Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Utumno 05-11-04, 05:40 PM	I am planning on having a small army of gnolls attack a mid sized villiage 400 people or so and the PCs have to defend it. They came up with a pretty good strategy last game. They plan on filling the houses on the outskirts of the villiage with hay and lighting them on fire after the gnolls charge. This will illuminate the gnolls (they figure correctly that they will attack at night) and force them to fight with fire at their backs. Of course there is the chance that the whole town will go up in flames! Do any of you have suggestions as to how I should play the gnolls. I am figuring that they will attack en masse from one side of the town and then find individual pockets of troops and try to surround them. I have thought about raining arrows down on the town first, but they only have short bows so such an attack would have to be done very close and probably would not be worth it. Besides, if I know anything about gnolls they will be frothing at the mouth for close personal kills.
GoblinPlayingWithFire 05-11-04, 06:29 PM	just have them and their bloodlust pour into town by the dozens with no strategy except for "KILL KILL KILL DONT GET KILLED"
shadowflamedancer 05-11-04, 06:36 PM	I agree with the previous post. They should probably be bloodthirsty savages who want an intimate kill. Remember that gnolls are not master strategests. I would play them as tring to kill as much as possible as fast as possible.
Autosponge 05-11-04, 07:01 PM	If there are pockets of strong troops the Gnolls are likely to avoid them at first, seeking instead to get "easy" kills on unarmed or fleeing villagers. They should still have an objective, a point at which they say "we did enough damage" or "we got enough food" or "we taught them who's boss" that they leave the village. No matter how dumb the are, they aren't planning on fighting to the death and they know when the odds are against them.
Silimaure 05-11-04, 07:24 PM	They may be dumb, but they are still smart enough to know about alchemist fire, know that it makes things either burn down or burn up and start smelling yummy. A few (And I mean few) gnolls might learn how to make it. Hince, they laugh at the houses already on fire, and spread the pyrolove Or you could just do the kill kill kill.
Heron_Marked_Blade 05-11-04, 09:46 PM	If they have no use for the village (are just there to spread mayhem and destruction), then they will probably come prepared to light houses on fire. Nothing flushes people out of defensible positions into the open more quickly than burning that defensible position around their ears. I think they'd do more burning of their own, personally.
Remnant 05-11-04, 10:40 PM	The gnolls would likely make a guess at the least defended direction of the town, and attack from that direction, moving in as quickly as possible. If their goal is indiscriminate killing, they will likely start fires and burst into indivudal homes. They will likely not engage troop formations and prepared positions that they know of if they can at all help it. If their goal is physical destruction of the town, or supply raiding, as above, except they will likely burn more in the case of destruction, and attack "soft" targets- food stores, homes, shops, etc. Again, they will likely not confront a prepared formation unless they have 3 to 1 or greater odds. If their goal is the utter decimation of the town, they will do as above, and try to raise as much chaos as possible to keep from running headlong into formations. They will try to attack when they have numerical advantage. In any case, unless they are very desperate, they will probably break and run at 30% casualties at most. Gnolls are also less-than-disiplined, and individuals that are dropped below half hp are probably likely to flee on their own, regardless of the overall situation.
TalinXT 05-11-04, 11:59 PM	Not a bad plan. Of course, this has flaming problems. If the gnolls are there to destroy the village they'll be packingtorches, flaming arrows, anything they can use to light houses on fire and now the PC's are giving them jsut that. If the PC's are giving them a whomping they'll likely retreat and let the fire do the rest of the work.
astute1 05-12-04, 01:24 PM	Gnolls like to send in packs of Hyenas to soften the enemy up before they close for the kill. I imagine Gnoll Druid or Ranger 'packmasters' whipping hoards of starved hyenas into battle (I think there are stats for the hyena in the MM, otherwise just use the stats for wolves.) Also, for elite gnolls, why not have commanders mounted on hyenadons (dire hyenas from the ice/stone age, use dire wolf stats.) Gnolls are fairly intelligent, so any attack they make will be planned nearly as well as humans. However, gnolls are more animalistic, so they would probably lose themselves in the hunt, and be unable to adapt as easily to changes in the battle plan.
Deluxe 247 G 05-12-04, 01:38 PM	Personally, I would begin my surrouding the town... Surrounding the town: Have the standard Gnoll given in the MMv3.5 to do this. Then have a few Gnoll captains(Probably NPC Gnoll Ftr-3) within their ranks. Remember, you don't have to only stick with what the MM provides you, give all the gnolls longbows. Maybe even composite longbows. And hey, if you're really feeling nasty, mighty composite longbows. I would arm the Captains with masterwork equipment. Have one general(NPC Gnoll Ftr-6) with a few minor magical items. Have all of these people hide in the nearby shrubbery, trees, whatever the surrouding area is. Then, have a small group rush into the town... Rushing the town: Have 10-20 gnolls(NPC Gnoll Brb-2) rush into the town armed with minor weapons and fire. Lots of fire. Have them try and burn down as much of the town as possible, and then start to fight. Maybe run away. This forces ALL of the townsfolk out of the town ready to be ambushed by the gnolls waiting outside. Lots of Kills for the gnolls and then the gnolls generally would all rush the town after this has been accomplished This may be too overpowered or underpowered, but this is what I would do for an organized group of moderately strong gnolls. Hope it helps, Eli
Dymo 05-12-04, 01:56 PM	A gnoll is about 7-1/2 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds. That seems awful big for size Medium ... Regular towns folk are no match for a Gnoll. Hell a regular house would be no match. LOL If you send many of them, it may be best to spread them out and attack in different areas all at once. No way the adventures can be in more than one place as a group. As the adventurers get the upper hand, just have them retreat until the adventurers move to save another area and then return, with their group reinforced to cover initial loses. The town should be pretty beat up after the fight is over though.
