Borbotos Gnolls (11 RP)

Art Credit: Satoshi Kamanaka and Samurai Sheepdog. (c) 2021 Used with permission.

On many worlds, gnolls are a monstrous race who worship gods of chaos, death, and destruction. Occasionally, though, they can escape that stigma and become valued members of society. On the world of Theia, for example, gnolls are respected for their knowledge of textiles and their ability to raise beasts of burden to help run their trade caravans.

Physical Description: Gnolls typically appear as humanoid jackals, hyenas, and pharaoh hounds. Those native to the country of Borboto dress in sophisticated colors, while their more feral cousins in Wutente prefer tans and grays that aid them while hiding in and around dunes.

Society: Gnolls are not known to keep their own society, prefering small packs and families, either as hunters or when protecting caravans. The closest structure the race has to leadership comes when one must make decisions. If a fight breaks out, the rest of the pack does things the winner’s way, while those opposed are either killed or shunned.

Relations: Borbotos Gnolls have fought with orcs for as long as they can remember, but they otherwise get along with the other races that live in or frequent their country. Since they raise some of the best mounts for the sky races and caravans that travel the country, they are treated well by their hosts when a family visits a city between jobs.

Gnolls outside of Borboto continue to live in tribal communities, where they are known to fight with dwarves and orcs over patches of desert. While still willing to act as protection for those seeking passage across wastelands or salt flats, they lack the connections to other races that their cousins have developed and cultivated over time.

Alignment and Religion: The feral gnolls in Wutente are chaotic neutral, bordering on evil. In contrast, their cousins in Borboto lean more toward good, although they can still be a challenge to work with when there’s a misunderstanding. Gnolls capable of understanding religion often worship the god of travel and luck, or the god of destruction.

Adventures: Exiled gnolls and those without family will adopt a pack and adventure with it. Borbotos gnolls are natural barbarians, clerics, rangers, and zealots.

Names: Gnolls often have a name by which their family refers to them and another representing who they become as they mature. It is this name that many gnolls present to the world.

Family Names: These tend to describe either a task the family is known to do well, or a physical distinction between them and other gnolls. Examples include: Brokenearth, Chipgrin, Spot-Bearer, Sunseeker, Treefinder, and Worldpainter.

Table: Random Starting Ages
Adulthood Intuitive1 Self-Taught2 Trained3
15 years +3d6 years
(18 – 33 years)
+5d6 years
(20 – 45 years)
+7d6 years
(22 – 67 years)

1 This category includes barbarians, oracles, rogues, and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, cavaliers, fighters, gunslingers, paladins, rangers, summoners, and witches.
3 This category includes alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards.

Table: Random Height and Weight
Gender Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier
Male 5 ft. 6 in. +2d6 in.
(5 ft. 8 in. – 6 ft. 6 in.)
130 lbs. +(2d6x5 lbs.)
(140 – 190 lbs.)
Female 5 ft. 5 in. +2d6 in.
(5 ft. 7 in. – 6 ft. 5 in.)
125 lbs. +(2d6x5 lbs.)
(135 – 185 lbs.)

Standard Racial Traits

  • Ability Score Modifiers: Borbotos gnolls still greatly appreciate gift they’ve been given, and try to repay that feeling by bringing more color to the world. They can be naive at times, but try their best anyway. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Charisma, and –2 Wisdom.
  • Size: Gnolls are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Type: Gnolls are humanoids with the gnoll subtype.
  • Base Speed: (Sand Walker) Borbotos gnolls have a base speed of 30 feet. They can move through natural difficult terrain at their normal speed while within desert terrain. Magically altered terrain affects them normally.
  • Languages: Gnolls begin play speaking Common and Gnoll. Gnolls with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

DEFENSE RACIAL TRAITS

  • Desert Runner: Gnolls receive a +4 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue and exhaustion, as well as any other ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, and hot or cold environments.
  • Natural Armor: Gnolls have a naturally thick hide, which grants a +1 natural armor bonus to their Armor Class.

FEAT AND SKILL RACIAL TRAITS

  • Beast Taming: Borbotos gnolls famously raise bulettes and wyverns for travel and guard work, but their knowledge is easily adapted to other beasts. They add their Wisdom modifier on Handle Animal checks in addition to Charisma, and Handle Animal is always a class skill for them. A gnoll with wild empathy also adds its Wisdom bonus to that check.

SENSES RACIAL TRAITS

  • Darkvision: Gnolls can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.

OFFENSE RACIAL TRAITS

  • Weapon Familiarity: Borbotos gnolls are proficient with all bows (including crossbows) and the sandthumper (as an exotic weapon).

Alternate Racial Traits

The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.

  • Caravan Driver: Some gnoll families have become experts at making long treks between locations. When traveling overland, these gnolls and a number of their allies equal to 10 times their character level reduce the amount of nonlethal damage taken as a result of a forced march by half. Creatures benefiting from this racial trait can delay the fatigued effect of a forced march for a number of hours equal to the gnoll’s Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). A creature that delays this effect becomes exhausted instead of fatigued when the condition takes effect. This counts as the Motivated March feat for the purpose of meeting prerequisites. This ability replaces desert runner.
  • Desert Warrior: Wutenten gnolls are physically intimidating, and their survival skills are very well known, but they can be selfish and difficult to get along with when not doing something they want. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma. . This alters the gnoll’s ability scores.
  • Fafutan Weapon Familiarity: Fafutan gnolls are proficient with the buugeng, dire chakram, poi, and razor wire. This replaces Borbotos weapon familiarity.
  • Long-Limbed: Some gnolls have disproportionately long limbs, which grants them either the Fleet or Lunge feat. This replaces Borbotos weapon familiarity.
  • Fuschian Gift: Like other races on Theia, gnolls are sometimes born with a red tinge in their vision. This doesn’t appear to negatively affect the gnoll’s sight, but they are more aware of the presence of psychic magic than others. They gain a +1 trait bonus on all Will saves made to resist mind-affecting effects and treat their caster level as 1 higher when casting spells and spell-like abilities with the mind-affecting descriptor. This trait replaces weapon familiarity.
  • Merchant Family: Gnolls born into merchant families are expert tradespeople. They gain a +1 racial bonus on all Appraise and Craft checks of one type. They always treat Appraise and Sense Motive as class skills. This trait replaces beast tamer.
  • Spire Walker: Borboto is well known for its vast canyons and soaring spires. The gnolls of that region sometimes master its terrain in order to get through it quickly. They can move through natural difficult terrain at their normal speed while within mountain terrain. Magically altered terrain affects them normally. This ability replaces sand walker.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Lands of Theia © 2021, Samurai Sheepdog; Authors: Steven Rasheed James and Kevin Glusing.

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