Last week I talked about Elementals, and this week, I’m going to return to a topic that I’ve let lie fallow for far too long—monstrous humanoids!
As before, my goal is to try to world-build plausible, morally
ambiguous civilizations that your players can interact with in a way
besides stabbing, but your players still won’t feel too bad about
stabbing. I’ll offer ‘dark’ and ‘light’ interpretations for each
concept, as well as ways to homebrew some mechanics to match the flavor.
Remember—I’m doing this to inspire, so I encourage you to take what
I’ve written and run with it however you please!
GNOLLS
Gnolls are portrayed as evil humanoids that make D&D orcs look like
elves—demon worshipping monsters who slay all they come across and are a
general blight on the land. Now, that’s all well and good (as I said
before), but if you want a more complex interpretation, consider looking
at their animal inspiration. Hyenas are both hunters and scavengers and
combining those two concepts gives you a group of creatures that prey
on foes that are weak or dying already. We could amp this up—maybe they
prey on whole kingdoms that are suffering from a chronic or acute
weakness. Other societies may view the arrival of gnolls as the ultimate
bad omen—a sign of inescapable doom. This would make ‘go fight some
gnolls’ a portentous and fearsome mission, instead of just a random kill
quest. To do so would indicate that their home is in a poor state
indeed!
Brighter Gnolls would have a role that is more
associated with cleansing, rather than predation on the weak. Perhaps
they have a ‘natural’ role in the destruction of the undead. Having them
arrive to help the players clear out an army of undead would probably
cause the players to like them! Associating them with the grave domain
of clerics or having them clean up dead bodies after battles are similar
‘good’ factors you could apply to them.
Darker Gnolls would be a lot like their canon
counterparts, except they would be much more discriminating in their
targets (attacking the weak, as stated above) and would be more
proactive in the creation of valid targets—sending their agents to sow
strife and discord amongst nations that are already suffering! It’s
entirely possible for a ‘complex’ interpretation of gnolls to have both
their ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ interpretations be valid alongside my stated
interpretation. After all, there are good and evil humans that live in
the same society—why not have this be the case for the monstrous races?
LIZARDFOLK
Lizardfolk are typically the ‘neutral’ monstrous humanoids—creatures
that are close to beasts and have no interest in complex morality, just
surviving off the land and killing to eat. This is the sort of thing I
usually try to hunt for with my ‘alternate character interpretations’,
so I have to be a bit creative to deviate from it without ignoring its
value. Consider the ‘primeval’ nature of lizards—what if the lizardfolk
were the first intelligent humanoids to walk the world? Consider their
swim speed and skill at creating simple but effective goods with the
resources they have at their disposal. What if they used these skills to
become an ocean-going culture, travelling the world on simple but
effective ships fashioned from whatever they find? This would dovetail
nicely with their tendency towards cannibalism—you eat whatever you can
on the open ocean. These lizardfolk would look down upon the rest of the
world, viewing their technology as unreliable and bizarre.
Traditionally lizardfolk are awed by magic—what if they had their own
storm magics that carried them across the seas? These two concepts would
explain their culture’s rejection of the technology of other humanoids.
Brighter Lizardfolk could be elves by another
statblock—ancient and wise creatures who are much closer to nature than
other humanoids. This could free up elves to fit another interpretation
without worrying about their traditional niche remaining unfilled.
Alternatively, they could be ancient companions of the elves—perhaps
being rivals who view their interaction with nature and magic in a
wholly different light than the elves. These enigmatic creatures would
likely possess a connection to druidic magic instead of the storm magic I
mentioned earlier.
Darker Lizardfolk in this interpretation would
descend without warning on hapless coastal communities to raid them for
food and supplies. These primitive pirates would be as the Vikings
were—deadly river raiders that possess superior mobility and a host of
surprising technological innovations despite their dearth of
traditionally civilized traits!
YUAN-TI
Yuan-Ti have been explored extensively in Volo’s Guide, but despite the
many cultural details being supplied, their morality remained as flat as
a board! If you want to have morally complex Yuan-Ti, take some of
their traits and look at ways they would manifest in ways not associated
with confrontation. Yuan-Ti have a strong association with lies and
deception—perhaps that manifests in a way besides evil infiltration?
These Yuan-Ti may have a strong bardic tradition and may lie a lot for
no sinister reason—acting more like pranksters or braggarts than cold,
calculating infiltrators. Their larger monstrosity cousins are typically
portrayed as acting in lockstep with their ‘common’ pureblood
humanoids—what if they didn’t? What if the monstrosity versions of the
Yuan-Ti were created to fight some long-passed apocalyptic war, and now
that the war is passed, nobody knows what to do with them? These
monstrosities may use their powers to rule over their former brethren.
They may be renegades, unwilling to stop fighting a war that has long
ended. They may be outcasts, treated the way that veterans are all too
often treated once the fighting has stopped—an unpleasant reminder and
an economic liability. After all, it’s hard to work a trade with hands
that are vipers (WTF Yuan-ti Malison Type 2). These questions suggest a
highly troubled culture, but not one without humanizing qualities.
