GNOLL

There is a great resemblance between gnolls and hyenas. Gnolls have greenish gray skins, darker near the muzzle, with reddish gray to dull yellow mane. Eyes are dull black and nails are amber colored. Their armor is of horn, metal plates, and leather; like their fur capes and vests, it is shabby, and the latter are moth-eaten and dingy, being brown, black or grayish pelts.

Gnolls travel and live in rapacious bands of loose organization, with the largest dominating the rest. These bands recognize no other gnoll as supreme, but they do not necessarily dislike other bands, and on occasion two or more such groups will join together briefly in order to fight, raid, loot, or similarly have greater chance of success against some common foe or potential victim. They are adaptable and inhabit nearly any area save those which are arctic and/or arid.

Gnolls will generally be on friendly terms with orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears, ogres, and even trolls providing the weaker types are not very much weaker in numbers and the gnolls are relatively equal in strength to the stronger monsters. Gnolls are strong, but they dislike work and are not good miners. They have infravision. They speak their racial tongue, Chaotic Evil, troll, and often (60%) orcish and/or hobgoblin. Gnolls have short life spans — 35 years being average.

Gnolls employ a great variety of weapons, all carry swords, and a typical force will have the following percentages:

They have a so-called king, very powerful personally and with a double normal-sized following, but his authority extends only as far as his reach. For every 20 gnolls encountered there will be a leader-type with 16 hit points (attacks as a 3 hit dice creature). If 100 or more of these creatures are encountered there will be the following additional gnolls with the band: a chieftain (armor class 3, 22 hit points, attack as a 4 hit dice creature and does 4-10 hit points damage/attack) and 2-12 guards (armor class 4, 20 hit points, attack as 3 hit dice monsters, and do 3-9 hit points damage). If the gnolls are encountered in their lair there will always be a chieftain there, and there will be from 5-20 guards with him. The lair will also contain females and young equal to 50% and 200% respectively of the number of males present.

Gnolls are subterranean 85% of the time, but occasionally (15%) they will take up residence in an abandoned (or cleared) village or building of some sort. In the former case they are 30% likely to have 1-3 trolls living with them and acting as guards. In the case where gnolls are found above ground, they are quite likely (65%) to have 4-16 hyenas (80%) or 2-12 hyaenodons (20%) as pets and guards. They always have a number of captives for food or slave labor (1 per 10 gnolls is minimum).

Relatives of the gnolls, these beasts are powerful humanoids 6½-ft tall which always attack at +1 hit probability due to their Strength. 

Most of their characteristics and behaviour patterns are similar to those of gnolls which regard flinds as higher beings (the Charisma of a flind is at least 16 in the eyes of a gnoll). A large group of gnolls will sometimes be led by one or several flinds. (For details of gnolls, see ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS MONSTER MANUAL). Flinds speak the same tongues as do gnolls and are on friendly terms with orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears and ogres. However, they dislike trolls and will not co-operate with them.

The normal flind usually attacks with a club which delivers 1-6 hit points of damage.

25% of a group encountered will instead carry chain-linked iron bars which they use in attack, moving so swiftly with these devices that they gain two attacks per round. If either attack hits, the victim will receive 1-4 hit points of damage and in addition must save (as against Wands) or his weapon will have become entangled with the chains and he is disarmed. 

This disarming device — the flindbar — can be used by any character with both Strength and Dexterity of 13 or better, providing he practices with it and selects it as a weapon of proficiency.

Leader-types (one for every 15 flinds encountered) are 3 + 3 hit dice, have 17 Strength and high Intelligence, with 18 Charisma so far as gnolls are concerned. Leaders all use the flindbars in melee.