Thursday, June 4, 2015

Races of Pathfinder: Gnoll

Gnoll
The knoll are a race of hyena-men, lazy, dishonorable, and generally unappealing scavengers. Their few racial traits prepare them for a melee role.

Racial Traits:
Ability Scores: +2 to Strength and Constitution with no penalties is the ideal for melee characters of all walks of life.

Size: Medium - nothing special here. 

Speed: 30 ft. - again, average.

Xenophobic: Gnolls begin with just their racial language.  However, this is nothing a single point into Linguistics can't solve.

Darkvision: Yay darkvision!  See in the dark!

Natural Armor: +2 to natural armor bonus is another great trait for melee characters, a big bonus from level 1 - 20.

Classes: 
Because of their generic melee abilities and lack of penalties, basically any melee class can benefit from being a gnoll. This include the melee versions of: AlchemistBarbarian, Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Cavalier, Inquisitor, and Magus.  The ranged version of each of these falls comfortably on the Green side of the spectrum.  The Druid and Gunslinger won't be able to take as much advantage of these bonuses, but can still generally benefit from the extra constitution and AC.
The non-melee Alchemist, Sorcerer, Wizard, Oracle, Summoner, and Witch benefit minimally from these traits, but can still appreciate them in a defensive sense.
In short, the gnoll's favored classes are not surprising - his traits gear him towards melee, and he will be good as a melee character.

Racial Feats:
Snapping Jaws: This feat grants you a bite attack.  Given that there are basically no prerequisites, there is little reason not to grab an extra attack as a melee character, even if it only deals 1d6 points of damage.

4 comments:

  1. I'd be interested to hear your opinions on the Gnoll with the advent of the Monster Codex.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The information from the Monster Codex is actually all already on here. Most of the feats and archetypes that it introduces can be taken by anyone and aren'y unique to Gnolls.

      Delete
    2. Having checked up on that, you're right. They're just common, and not unique. Sorry, that's my mistake.

      Delete
    3. No worries, I initially had them in there until somebody pointed it out to me!

      Delete