Brighter Yuan-Ti could be in the middle of an
internal crisis. Their former evil ways have backfired spectacularly
(perhaps due to the players) and now their culture is in crisis. The
pureblood ‘infiltrators’ have defected to a society that gives them
agency in their own lives and their monstrous cousins are tired of being
living weapons. A revolution is either brewing or in full swing, with
their old caste focused on world domination having failed one too many
times. This isn’t traditional ‘brightness’, but it can be a very
satisfying way to end an arc with the Yuan-Ti as more traditional
villains!
Darker Yuan-Ti that still try to keep some of the
interpretations I mentioned above would be full-blown slavers, using
their mind-control powers and super-soldier monstrosities to ensure that
no Yuan-Ti must work a day in their lives. This would be a great way to
make the Yuan-Ti villains while still allowing them to have a thriving
inner life that doesn’t involve taking over the world. After all, there
are plenty of human civilizations that have relied on coerced labor that
were admired by their peers and by civilizations of the future!
KENKU
The canon Kenku have ‘cursed by a wizard’ as their backstory, which is
never something I’ve found terribly compelling. If you like that
interpretation, no problem, but another one that works with the
‘artificially lost voice’ theme is one of failed self-improvement. Once a
race of masters of the sky and magic (you can make them former
Aaracokra if they are a major part of your world), they attempted to
perform a ritual that would let them cast spells without verbal
components, speak any language, and cast certain spells at-will
(Thunderclap, Silence, Shatter, and others like it make good options). A
decent interpretation for this ritual was that it was part of a world
domination attempt, but if that’s too cliché for you, no big deal. It
could be the result of some grand conspiracy (maybe there’s one
super-Kenku who stole all that power), an attempt at transhumanism (if
you like a sci-fi spin on your D&D), or maybe it was just because
being super-powerful is neat! Their actual society would likely be
pretty similar to that listed in the Monster Manual—mostly living a
hidden urban life.
Darker Kenku may still be trying to take over the
world! Perhaps their leaders have the power of all those stolen
voices—maybe they’re the ones who stole them. This would make them
fearsome spellcasters and would make them perfect enemies for a PC
Kenku!
Lighter Kenku may act as guardians of magic,
preventing mad mages from repeating the terrible event that struck down
their species! These Kenku may have items or special abilities that make
them powerful foes of mages (like the Mage Slayer feat). These could
make them powerful allies of the party—or powerful enemies!
Thanks to /u/tsarnickolas1914 for his ideas on Kenku!
BULLYWUGS
These froglike humanoids are typically treated as jokes in their ‘canon’
portrayals, and I don’t intend to lose too much of that flavor, but I
think they can be reinterpreted in a more robust way without losing that
sense of fun. Ultimately, three aspects of bullywugs stand out—they can
move in swampy terrain and water without difficulty but are otherwise
slow, they put a strong emphasis on the acquisition of wealth and
trinkets from other civilizations, and they put a strong focus on
hierarchy as enforced through over-the-top titles and pageantry. In my
interpretation, bullywugs sate their desire for wealth and retain a
tactical advantage by controlling critical junctions on river routes,
like swamps and deltas. While some will simply raid any passing
traveler, the clever amongst them will quickly rise to the top by
realizing that there’s more to gain from simply extracting a toll from
each traveler. The proactive amongst them may even accept payment as
guards or mercenaries as an opportunity to kill their rivals. This sort
of political maneuvering could dovetail nicely into a tendency to
develop arcane and unnecessarily complex titles for their leadership,
like “Arch-Vice-Regent of the Northern Territory of Blackmire”. I don’t
know what that means, and neither do you—just know it means something to
the bullywugs! These trade-route-adjacent locations not only give the
bullwugs a chance to acquire that sweet, sweet gold, it also gives them a
chance to indulge in their other favorite pastime—cargo cults!
Bullywugs are known for their love of cultural artifacts from other
cultures that they are often loathe to attempt to understand, kinda like
an American guy who gets a tattoo in Chinese of their takeout order.
These bullywugs would refer to any behavior that isn’t part of their
culture as a ‘superstitious ritual’ and develop absurd theories about
their purpose. This is by no means necessary, but it can be a lot of fun
in a sillier campaign!
Brighter Bullywugs would require a more serious take
on their culture besides greed and cultural misinterpretation. They
would likely be less greedy and fairer in their rule over their swamp.
Associating them with druid magic may be a good way to pull this off.
Another change would be to make them respectful and genuinely curious
about others, instead of dismissing them out of hand. It’d make the
players like them more as well!
Darker Bullywugs wouldn’t necessarily involve making
them more evil, but instead making them more competent. A sense of
superiority over others is a lot more dangerous when it’s backed up by
actual power. This could be accomplished by making them quite wealthy
due to their control over critical trade routes—powerful enough to hire
mercenaries and mages to impose their will outside their mires.
TL;DR Gnolls as scavengers of dying civilizations,
Lizardfolk as ancient seafolk, Yuan-Ti as people who aren’t wholly
focused on world domination, Kenku as victims of hubris instead of
wizards, and Bullywugs as river toll booth operators.
(Originally published here on July 10, 2019)
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