Gnoll

A sound resembling a child’s giggle distorts hideously into an inhuman, whooping call that reverberates through abandoned buildings of old stone and thatch. The dirt and dust of the narrow street has been churned and trampled with fresh blood by panicked feet. A stooped figure lopes from the shadows, licking its salivadripping, bloodstained chops. A smell of rot emanates from it, a stagnant charnel-stink of old blood and old flesh caught between yellowing fangs. It takes a moment to thread the ragged stump of a finger onto the twine looped around its thickly muscled neck. Its notched ears twitch at the faint sound of a cry and, hackles raised, it surges towards the origin. This is a gnoll.
Every community that lacks walls to hide behind fears it; the cackling and whooping in the night which denotes a roving clan of gnolls. Settlements that have fallen to gnolls are easy to identify; they leave no bodies as evidence of their attack, even clumps of grass where blood has been spilled will be ripped up and devoured.
Gnolls craft nothing of their own; they subsist entirely on what they can take from others, and scavenging is the central pillar of gnoll culture. Gnolls have no currency, and don’t place an inherent value on items beyond ownership; a tin cup a gnoll stole or took by force will have far more value to it than a whole chest of gold found by the wayside. Gnolls will typically keep a collection of items taken from their victims, sometimes coins or something similarly ubiquitous, but far more often body parts, with ears, hands, and scalps being the most common trophies.
To a gnoll, the clan is everything. Individuals may disagree, fight, or even kill each other, but the good of the clan comes before all else. While outward aggression is encouraged, subterfugeand betrayal are great taboos in gnoll society and incur the harshest punishments: more often than not, execution by ritual cannibalism. Children of the clan are raised communally, with most adult clan members contributing to their education and growth.
This innate need to be part of a clan means that gnoll pups raised amongst civilized races can become fiercely loyal to the ‘parent’ who raised them, though they will keep a vicious nature, and a desire to assert physical dominance. For this reason, gnoll clans are occasionally targeted by slavers, aiming to kill the adults and sell the pups to the highest bidder (generally for bodyguard or gladiatorial services), although this often ends badly for the slavers in question.
Shamans form the spiritual center of gnoll culture. Usually the oldest female, and often the mother of senior clan members, the shaman imparts the will of the gnoll gods to the clan, as well as performing rudimentary rituals and rites, including healing and simple divination, generally fueled by a great deal of blood. Many shamans possess abilities similar to lycanthropy: they can change form to that of a large hyena at will, allowing them to hunt with the pack and travel at speed. These abilities are the result of grisly rituals centered around the desecration of graves, and consumption of disinterred corpses, preferably those of notable virtue in life.

Language and Common Names

The gnoll language is a mixture of low, guttural chatters and trumpeting hoots and wails which can carry great distances. Hyenas can understand Gnoll on a very basic level, a benefit of their shared ancestry. Gnoll is almost impossible to transcribe accurately, and attempts to do so cannot fully capture the nuances in tone and pitch which differentiate one call from another.
Gnoll Names: Aaonha, Drrell, Gorgg, Gruut, Haau’m, Meekau, Ooa’ri, Otuba, Rourt, Rrow’e, Skaa’bau, Yikitka, Zau’ki

Plains Gnolls

Huge and powerfully built, even a subordinate male plains gnoll is larger than all but the most unusually massive humans, especially around the neck and hunched shoulders. They are covered in a coarse, short coat of blotchy ochre fur, with a scraggly, dark mane along the back of the neck. An unscarred plains gnoll is almost unheard of, as is one with full, unnotched ears; they constantly scrap amongst themselves and show barely more regard for each other than they do for their enemies.
As the largest variety, and therefore the most able to take on tough opponents, plains gnolls are often well-armed and armored, incorporating scraps of chainmail, even steel plate (generally rusted and not uncommonly stained with the blood of the previous owner) into their ragged hide clothing.

Culture

Forming huge clans numbering up to one hundred, plains gnolls can easily become the dominant monstrous species over a large area. Clan hierarchy is complex, strict and competitive, with those at the top being the most able to physically dominate those below. Females are larger, tougher and more aggressive, with the lowest female outranking the highest male. This lead some early, and perhaps somewhat misogynistic, scholars to suggest that plains gnolls were hermaphroditic, or could change sex at will (claims which have since been disproven, but remain prevalent in folklore). The clan seldom moves as a whole, unless defending territory from rivals or protecting the clan-mother, but small bands of three to ten will split off to range over the clan’s territory.
Plains gnolls are infamous for their stamina and tenacity. Once they have selected their quarry, whether it be a merchant caravan or a military scouting party, they will pursue it relentlessly for days, weeks, even months, never dropping their considerable pace. This method of persistence hunting ensures that, unless the target turns and fights early on in proceedings, the gnolls will encounter a worn down, exhausted foe when combat is eventually forced. The only thing which will force a plains gnoll to abandon a chase is the taboo of passing into another clan’s territory unannounced.

