Fierce and clever, savage but sociable, gnolls have little need for the trappings of civilisation – what they need they can make as they travel, take from those who no longer need it or win in competition, barter or battle. Gnoll packs roam the rugged hinterlands where others would struggle to scrape a living, taking pride in their resourcefulnes and independence.
According to common gnollish myth they were once no different from the hyenas they live and hunt alongside. One day, however, a pack came across the titanic body a dead god lying in the desert, and gorged themselves on its divine flesh and ichor. This sacriligious cannibalism endowed them with sentience and twisted their bodies into two-legged forms. Gnolls remember this banquet fondly, calling the deity Yama-Zhhur - “Supreme Meat.” Legends say that Yama-Zhhur's mighty carcass still lies somewhere in the wastes, with a little marrow and meat still on it – who can say what consuming those last morsels might do?
Ability Score Increases. Your Contitution increases by 2.
Age. Gnolls mature around age 12, and seldom live past 50 years.
Alignment. Stubborn and chafing at unearned authority, gnolls tend towards chaos.
Size. Gnolls can vary between 5' and 7' tall, with lean, ropy builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30ft.
Bite. Your powerful jaws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.
Darkvision. Accustomed to hunting and travelling at night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Gnollish Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against disease, and against saving throws against ingested poison (including foul or rank food and water).
Languages. You speak, read and write Common (Sharzban) and Gnollish. The written component of gnollish is limited, mostly consisting of trail signs, territorial markings clawed on stone and prayers and incantations scratched into bones. Gnolls happily steal useful words and letters from other languages to suppliment their own, however.
Survivalism. You gain proficiency with one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.
Subrace. Playable subraces amongst gnolls include the matriarchal, competitive
kroca; resourceful and inquisitive
hna; and the hardy, insect-taming
aarish. Other subraces not suited for PCs include the vile, necromantic
uhrskn and the mighty, bone-crushing
flind.
Kroca
Queens To Queens. Kroca are the most numberous subrace of gnolls, and the physically largest. Their pelts are shades of tawny golden and reddish brown, usually with black muzzles, tails and rosette spots. Many kroca enjoy adorning themselves with scars, tattoos, trophies or shaving and dying their pelts to show off their accomplishments. Their social structure defines gnollish society: extended families form packs, following a matriarch (often the oldest, wisest, strongest or best hunter), who in turn owes allgiance to the matriarch of a larger pack, creating a loose feudal system across vast ranges.
Compete To Live. Everything is a struggle for survival and victory for the kroca. They seek to outdo each other in all things, working their way up the pack hierarchy and proving their superiority to outsiders. This includes combat, hunting, footraces, athletic pursuits and even social arts such as bartering and flyting (contests of verbal wit and mockery). Kroca bargain hard, play hard and fight hard.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma or Strength increase by 1.
Natural Competitor. You have proficiency in the Athletics, Persuasion or Performance skill. When you roll an ability check using one of these proficiencies opposed by another creature, before making the check you may choose to roll 1d4 and add it to your total. You may do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before taking a long rest.
Hna
The Value of Subtlety. Let the kroca hunt and clash and strive – there is plenty off leftovers for the patient and cunning when the loud and foolish fight. The hna prefer to live by scavenging and opportunism. They are smaller and slighter in build, with paler pelts of creamy brown and muddy yellow slashed with dark stripes, and their demeanours tend to be less aggressive and flashy as well, prizing ecclectic objects for functionality rather than flamboyance.
Hunters of the Aftermath. The hna have a reputation as stormcrows, as bringers of ill-omen, but the truth is they rarely act to inflict harm on other societies. They see the world as a place of disasters waiting to happen; there is no need to pillage a town, when sooner or later raiders or misfortune will strike of their own accord. And the hna will be there to sift through the rubble and take what is useful to them.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence or Wisdom increase by 1.
Natural Scavenger. You have proficiency in the Sleight of Hand or Investigate skill. When you take a short rest, you may study a weapon or tool you have access to, intuiting its purpose and workings. You gain proficiency in that weapon or tool until you take a long rest. The GM may also give you insights into the item's history and culture of origin, and their discretion.
Aarish
Riders of the Bugs. Similar in stature to the hna, aarish are physically distinguished by their more pointed muzzles, black-furred spectacles around their eyes and tendency towards greyish pelts. They are less averse than their kin to adopting some of the trappings of civilisation – rather than exclusively hunt or scavenge, the aarish have become insect-herders. The drive herds of giant beetles across the desert, harvest honey from hives and surround giant termite mounds with burning brush to roast them, relying on their hardy constitutions and nimbleness to protect them from venemous stings and bites.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 1.
Greater Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against all poisons, not just ingested ones, and are resistant to poison damage.
Speak with Insects. Through clicking sounds and whisker- or antennae-twitches you can communicate simple ideas with beasts of the arthropod phylum (insects, spiders, scorpions – basically all creepy-crawlies and vermin).
