A friend wants to play a gnoll in an upcoming game (likely to be 5E). It's a long way off, so at this stage I'm just conceptualising rather than putting hard numbers on a page. Anyone have any thoughts on how you'd create a gnoll race for 5E?
I figured dexterity and constitution bonuses and probably a penalty to Charisma.
Definitely a scent-based ability (probably equivalent to short-range darkvision and a bonus to tracking).
I was considering a bite attack as an option for a bonus action.
Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts?
If you have the MM, it should be easy to extrapolate a Gnoll race. If you get the DMG in November, it should be very easy.
:)
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Gnoll Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Gnolls mature quickly and die young. They walk hours after being born and mature completely by age 5. Those few who don’t die by violence start to age quickly as they approach 40 and die soon after.
Alignment. Gnolls are feral and cruel. Most are evil and chaotic. A gnoll that did not display the worst traits of violence and slaughter would quickly die unless the gnoll escaped his people.
Size. Gnolls are tall, usually around 7 feet to 7 ½ feet, and weigh around 280-320 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Pack Tactics. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
Rampage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn you are overcome with bloodlust and may choose to bite your enemies. You can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make a bite attack (melee weapon attack that does 1d4 damage).
Languages. Common and Gnoll.
Well, Charlie D has a decent looking gnoll write-up, though I would possibly change the Dex bonus to Con, or go for +2 Con and +1 Str. But that's just me.
As for the OP: 5th edition has no stat penalties for the races, so there would be no need to give them a penalty to Charisma. You could always look to the 4th edition write-up of the gnoll race (it's in one of the 4th edition Dragon "magazines") to also get an idea of what to do for a gnoll race. It also might be a good idea to check out the gnoll entry in the Monster Manual when it comes out later this month.
Gnoll
Ability score Increase: +2 Str and +1 Dex
Age: A gnoll Reaches Adulthood at 14 years, and their lifespans extend into their 60s
Alignment: Gnolls are feral and predatory above all else, a mindset that gives them a distinctly chaotic bent. Gnolls see things in terms of predator and pray, believing that the dominance through force is natural. This leads them to tend towards evil, but neutral gnolls are not uncommon.
Size: Gnolls are sizable creatures, if a bit lanky, standing anywhere from 6 to seven and a half feet tall when held straight, though their natural posture slouches them.
Speed: A gnoll has a base walk speed of 30, whats more, a gnoll who has both hands free and is not in heavy armor can lope on all fours, doing so improves their walk speed by 15.
Ferocity: Gnolls are Proficient with Intimidate Checks and athletics checks.
Weapon Training: Gnolls start with Proficiency with the Greataxe.
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Well, Charlie D has a decent looking gnoll write-up, though I would possibly change the Dex bonus to Con, or go for +2 Con and +1 Str. But that's just me.
As for the OP: 5th edition has no stat penalties for the races, so there would be no need to give them a penalty to Charisma. You could always look to the 4th edition write-up of the gnoll race (it's in one of the 4th edition Dragon "magazines") to also get an idea of what to do for a gnoll race. It also might be a good idea to check out the gnoll entry in the Monster Manual when it comes out later this month.
I based this off the gnoll entry in the free DMG Basic D&D PDF. I used the best stats for the gnoll from the entry to give stat boosts to. I also looked at the hyena in the same doc.
Thanks all, I appreciate the suggestions.
I'm interested that people seem to think strength is an obvious stat - in my mind dexterity and constitution are more gnoll-ey.
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Thanks all, I appreciate the suggestions.
I'm interested that people seem to think strength is an obvious stat - in my mind dexterity and constitution are more gnoll-ey.
Here are the 5E gnoll stats in the Basic D&D DMG doc:
STR 14 DEX 12 CON 11 INT 6 WIS 10 CHA 7.So I gave a +2 to Str and a +1 to Dex. Gnolls have average Con in 5E but high Str but high Con and average Str in 4E.
I based this off the gnoll entry in the free DMG Basic D&D PDF. I used the best stats for the gnoll from the entry to give stat boosts to. I also looked at the hyena in the same doc.Well, Charlie D has a decent looking gnoll write-up, though I would possibly change the Dex bonus to Con, or go for +2 Con and +1 Str. But that's just me.
As for the OP: 5th edition has no stat penalties for the races, so there would be no need to give them a penalty to Charisma. You could always look to the 4th edition write-up of the gnoll race (it's in one of the 4th edition Dragon "magazines") to also get an idea of what to do for a gnoll race. It also might be a good idea to check out the gnoll entry in the Monster Manual when it comes out later this month.
I didn't know the gnoll was included in the free DM pdf. Guess I should have looked at it more thoroughly.