Environment

Plains gnolls favor open areas where they can see prey approaching from a distance, as well as build up good momentum for a chase. Due to their large size, they are not the stealthiest creatures, but will use the environment to their advantage. Long grass and gentle hills are the optimal conditions, allowing cover and elevation, without stopping the momentum of the charge.
They are not great builders, and are tough enough to withstand the elements. Where they make camp, the grass will be flattened in a rough circle as a communal area with higher status females commanding the center and the males on the periphery. Occasionally gnolls will settle briefly in the ruins of a settlement they have sacked, especially if there is more than the usual amount of plunder or corpses to devour. This may attract the attentions of other clans and, if there is food to spare, old rivalries are set aside temporarily. These periods of coming together are a time of ritual and mating and, rarely, a strong clanmother can unite the clans into a true horde.
The borders of a clan’s territory are marked with effigies, usually no more than a stick topped with the painted skull of a venerated gnoll or hyena of the clan, for continuing to watch the borders after death is a great honor. At the center of each territory is a circle cleared of vegetation around a prominent landmark, such as an ancient stone circle or unusual outcrop, the raugra. Here, it is a great taboo to spill gnoll blood, and here is where the clan’s shaman spends most of her days. Should a gnoll find themselves deep in another clan’s territory and unable to retreat, they will find their way to the raugra. If they stay within the circle, they are safe and may be able to plead for leniency. If their pleas fall on deaf ears, as is often the case, they will usually be eaten alive as they try to flee.

Roleplaying Plains Gnolls

It is rare for plains gnolls to speak Common, and the bits and pieces they may have picked up are limited in use, usually being desperate, pleading last words, and expletives. Even if they were fluent, however, plains gnolls have little interest in talking with other races. For one, they are, as a rule, distrustful of non-clanmembers, even among their own species. For another, plains gnolls are, not without reason, assured of their own physical abilities; as they see it, the only reason to talk to someone is to get things from them, and they are more than capable of getting those things from them without wasting time with talk.

Rock Gnolls

Small and stocky (as far as gnolls go), rock gnolls average at around the same size as a well-muscled human. Of all gnolls, they have the most impressive manes, which can deceive observers into thinking them larger than they truly are. While rock gnolls are certainly the least threatening variety on their own merits, the creeping influence of the caves below means they are also the most likely to exhibit vampirism, demonic possession, or otherworldly corruption, so seasoned travelers know not to take their smaller stature at face value.

Culture

As the smallest species, rock gnolls rely on stealth and cunning more than brute strength. They rarely form groups of more than twenty, allowing them to conceal their movements more easily. They inhabit caves during the day and foray out only under the cover of night. When left to their own devices, rock gnolls congregate in loose bands, often consisting of a single extended family. Infighting is rarer than in other gnoll clans, so rock gnolls tend to live longer - sometimes up to forty years. Skirting the shallows of the deep below, however, often brings them into contact with far more powerful entities, and it is notuncommon to find large number of rock gnolls under the thrall of a subterranean warlord.
Rock gnolls are the most likely to take victims alive for two reasons. Firstly, their environment is the least bountiful of all the gnolls, so many clans keep a “larder” of fresh meat when times are good to prepare for leaner times ahead. Secondly, their ties to the underground races make them an ideal link to the surface, and the demand for slaves below is constant. Rock gnolls are generally willing to trade their stock for supplies (assuming the interested party proves sufficiently strong that the gnolls could not simply take them by force), and are particularly amenable to offers of alcohol, which they have neither the ingredients nor the skills to make themselves.

Environment

As the name suggests, rock gnolls are often encountered in mountainous areas, canyons and caves, anywhere where their greyish hides help them blend in, and there are plenty of crags and overhangs to provide cover from searching eyes.
Industrious by gnoll standards, rock gnolls construct crude dwellings from piled stone, and some clans are able to scavenge enough wood for roofs or cages as temporary housing for slaves before they are traded on. The readiest source of wood for most clans comes in the form of passing caravans, so it is not uncommon for a merchant or caravan guard to find themselves imprisoned in the remains of their own wagon before being sold off to some denizen of the deep caves.

Roleplaying Rock Gnolls

Rock gnolls are the most likely to cooperate with other races, as trade makes up a good part of their means of survival. Common and Undercommon are fairly likely to be spoken, but some clans might also pick up scraps of Dwarven and Elvish dependent on who lives in the area to trade. Rock gnolls are also the least likely to fight to the death, possessing neither the brutish savagery of plains gnolls or the feral nature of gutter gnolls. Given their usual interactions, a surrendering rock gnoll expects to be taken into slavery, a fate it may later escape if it can utilize its cunning.

Gnoll

ability score increase: Your Constitution score increases by 1. In addition, either your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 2.

age: Young gnolls grow with uncanny speed. A gnoll is capable of fending for itself after only a few months, and is considered an adult at 5 years of age. Gnolls live to be around 30 years old. They remain vigorous until the end; death by old age is marked by a catastrophic decline over a space of a few days.

alignment: Any

Size: Medium

speed: 30ft

Languages: Common and Gnoll

race features:
Size. Gnolls are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 to 320 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Darkvision. 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.
Bite. Your teeth are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your bite, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Hunter’s Senses. You gain proficiency with one of the following skills of your choice: Perception, Stealth or Survival.
Rampage. On your turn, when you make an unarmed strike using your bite attack or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with an attack, you can use a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make a weapon attack or bite attack.

Gnolls are feral, hyena-headed humanoids that attack without warning, slaughtering their victims and devouring their flesh.