It'd sure be cool if they did, though. Maybe there should be a "feral gnoll" variant (+1 CR perhaps) with both?
That is why they often travel with hyenas. Great for tracking, hunting, tripping, and general mayhem.
Many is the time a few gnoll rangers and a pack of hyenas savaged the poor party. Always a good time.
I'd certainly give them access to the APG feats to grant scent (Keen Scent) and a bite attack (Razortusk, though the name and crunch don't fit). If half-orcs can have those abilities, gnolls should, too.
I was personally disappointed to find they didn't even have claw attacks. I mean, looking at hyenas, their bite would be worse, but I'd expect at least something claw-wise.
Sorry, not enough players have wanted to play them in the past, for them to get upgrades.
Kind of still in the OD&D stat format, with just weapons.
TIME FOR THE GNOLL REVOLUTION !!
Need Upgrading
Need PC states
Need French Accent :)
There is a Gnoll Claw Fighter mini HERE. But I do not "currently" have one in my possession to say what it has as far as natural attacks are concerned. Likely the stats are 4E-ish anyway, speaking of which I believe 4E does have a playable Gnoll race,(not a clue which of the 3 dozen books it's in though) using racial specific feats for upgrades like claw & bite attacks.
I plan on using the general visage of a gnoll/hound archon for my eidolon in a upcoming campaign, so I have been looking at such things as well. I'm thinking biped (start w/ claws) adding a bite, reach (not sure to which attack yet) and likely scent OR +8 perception OR +8 survival. So many good choices to pick from. :)
Gnolls should probably have a primary bite attack. At the very least they should be able to gain it with a feat. If Lizardfolk and werewolves get bite attacks for having animal heads then it makes sense that gnolls should get them too, especially since the hyena has one of the most powerful bites around.
Hyenas chew and eat bones from large prey, and they're generally ranked as having one of the strongest bites of any land animal. Regardless of what's done with gnolls, hyenas should probably get Improved Natural Attack [Bite] as a bonus feat. As an aside, does anybody else find it odd that lions only get 1d4 for claw damage and 1d6 for their bite?
As an aside, does anybody else find it odd that lions only get 1d4 for claw damage and 1d6 for their bite?
Or that a full-grown male gorilla has a strength of only 15 -- and a full-grown chimpanzee is no stronger than the average person? JJ explained earlier that the animal stats are largely skewed weak so as to justify their low CRs (in other words, they set the stats to the existing CR in most cases, rather than changing the CR to match "realistic" stats).
My argument isn't so much that animal stats should be more realistic as that they should be more balanced. Certain animals are a lot better than others. Tiger vs lion is an egregious case of this. They both appear on the Summon Nature's Ally IV list, but the lions are painfully inferior. Hyena animal companions are also pretty wimpy compared to wolf animal companions. The rules are what they are though. I can't really imagine Paizo going back and changing stuff like this just to satisfy an irate fan of African wildlife. At least they gave the ape animal companion the bite attack that gorillas and chimps oddly lack.
Back to something more like the original topic, I'm not sure if adding a bite attack to gnolls as monsters would really require a CR increase. Biting gnolls would be about as formidable as lizardfolks who drop their shields and claw/claw/bite (which I'm assuming they can do) and still less powerful than a CR1 ghoul even without the super deadly paralysis power. Three attacks at +3 for 1d6+1 damage each is pretty nasty. How the heck did ghouls end up as CR1 anyhow?
If you're planning to use gnolls as PCs I suppose getting a "free" bite attack might seem a little overpowered though. It might not be a problem for many PCs, but I could see a rogue or paladin getting a lot of mileage out of it due to all the bonus damage. A level adjust of +1 seems appropriate, but I'm not sure Pathfinder has LA anymore.
Bear VS Anything and bear wins, even if it loses
Except Zangief, or am i showing my age?
Everybody knows that Blanka would bite Zangief's face off. I watched it happen many times.