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| m8adam |
 Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:57 am Post subject: Monster Allies |
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Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 148
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| Hey, I'm working on a gnoll stronghold for my campaign and was trying to make it a little more eclectic than gnolls with class levels. I can't find any info on what other creatures/demons/etc. gnolls associate with though. I'm thinking an abyssal skulker or jackal lord maybe, but would love to hear any thoughts from you guys. Please give me ANY suggestions, regardless of CR, as any info will be helpful in finding other options. |
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| Zherog |
| Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:40 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
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I've used hyenas in the past. I also once made a werehyena to serve as the "boss" encounter when facing a pack of gnolls.
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John Ling
Freelance Writer
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| m8adam |
| Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 148
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| Yeah, that was the one thing mentioned. I'm probably going to do up a couple of gnoll barbarians as "pack-master" types with 2-3 hyena's. and apparently the ghoul king is a vassal of yeenoghu, so maybe a ghoul or two... |
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
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Maybe a few ogres, or possibly howlers.
And wouldn't a war-elephant fit in nicely with gnolls driving it on, snapping at its heels?
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Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
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| Amy Carrier |
| Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:54 am Post subject: How about some four-footed beasties |
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Joined: 31 May 2008
Posts: 591
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They would probably have some four-legged creatures to serve as pack animals and transportation. Preferably something more fierce than horses and donkeys... But alas, I am on my lunch break at work right now so I don't have access to my source books, and I can't think of a single monsterous quadruped that could fill this role.
Dire wolves? Nah, ever since The Hobbit everybody does dire wolves.
Man-eating horses? No, too Greek.
Giant Dire Warthogs! Yeah, that's the ticket! |
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| Zherog |
| Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:05 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
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Working off Amy's lovely idea, here's some Large creatures that could conceivably be seen as mounts:
Animals
Large size
Deinonychus
Dire Bat
Dire Bear
Dire Boar
Dire Lion
Dire Tiger
Dire Wolf
Dire Wolverine
Huge size
Elasmosaurus
Megaraptor
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Dire Shark
Magical Beasts
Large size
Ankheg
Chimera
Dragonne
Giant Eagle
Griffon
Hippogriff
Lamia
Lammasu
Manticore
Giant Owl
Pegasus
Phase Spider
Sea Cat
Sphinx (various types)
Unicorn (HA!)
Winter Wolf
Huge size
Behir
Hydra
frost worm
Remorhaz
Yrthak (I think it's quadruped...)
I excluded bipedal creatures, though some of those could be interesting.
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John Ling
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| Amy Carrier |
| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 31 May 2008
Posts: 591
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Your idea has inspired me - I have been thinking about it on and off for the last few days, and have decided to do something similar in my campaign. In case anyone is interested, here is what I am planning for my world:
These gnolls are lead by a particularly clever and ambitious chieftain. Whereas most gnolls (in my world, at least) are semi-nomadic, this particular leader has seen the advantages of having a well-fortified stronghold to operate from. By the time the players come into the picture, he has managed to unify the various clans of his tribe so that they cooperate rather than compete.
The encounter takes place in rocky foothills, with mixed forest and meadow terrain.
The gnolls have completed the earthworks of a large "motte-and-baily" fortification. The construction is crude but quite sturdy (as will be discussed further, below). The area inside it's palisade has been laid waste of all trees and vegetation. The gnolls are rapidly outgrowing this structure so they are now working on building a larger earthwork that will encompass the existing fortification.
They have normal hyenas as pets and dire hyenas as guard animals.
They have bullied/bribed several ogres and a few minotaurs into joining their ranks. Being such powerful creatures (relative to the gnolls), the minotaurs have been very difficult to integrate into their forces, but so far it is working out...
They have acquired a triceratops which they use as a war elephant. They have trained it to go into combat carrying a three-gnoll houdah on it's back.
They are using both oxen (acquired through cattle raids) and dire boars as draft animals.
They have also enslaved a number of kobolds to work their mines and do the drudge work.
To take care of the filth generated by living in a crowded fixed location, they have lured an otugh into living at the bottom of their midden pit.
Increasingly violent and far-ranging cattle raids on human settlements have provided them with ample meat for their growing needs. These raids are probably what brings them to the attention of the players, especially since they consider the people as well as the cattle to be a valid food source. While most of the people taken in these raids have been fed to the hyenas, a few have been sent to the mines to work alongside the kobolds. One such slave is a dwarf named Harren.
Harren is a dwarven smith and mining engineer. Since his capture he has been astonishingly cooperative with his gnoll masters. So far he has built a tunneling machine (similar to the "tunnel cleaner" from the movie Labyrinth) to speed up their mining operation, and he has shown them how to build kilns for roasting limestone so they can make high-quality mortar. He has even shown them how to extract a highly flammable hot-burning gas (phlogiston) from the deeper rock, which is more efficient than charcoal for firing the kilns. In return, he has been make "head slave", in charge of the entire mining operation.
Still, not everything is perfect - several kobolds have died as a result of being overcome by poisonous gasses seeping into the lower reaches of the mine. Of course, this hardly matters to the gnolls. Also, the mining machine makes all the rock from the mines come out as uneven chunks and coarse gravel rather than smooth blocks, but since they have mortar the gnolls have still been able to erect very strong masonry walls.
Despite appearances, Harren is actually working very hard against the gnolls. When sent to the mines he found that the sedimentary limestone overlays igneous strata which is rich in phlogiston-bearing ore. His mining machine fractures the rock around the shafts, which both weakens the entire operation and allows the dangerous gas to seep up and permeate the rock throughout the mines. He has been shoring up the shafts with wood beams rather than stone pillars, so if a fire does start the entire mine complex will collapse. He has also made sure the ventilation shafts come up next to important buildings.
If a fire does start in the mines (and Harren knows it eventually will, since he plans on setting it himself) the mines will collapse and the fire will erupt from the ventilation shafts, setting fire to everything nearby. This includes the storehouse where phlogiston gas destined for the kilns is collected in giant leather bladders. When the bladders detonate, they will destroy both the warehouse and the kilns, spreading a cloud of searing hot caustic powdered lime in all directions. Furthermore, Harren has done his best (and his best is very good indeed) to make sure mine shafts run close to the surface under several of the larger buildings. when the shafts collapse, the ground above them will subside, swallowing up the heavy masonry structures.
The kobolds are clever miners themselves, and they see the danger in what Harren is doing. They just aren't sure if he is doing it deliberately, or if it's because he is stupid and careless. Either way, the gnolls are not inclined to listen to kobold slaves, so the kobold's warnings have been pointedly ignored. The gnoll chieftain is smart enough that he might believe them, but the kobolds have no opportunity to talk to him directly.
Harren is still putting the finishing touches on his plan when the group arrives... |
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| m8adam |
| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 148
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| Very nice. I like the possibility of tapping into the pre-existing dwarven scheme to destroy the place. |
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