density ensures a steady stream of them survive the 2-4 months it takes to grow into a creature resembling a man-sized eel; this "juvenile" gnor will spend the next three years eating voraciously before finally molting and emerging as a fully adult gnor in its own right. Because of this, gnorri have no concept of "family"; there's no way to biologically link any one gnor to any two others.
Gnor anatomy is strangely malleable, allowing them to manipulate their own musculature, nervous systems and skeletons to exude or absorb arms as they need them - a gnor only has enough "spare mass" to create up to four arms, and that's a strain.
Despite looking kind of like a multi-eyed, multi-armed anthro eel, gnorri are a peaceful and friendly race, so long as you don't screw with them.
Gnorri are divided into various subraces, distinguished by their colors. Black gnorri hail from the deepest depths of the oceans, whilst the blue gnorri are the most commonly encountered strain, as they favor the high water column and the continental shelf, building amongst the coral reefs and shallows. Mottled gnorri are found in swamps, estuaries and river mouths, red gnorri dwell in between the black and blue gnorri in terms of ocean depth, and white gnorri hail from arctic waters.
Gnor PCs for 5th Edition[edit | edit source]
Gnorri are one of the four playable races featured in "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5e".
- Ability Score Modifier: +1 Constitution
- Size: See Sprawling Tail below
- Speed: 25 feet, Swim 35 feet
- Vision: Darkvision 60 feet above land, Darkvision 120 feet underwater
- Monstrosity: Your creature type is Monstrosity, which affects which spells can and can't hurt you.
- Sprawling Tail: You take up space as if you were a Large creature, but you only have the Reach of a Medium creature. Additionally, you can't use feet or leg-based magical items.
- Amorphous Physiology: You can move through spaces as narrow as 5ft wide without squeezing, and squeeze through areas as narrow as 2ft wide. You are also immune to water pressure.
- Amphibious: You can breathe air and water.
- Gnorri Science: You have proficiency with either Medicine or Nature, and proficiency with either the alchemist's supplies, herbalism kit, or poisoner's kit.
- Limb Allocation: Once per day, you can modify how many arms you have deployed, which requires 10 minutes and needs concentration, as per a spell. If interrupted, you must start the limb allocation process all over, but this does not use up your attempts per day.
- Two Arms: Strength-based weapons gain a +1 damage roll bonus.
- Three Arms: No effect.
- Four Arms: No effect, but the strain of allocating so much body mass in this way causes you to suffer a -1 penalty to Constitution saving throws.
- Subrace: Choose either the Black, Blue, Mottled, Red or White Gnorri subrace.
Black Gnor
- Ability Score Modifier: +2 Intelligence
- Abyssal Sight: Your Darkvision functions even in magical darkness.
Blue Gnor
- Ability Score Modifier: +2 Wisdom
- Squeeze Entrails: Once per short rest, when you are hit by a critical hit, you can use your Reaction to downgrade it into a normal hit.
Mottled Gnor
- Ability Score Modifier: +2 Wisdom
- Agile Slither: Your land speed is 30 feet.
Red Gnor
- Ability Score Modifier: +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom
- Tough Scales: Your natural armor class is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
- Limited Lim Allocation: You cannot allocate a 4th arm.
White Gnor
- Ability Score Modifier: +2 Wisdom
- Ice Affinity: You have Resistance to Cold damage, but Vulnerability to Fire damage.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Call of Cthulhu -
Cthulhu Mythos for 5e -
