If you haven’t already purchased your 4th edition rulebooks, just stay away from this post…

Last week, WotC published a very nice online article as part of Dragon magazine.  This one was all about Gnolls as a race, expanding on the very basic Gnoll racial abilities that we saw in the back of the Monster Manual.  I think humanoid monsters as PCs are kinda cool.  In fact, I once wrote a convention module where the PCs included 2 orcs, a gnoll, a kobold, and a half-ogre.  So, let’s see what we can do with all of this fun…

Looking over the published stats for Gnolls, it’s obvious that some class combos will work better than others.  Gnolls get +2 Dex and +2 Con.  Dexterity doesn’t help fighters very much.  Paladins and warlords like Strength and Charisma.  The two best classes here are probably rogue and warlock.  However, the gnoll’s other racial abilities are all built around melee.  So, we go with the rogue.

Backstory

Rynnie is a male gnoll, about six foot ten.  As a runty whelp, his pack was defeated and killed by a group of human bandits in a skirmish over some smuggled booty.  Rynnie became a “pet” of the bandits, and grew up thinking of the bandits as his new pack.  Maybe he spent some time in the “undercity slums” of one of the major cities of your game world.  Clearly, something has recently happened to his bandit pack causing Rynnie to become a loner once again.  He is only too willing to latch onto the other player characters in the party, because he is naturally a pack creature.

Abilities

STR: 14   CON: 16   DEX: 18   INT: 8   WIS: 10   CHA: 13

As a rogue in 4th edition, intelligence provides no real benefit, and becomes an obvious dump stat, especially for a humanoid “street urchin”.  He gets some benefit from STR as a “brutal” rogue.  I like keeping the CON somewhat high, because rogues can easily get caught out in front of their parties, and sometimes need to be able to soak a little damage.

Race Benefits

Gnolls do +2 damage when they are themselves bloodied.  They do another +2 damage in melee if at least two allies are adjacent to the same target.  Rynnie gets a special “ferocious charge” benefit that does +2 damage on a charge, once per encounter.  His natural speed is 7 squares (that’s fast).

Feats

I like “Backstabber” at first level, since it chages his sneak attack damage from 2d6 to 2d8.  He’ll be using those larger dice quite often, and those dice maximize on a critical.  There are several other good feats we can consider for this build.  Toughness is good for extra HP.  There’s a special Gnoll feat called “Carrion Eater” that gives a really big bonus to saves against poison.  I also like “Blade Opportunist” and the various two weapon fighting feats.

As a multiclass option down the road, Rynnie should look at the Ranger multiclass feats.  The starter multiclass feat gets Rynnie a new skill and the chance to use the “quarry” ability once per battle for an extra d6 of damage.  Later on, he can swap in some two-weapon fighting tricks to take his foes by surprise.

Skills

Acrobatics +9, Intimidate +8, Perception +7, Stealth +9, Streetwise +6, Thievery +9.

I wish I had Athletics on there as well – if he multiclasses into Ranger, Rynnie should pick up either Athletics or dungeoneering.  If your campaign won’t visit any cities, swap Streetwise out for insight.

Class Powers

Rynnie is a “brutal scoundrel” netting an extra +2 damage on all sneak attacks.  As a rogue, when a fight starts he gets to sneak attack anyone who hasn’t acted yet (perhaps as part of his ferocious charge attack).  He gets a +1 to hit with daggers.  Rynnie likes “sharp-sharp” daggers.  The idea is to hit as often as possible, and let your damage bonuses do most of the work for you.

At will powers include Piercing Strike and Riposte Strike.  At first level, using a dagger with Piercing Strike at +8 against the opponent’s reflex defense means that Rynnie will hit about 75% of the time, and that’s without a flanking bonus.  The damage is d4+4, BEFORE we add 2d8+2 sneak attack damage, as appropriate, or any of the racial bonuses.

The 1^st level encounter power is King’s Castle.  Again, try to target reflex defenses.  Switching places with an ally won’t always be helpful, but sometimes Rynnie will want to put his “defender” into a more exposed position while protecting himself.

The 1^st level daily is “Easy Target”.  It’s a way to get Combat Advantage if Rynnie is forced to fight something by himself.

At second level, I foresee Rynnie taking the “tumble” utility power.

Analysis

This build is decent for a combat focused rogue.  He’s not going to be as ueful in a skill challenge that involves negotiating with townspeople, but he’s not completely useless there, either.  He’s fast enough to get back behind friendly lines in the event that he scouts ahead and aggros an angry mob or two.

Rynnie really wants to be in a medium to large sized party.  He wants to have at least two other frontline fighters in the group (maybe a warlord and a paladin) in order to take the best advantage of his “pack tactics” racial ability.  Obviously, he doesn’t bring much healing to the table, and he will need a little help once in a while to stay alive.  If your party is all “ranged” strikers, like warlords, archery rangers, and wizards, then Rynnie is a bad fit for your group.  Go build yourself a defender instead.

Why it’s Fun…

This character is a little reckless.  He’s not afraid to jump down into a pit to see what’s lying at the bottom.  He’s also a good “team” player, because he’s naturally a pack creature.  The party will grow to love him once they realize how loyal he can be.

Now, just imagine the role-playing possibilities…

“Hyeh-hyeh…. my shiny!…..Myeh-eh-eh-eh….  Haw!  Take that… Feel my sharp-sharp!!”

Gnolls are cool.