elite opponents: gnolls. what a disappointment. [Archive] - Wizards Community

elite opponents: gnolls. what a disappointment. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Wolfvyn
08-28-03, 01:06 AM When i saw the headline for the recent elite opponents i was both intrigued and delighted. i've always liked using gnolls as enemy monsters. they are strong and cunning pack hunters with a mean streak a mile wide. I thought that the author might throw in some info on common unit strength and tactics, but instead all we are given are templates. Which wouldn't be to bad if the three of them were different, but there are all basically the same character. I believe that i and all of you can do better with a littel time and some thought. so here goes...

first lets take tarresh, lets leave his stats, equipment, combat style, and favored enemy the same.

tarresh: gnoll ranger 3 cr 4
Hp: 32
AC: 17= +4 (+1 studded leather) +1 nat +2 dex
abilities:Str 17, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6
saves: Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +3

melee attack: +8 1d12+4/x3, masterwork greataxe

ranged attack: +7/+7 ranged 1d8+5/x3, +1 composite longbow [+3 Str bonus] with Rapid Shot, precise shot and point blank shot

SQ combat style (archery), darkvision 60 ft., favored enemy (humans +2), wild empathy +3

feats: point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot

combat: Tarresh uses pack members as shields. these skirmishers do their best to keep any PC from engagin tarresh in melee and thanks to precise shot tarresh can effective lay down support fire with out the - 4 to his attack. as long as tarresh stays with in 30 ft of his enemies he gat a +5 to his damage thanks to his composite bow and the point blank shot.

now this is shaping up to be a respectable enchounter. you can up his difficulty by adding a shield bearer to tarresh's squad. this gnoll stands infront of tarresh with a tower shield granting him cover and giving him an ally to flank any opponet that makes it through his skirmishers. It's a simple tactic that a gnoll with an 8 intelligence and some expereince can think of.

now instead of making taking tarresh and adding on another template i'm going to make a new gnoll enemy. i'll move tarreshes stats around a bit.

Gurtis: male gnoll cleric 6 (Erythnul) cr 7
Hp: 47 (2d8+2 +6d8+12)
Ac: 21 =+6 (+1 breast plate)+1 nat+2 dex+2 wooded shield
abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 6
saves: fort +7, ref +4, will +9

melee attack: +9 1d8+1d6 +3/x2crit (+1 flaming morningstar) war domain weapon focus: moringstar)

ranged attack: +8 1d8/x2 crit masterwork light crossbow

SQ: aura; spells; domains: evil, war; dark vision 60 ft; spontanious casting inflict wounds; rebuke undead;

feats: combat casting, extended spell, power attack

spells:

lvl 0: 5
detect magic
guidance
light
resistance
mending

lvl1: 4+1
bane
bless
divine favor
doom
protection from good

lvl2: 4+1
hold person
Aid
cure moderate wounds
bull's strength
spiritual weapon

lvl3: 3+1
bestow curse
dispel magic
searing light
magic vestiment

lvl4: 1 (bonus spell from high wisdom)
divine power

this opponet's difficulty shoots up in a squad or some other type of group. Gurtis is primarily a melee combatant and with bulls strenght, divine power, bless and amgic vestiment he'll want to keep out of abttle for a few rounds inorder to buff himself and his allies, before he starts cracking heads. once again the squad becomes usefull in keeping the enemies away from gurtis while he prepares for battle. also with bane, doom, hold person, searing light and spiritual weapon. He's also good at offensive casting.

now for my final elite opponet

Wurtyn: gnoll barbarian 11/ ftr2 cr 14
Hp: 126 (2d8+2+11d12+33+2d10+6)
AC: 19= +7(+2 chain mail) +2 dex
abilities: Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6
saves: fort +13, ref +5, will +5

melee attack: +18/+13/+8 1d12+8/x3 crit (+2 great axe)

ranged attack: +16/+11/+6 1d8+4/x3 crit (composite longbow+4 str)

SQ: greater rage 3/day, DR 2/---, trap sense +3, improved uncanny dodge, fast movement, illeteracy, dark vision 60 ft

feats: power attack, cleave, great cleave, improved crit, die hard, instantaneous rage

