Gnoll

Gnolls resemble bipedal hyenas with slouched postures, matted fur, and scarred hides. Spoken about in whispers by others, gnolls have a reputation for being feral monsters who sweep through a village like a plague of locusts, devouring their prey with vicious fervor. Gnolls are indeed constantly being consumed by the need to eat, spurred on by a voracious hunger that drives them to hunt and slaughter any prey that crosses their path, even from beyond the grave. Still, there are those who seek to free themselves of this hunger, who may wish to walk a different path from their feral brethren. These gnolls may train to quell their hunger, though their journey will be constantly fraught with hardships.

## The Hunger

Centuries ago, when the New World was rife with unpredictable, frightening dangers, folk were quick to be driven to desperation when resources grew thin. It was within this desperation that the Hunger began to grow. Those who were driven to hunt others for food and resources soon began to feel an irresistible fire within them that spurred them to hunt and consume more and more, transforming them into ferocious beasts.

Over the years, the people who would become the Four Tribes learned to control the Hunger and even harness it in combat. As civilizations began to rise and survival became less of an unknown, the Hunger no longer drove folk to madness and those who where born with it either trained to control it or never even learned of it existence. Still, there were a small group of goblinoids who chose not to control their Hunger, but to let it grow. They allowed the rage to mutate them and cultivated a more powerful strain of Hunger within them, trying to reach new bestial heights of mutation. These folk were to become the gnolls.

## Destruction and Chaos

What makes gnolls particularly dangerous is their unpredictability. They strike at random, emerging from nowhere to ransack and pillage a village and then vanish to parts unknown. All that is left in their wake are the burnt out husks of houses and corpses gnawed to the bone. Gnolls are opportunistic hunters, meaning they will rarely target larger, well defended settlements, instead hunting farming villages or more humble communities.

This chaotic nature and desire to destroy means gnolls rarely build any permanent structures or craft anything of value. As scavengers, they will use any items they pick off their prey until it rusts or falls apart. Gnolls are so driven to break things in fact, that they actively try to push their equipment to the limit, leaving their armor and weapons in poor conditions.

## Gnoll Names

Gnoll names are short and crude, usually something that can be easily barked out at someone. They don't bother with surnames as they see family ties as pointless.

Gnoll Names: Xy, Xo, Me, Trouh, Ut, Todan, Tahnu, Ar, Ruar, Ryngra, Konget, Knullan,

## Gnoll Characteristics

*When creating a Gnoll character, you can use the suggested ability score increases or, as detailed in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, you can instead increase one ability score of your choice by 1 and one different ability score of your choice by 2.*

*(Con. +2; Str. +1)*

**Creature Type.** Goblin/Humanoid

**Size.** 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.

**Hearty Metabolism.** You have advantage on saving throws to end or avoid the Poisoned condition on yourself.

**Bite.** Your fanged maw is 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, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for unarmed strikes.

**Rampage.** When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make a bite attack.

**Languages.** You understand Common and Gnoll.