Bomba 05-12-04, 02:10 PM	it really depends on what the gnolls goals are. if they are looking to destroy the town then they will use the fires the players start to spread the destruction further. flushing peole out of thier homes and defensive positions and killing them out in the open. gnolls arent really smart but they arent mindles either they as stated before they will avoid armed troops and attack the weaker pesants if they can find them. if they are raiding for supplies or prisoners they wont look to spread the fires but that still shouldnt stop them from shooting flaming arrows into whatever building the PCs are using as a base to drive them into the open. i would use a the way wolves attack larger animals as insperation for thier tactics. i would have 2 main groups of gnolls raid the town from different sides. when they find the PCs or troops resisting they should attack from one direction possiblly using hyenas as shock troops and then sneak around behind the PCs and either burn them out of thier area or just assault them straight up if the PCs dont have someone looking out for gnolls trying to flank them dont even bother with the spot check untill the gnolls are really close they chould not have to much trouble staying out of sight since they are in a village and i assume there i more then one building that they can hide behind or move through while approching the PCs. dont forgt the have the gnolls withdraw if they are spotted if they have to have the hyenas or the other gnolls atack from the front again. you can keep them very busy with one a few gnolls who take cover and keep the PCs occupied while the rest raid the village.
Mantel_DeMenglamaar 05-12-04, 05:40 PM	Gnolls, even more so then their Orc cousins, are disorganized fighters. Giving them a unified battleplan, unless they have a seriously smart boss, is a bad idea from the start. The gnolls likely would be given orders like 'We're gonna kill all the humans!' That plan will likely devolve fiercely as each gnoll takes it his own way when he reaches the town. Some will go for the sack and pillage, some will go around burning the town, some will fight, and some will run like cowards at the first example of an organized defense. The fire won't be a deterrent to the gnolls, as much as a larger pain in the rear to everybody. There will still be gnolls stupid enough to try to raid flaming houses. A bard with the charm person spell and some sneakiness could REALLY mess with them by charming a gnoll to tell him the humans hid great treasure under some of the flaming hay, his fellow gnolls will get suspicous, and well...goes from there. Giving gnolls an organized battleplan is a bad idea tho. That stuff is left for teh goblins and the kobolds. This is also why the Flind was around in 2e, otherwise gnolls are just a bunch of giant, brutish nimrods out to cause as much personal destruction as possible. Have them make no sense, its much harder for the players to deal with. ;D
astute1 05-12-04, 06:07 PM	Originally posted by Mantel_DeMenglamaar Gnolls, even more so then their Orc cousins, are disorganized fighters. Orc Cousins? What are you on about? It's easy to make a Flind by taking a gnoll and tacking on some fighter levels and the elite array. BTW, a casual glance at the MM will show you that a gnoll has equal intelligence to an orc, but far higher wisdom and charisma. This indicates the natural cunning and inuitive skill of these creatures. Like their hyena brethren, gnolls are pack hunters with a quick grasp of small group tactics. They also quickly take orders from a pack leader in combat situations and are less likely to be berzerk loonies than Orcs.
PSchirf 05-13-04, 11:05 AM	Hyenas are skilled at separating a target from a herd of animals that have taken up a defensive position and then harrying, nipping and running the prey to exhaustion. Why not have the Gnolls use a similar tactic? I’d have the Gnolls break into five smaller bands and then have each band do independent hit-and-run attacks on the town. Their goal for each run into the town could be to kill one person or one animal (horse, cow, etc) to test the defenses of the town. Once the fire is started I’d have the Gnoll leaders shouting (in their native tongue) “Good idea! Burn the whole village!” and “We’ll eat the cooked meat after they’re all dead!” Spreading the fire will not be a problem for the attackers if the town has thatch roofs on any of the buildings. Their hit-and-run tactics would continue, with each force making a quick run into the town trying to spread the flames to one more building per trip in. If people attempt to put down the fires then the Gnolls will turn their attacks on the “defenders” if they are unarmed, or simply run to other buildings if they are armed. The result should be a nightmare for the defenders.
black_swan 05-13-04, 02:09 PM	Humans think Gnolls are stupid. If I was a sneaky Gnoll leader I would attack at Night with a small but believable force of Gnolls. Maybe all of those who I believe worthy of the first taste of humans.. The humans will have spent all day working on defenses and will be tired by nightfall. The first attack will go on until I feel we have put up enough of a show...destroying as many fortifications, and buildings as possible. As we fight I will look for a weakness in their defenses. then we will retreat as if they have beaten us. The humans will be tired and happy that they've won. Let the humans exhaust themselves putting out the fires we've started and tending to their wounded. then we'll return a few hours before dawn and kill them all when they are too weak to defend themselves. atleast that's how I'd do it if I was a mean hearted Gnoll leader.