now Wurtyn is a melee machine with greater rage (bonuses become +6) and instantaneous rage ( can go into a rage out side of his turn). Even with out a squad Wurtyn is a deadly opponent but with one he can go from a good encounter to a BBEG. he'll lead the assault on the PC's with a few gnolls in his wake to help keep the PC's occupied. While support archers, perferably his leutenants and sergants, rain arrows upon them. again simple tactics that a gnoll with a 8 intelligence and some expereince will have figured out. to make matters even more dire add a cleric or two to wurtyn's squad, with reach spell. That way the clerics can stay back out of melee and buff the front liners. they will also make a good second wave when the first group starts to loose their steam.
sandskimmer
08-28-03, 01:34 PM I like your tactics!:D
Wolfvyn
08-29-03, 08:39 PM Thanks, but do you guys have any perfered tactics to use with gnolls, Squad and Unit layouts, and tougher gnoll enemies?
SmiloDan
08-29-03, 09:58 PM I guess I still think about gnolls in the old 2nd Edition way...a bunch of cowardly thugs. So if I was going to advance gnolls, I would make them rogues, with Combat Reflexes, Dual Strike (or whatever from Sword and Fist that gives a +4 bonus to flanking attacks when your ally also has it) and maybe Spiked Chain or some other reach weapon.
Shadowchaser84
12-16-03, 12:04 PM To be completely honest, I'm entirely dissapointed by the Elite Opponents additions to the main Dungeons and Dragons web page. I didn't expect much from Dire Wolves, but Gnolls...

COME ON, GNOLLS KICK :censored::censored::censored::censored: :censored:

To make matters worse, they continued with Ogre Mages and managed to create a fiasco out of what should have been a great info booster. To be honest, it is little better than a visually toned down fight club? Why not just call it that again?

Now, they've killed the whole point of the articles by throwing in different creations of Yuan-ti, the most sacred of evil villains in the DnD cannons (even if you never fight the yuan-ti, just hearing about them makes most low to mid-level parties cringe in fear and High level parties hesitant.

Hmm, I propose they close the Elite Opponents Section, or at least revamp it. They are shooting for little used monsters with templates galore, but they aren't throwing in what would make the standard monsters great. A typical Gnoll doesn't need levels in ranger to be great if he just has the right "attitude" and attack style (though the levels don't hurt, but any dm could add some levels and templates!)

I also propose that Wizards create a section dedicated to creating monster tactics for the standard monsters they choose. I want to see Hobgoblin advances, Orc raids, Yuan-ti slave drives! I'm sure everyone else would like to understand a little more about these kinds of everyday things.
A Man In Black
12-17-03, 02:26 AM Go for it. Don't complain about Elite Opponents not being the column you expected. WRITE tactics for those creatures, and submit them for publication on the site. If I recall correctly, the WotC site does accept unsolicited submissions.

