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  1. #1

    How smart is a Gnoll?

    Would they be smart enough the shoot out a lantern sitting on the floor?

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by alloowishus View Post
    Would they be smart enough the shoot out a lantern sitting on the floor?
    That would be entirely up to the DM. It does not have to be intelligence that makes them do that - could be just irritation at the light source.
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  4. #4
    ? Its up to the DM. They come up with a reason like "The gnoll hates light sources" and poof... combat tactic. Not sure how else to answer your question. It's going to differ based on who runs the game and what they have plans for in it.
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  5. #5
    I am of two thoughts on this.

    First, most intelligent creatures that will do better in dark over light will likely be capable of deciding it is better to turn off the lightswitch than to have it on.

    Second is that in order to shoot out a lantern sitting on the floor you would have to be pretty accurate because it's a tiny target in which you have to shoot an even smaller part of the tiny target to have any immediate effect. If you consider the anatomy of a lantern there is a lot of it, you could hit that wouldn't have any effect and parts you could hit that could have unintended secondary effects.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by esmdev View Post
    I am of two thoughts on this.

    First, most intelligent creatures that will do better in dark over light will likely be capable of deciding it is better to turn off the lightswitch than to have it on.

    Second is that in order to shoot out a lantern sitting on the floor you would have to be pretty accurate because it's a tiny target in which you have to shoot an even smaller part of the tiny target to have any immediate effect. If you consider the anatomy of a lantern there is a lot of it, you could hit that wouldn't have any effect and parts you could hit that could have unintended secondary effects.
    Yeah, it would be a hard shot, but not impossible, probably easier then hitting a dodging elf. I was just asking because in the system that I use (Rolemaster) they have Outlook and IQ for each creature so you can gauge who smart it is. I don't see that in D&D and I am porting over a module. I was just wondering how smart Gnolls were supposed to be because they are kind of like Hyena/human hybrids right?

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by alloowishus View Post
    Yeah, it would be a hard shot, but not impossible, probably easier then hitting a dodging elf. I was just asking because in the system that I use (Rolemaster) they have Outlook and IQ for each creature so you can gauge who smart it is. I don't see that in D&D and I am porting over a module. I was just wondering how smart Gnolls were supposed to be because they are kind of like Hyena/human hybrids right?
    NPC gnoll in Monster Manual is intelligence of 6. Except for rolls that take that into account, its just a number to give the DM's imagination something to work with.
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  8. #8
    LordEntrails's Avatar
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    I wouldn't rely on intelligence, but rather wisdom (in D&D) for something like this. Plus as mentioned, it may not even be an ability check, after all, creatures survive and breed because they have enough "smarts" or tribal knowledge to pass on things. Just because we might not know to do something, doesn't mean that a fantasy creature in a fake world might not have enough "smarts" to do something that would help keep them alive. Such as a creature with darkvision putting out any light sources when fighting humans. Or a kobold making wildly sophisticated traps, yet not be able to count the fingers on his hand. Even things like knowing about invisible creatures and magic spells etc.

    "Now all you cubs listen about. Great granny Aga was the only survivor of her clan. They lived in caves, until they were set upon by a bunch of those bully humans with their elf and dwarf friends. They all came in using some of that magic the elfs are so good with and you couldn't see hide nor hair on them. But you could smell them, they smelled like soap! Here's what you do if you ever smell soap..."

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  9. #9

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    There's a pretty good book called the "Monsters Know what they are Doing" that breaks down monster tactics based on stats and abilities the first one is for monsters in the MM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Griogre View Post
    There's a pretty good book called the "Monsters Know what they are Doing" that breaks down monster tactics based on stats and abilities the first one is for monsters in the MM.
    They also have a website, here's a link to what they have to say about gnolls: https://www.themonstersknow.com/gnoll-tactics/

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