Gnoll Huntmaster

Gnoll Huntmaster (CR 5)

Chaotic Evil - Medium - Humanoid (Gnoll)

Lore:	Know (Local)
6		25
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

11

Perception:
23	+13
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Low-Light Vision

Movement Types:

• Walk 30 ft.
• Lesser Swim 20 ft.

Defense

AC

21

Man Def

20

Monster Health
71	35	7
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+8
Refl:	+3
Will:	+3

Strong Against:

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		5 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+8

Man Off

+8

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Boar Spear +8 (1d8+4/19-20 x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 3x Boar Spear +8 (1d8+4/19-20 x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 1x Bristling Pilum +8 (2d8+4/19-20 x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)
  (Increment: 20 ft.; Max Range: 100 ft.)
  plus Bristling Strike

Full Attack (Ranged):

• 3x Bristling Pilum +8 (1d8+4/19-20 x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)
  (Increment: 20 ft.; Max Range: 100 ft.)
  plus Bristling Strike

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

16

STR

16

DEX

14

CON

8

INT

16

WIS

8

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 13
• Stealth: 11
• Survival: 11
• All other skills: 3 (no ranks)

Languages: Gnoll

Feats:

• Precise Shot (EFFECT: No penalty for shooting into melee at any range.)

Special Abilities

Bristling Strike (Ex) Automatic after succesful Pilum attack

When a Gnoll Huntmaster successfully damages an enemy with his Pilum attack, that enemy is considered to be flanked by any gnoll that moves adjacent to it. This flank persists until the enemy uses a move action to pull the pilum(s) out of themselves. Removing a pilum deals no additional damage.

Gnoll Huntmaster

Gnoll Huntmasters are the most wide-ranging, adventurous, and sneakiest of the common Gnolls. They are the ones who scout new lands, find new victims, and supply the pack with fresh meat and slaves, in whatever order seems most convenient.

Huntmasters are skilled in the wilderness, having good survival skills, keen senses, and considerable stealth. Their learned nature and long hours spent in slow stalks tend to make them rather 'dainty' compared to their fellow gnolls, but they more than make up for that shortcoming with their skillful use of weapons.

Combat Tactics

In battle, Gnoll Huntmasters will use Stealth to stay out of melee if at all possible. They will retreat, taking move actions or five foot steps, and making ranged attacks or full ranged attacks. If forced into melee, they will use their boar spears.

As an interesting note, Gnoll Huntmasters are fully aware of their Bristling Strike power, and will almost always hold their actions, if at range, until after some or most of their enemies have acted. They will then use ranged attacks to force flanks on enemies for their fellow gnolls in melee to exploit. It is a simple but nasty tactic, and one that is hard to defend against.

Out of Combat

Gnolls live in large, loose, rambling encampments, in things sort of like yurts made of wood, bone, and raw, rotting skins. If they have been in one place for more than a few days, their burrowing instincts will prompt them to begin digging warrens under their yurts, and if they have been in place for a while the tunnels and chambers beneath are usually even larger than their territory above. Slaves are seen everywhere, miserable and bedraggled.

They typically have a few large cooking pits where they char meat, and large open areas in which they circle and snarl, or preen. From these semi-nomadic camps, they strike out in loose bands, of varying composition and size, to prowl and hunt all their territory. Gnolls are strong and vicious, and if they were better organized could be a major threat, but as they are, even orcs can easily drive them away with numbers and tactics. Woe betide the weak and unwary when gnolls are around.

Gnoll Huntmasters make excellent and nasty random encounters. Their stealth and tracking is quite good, and they can be very useful 'harrying' forces to bedevil a party in the wild, with one Gnoll hanging back in each battle to run away and bring still more Gnolls. Huntmasters are wide-ranging, and it is not unusual to see them meeting with orcs, goblins, bugbears, and all other manner of monsters and beasts. Their Bristling Strike power only really works with other Gnolls, but they provide a solid ranged attack ability for other types of monsters even without it.

Rewards

XP: 1,600

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 1,625 gp.

Weight: 50 lbs.     Volume: 2 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)