You'll have to pull it up to professional level, but take that as a challenge.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Wolfvyn 08-28-03, 01:06 AM	When i saw the headline for the recent elite opponents i was both intrigued and delighted. i've always liked using gnolls as enemy monsters. they are strong and cunning pack hunters with a mean streak a mile wide. I thought that the author might throw in some info on common unit strength and tactics, but instead all we are given are templates. Which wouldn't be to bad if the three of them were different, but there are all basically the same character. I believe that i and all of you can do better with a littel time and some thought. so here goes... first lets take tarresh, lets leave his stats, equipment, combat style, and favored enemy the same. tarresh: gnoll ranger 3 cr 4 Hp: 32 AC: 17= +4 (+1 studded leather) +1 nat +2 dex abilities:Str 17, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6 saves: Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +3 melee attack: +8 1d12+4/x3, masterwork greataxe ranged attack: +7/+7 ranged 1d8+5/x3, +1 composite longbow [+3 Str bonus] with Rapid Shot, precise shot and point blank shot SQ combat style (archery), darkvision 60 ft., favored enemy (humans +2), wild empathy +3 feats: point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot combat: Tarresh uses pack members as shields. these skirmishers do their best to keep any PC from engagin tarresh in melee and thanks to precise shot tarresh can effective lay down support fire with out the - 4 to his attack. as long as tarresh stays with in 30 ft of his enemies he gat a +5 to his damage thanks to his composite bow and the point blank shot. now this is shaping up to be a respectable enchounter. you can up his difficulty by adding a shield bearer to tarresh's squad. this gnoll stands infront of tarresh with a tower shield granting him cover and giving him an ally to flank any opponet that makes it through his skirmishers. It's a simple tactic that a gnoll with an 8 intelligence and some expereince can think of. now instead of making taking tarresh and adding on another template i'm going to make a new gnoll enemy. i'll move tarreshes stats around a bit. Gurtis: male gnoll cleric 6 (Erythnul) cr 7 Hp: 47 (2d8+2 +6d8+12) Ac: 21 =+6 (+1 breast plate)+1 nat+2 dex+2 wooded shield abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 6 saves: fort +7, ref +4, will +9 melee attack: +9 1d8+1d6 +3/x2crit (+1 flaming morningstar) war domain weapon focus: moringstar) ranged attack: +8 1d8/x2 crit masterwork light crossbow SQ: aura; spells; domains: evil, war; dark vision 60 ft; spontanious casting inflict wounds; rebuke undead; feats: combat casting, extended spell, power attack spells: lvl 0: 5 detect magic guidance light resistance mending lvl1: 4+1 bane bless divine favor doom protection from good lvl2: 4+1 hold person Aid cure moderate wounds bull's strength spiritual weapon lvl3: 3+1 bestow curse dispel magic searing light magic vestiment lvl4: 1 (bonus spell from high wisdom) divine power this opponet's difficulty shoots up in a squad or some other type of group. Gurtis is primarily a melee combatant and with bulls strenght, divine power, bless and amgic vestiment he'll want to keep out of abttle for a few rounds inorder to buff himself and his allies, before he starts cracking heads. once again the squad becomes usefull in keeping the enemies away from gurtis while he prepares for battle. also with bane, doom, hold person, searing light and spiritual weapon. He's also good at offensive casting. now for my final elite opponet Wurtyn: gnoll barbarian 11/ ftr2 cr 14 Hp: 126 (2d8+2+11d12+33+2d10+6) AC: 19= +7(+2 chain mail) +2 dex abilities: Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6 saves: fort +13, ref +5, will +5 melee attack: +18/+13/+8 1d12+8/x3 crit (+2 great axe) ranged attack: +16/+11/+6 1d8+4/x3 crit (composite longbow+4 str) SQ: greater rage 3/day, DR 2/---, trap sense +3, improved uncanny dodge, fast movement, illeteracy, dark vision 60 ft feats: power attack, cleave, great cleave, improved crit, die hard, instantaneous rage now Wurtyn is a melee machine with greater rage (bonuses become +6) and instantaneous rage ( can go into a rage out side of his turn). Even with out a squad Wurtyn is a deadly opponent but with one he can go from a good encounter to a BBEG. he'll lead the assault on the PC's with a few gnolls in his wake to help keep the PC's occupied. While support archers, perferably his leutenants and sergants, rain arrows upon them. again simple tactics that a gnoll with a 8 intelligence and some expereince will have figured out. to make matters even more dire add a cleric or two to wurtyn's squad, with reach spell. That way the clerics can stay back out of melee and buff the front liners. they will also make a good second wave when the first group starts to loose their steam.
sandskimmer 08-28-03, 01:34 PM	I like your tactics!:D
Wolfvyn 08-29-03, 08:39 PM	Thanks, but do you guys have any perfered tactics to use with gnolls, Squad and Unit layouts, and tougher gnoll enemies?
SmiloDan 08-29-03, 09:58 PM	I guess I still think about gnolls in the old 2nd Edition way...a bunch of cowardly thugs. So if I was going to advance gnolls, I would make them rogues, with Combat Reflexes, Dual Strike (or whatever from Sword and Fist that gives a +4 bonus to flanking attacks when your ally also has it) and maybe Spiked Chain or some other reach weapon.
Shadowchaser84 12-16-03, 12:04 PM	To be completely honest, I'm entirely dissapointed by the Elite Opponents additions to the main Dungeons and Dragons web page. I didn't expect much from Dire Wolves, but Gnolls... COME ON, GNOLLS KICK :censored::censored::censored::censored: :censored: To make matters worse, they continued with Ogre Mages and managed to create a fiasco out of what should have been a great info booster. To be honest, it is little better than a visually toned down fight club? Why not just call it that again? Now, they've killed the whole point of the articles by throwing in different creations of Yuan-ti, the most sacred of evil villains in the DnD cannons (even if you never fight the yuan-ti, just hearing about them makes most low to mid-level parties cringe in fear and High level parties hesitant. Hmm, I propose they close the Elite Opponents Section, or at least revamp it. They are shooting for little used monsters with templates galore, but they aren't throwing in what would make the standard monsters great. A typical Gnoll doesn't need levels in ranger to be great if he just has the right "attitude" and attack style (though the levels don't hurt, but any dm could add some levels and templates!) I also propose that Wizards create a section dedicated to creating monster tactics for the standard monsters they choose. I want to see Hobgoblin advances, Orc raids, Yuan-ti slave drives! I'm sure everyone else would like to understand a little more about these kinds of everyday things.
A Man In Black 12-17-03, 02:26 AM	Go for it. Don't complain about Elite Opponents not being the column you expected. WRITE tactics for those creatures, and submit them for publication on the site. If I recall correctly, the WotC site does accept unsolicited submissions. You'll have to pull it up to professional level, but take that as a challenge.