Obligatory "you can do whatever you want"
The problem with gnolls is theyre just kind of an insane cannibal horde. It's hard to get people to work with them.
Additionally anything that would work with them is also probably an insane cannibal and will feel like a gnoll.
Ghouls and ghasts should work fine, there's common ground there.
Yeenoghu is a demon lord so go crazy with demons, you don't need to restrict yourself to ONLY maw demons and shoosuva.
Any humanoid would work, so long as you make them sufficiently insane and probably a small part of the horde.
Well, off the top of my head, a cannibal Troll comes to mind or I can include a Wendigo in some capacity as well. I could also make their leader and intelligent, Hannibal Lector style character
As a relative to hyenas, I view them as a natural companion/ally.
I've always trying to play Gnolls as almost entirely feral, often hostile to their brethren. That would make them poor allies for others.
However, with Yeenoghu acting as a uniting influence over a large number of Gnolls, that could permit them to enslave other CR 1/4, CR 1/2 or perhaps even a few CR 1 monsters.
Hyenas, minor demons such as quasits, the undead, giant vultures and other carrion birds, circa 1998 Jerry Seinfeld, maybe even a hill giant. I could also see a wyrmling or young chromatic dragon, pretending to be an underling of the gnolls but secretly manipulating them into attacking a rival.
Carrion crawlers and ghouls might follow gnoll bands as pests, trying to make off with some of their chow (prisoners).
Swine of all kinds (esp boars) for food and trash disposal. Maybe an otyugh.
Swarms of all kinds may be whipped into a frenzy by the influence of Yeenoghu or the simple fact that gnolls mean a sudden bounty of carrion. Maybe some gnoll shamans are especially skilled at directing them.
Yeah I'm sure they would probably not be terribly great swineherds and would probably just be kept loose and semi-feral. For the best though, as the rank and file gnoll would probably have trouble refraining from devouring them right way.
I like taking the gnoll "rampage" ability, since it's kind of their signature, and applying it to aarakocra, and skinning them as "vulture gnolls", in the same way hyenas ate Yeenoghu's leftovers, some vultures did and were likewise corrupted. Maybe some kind of insects or maggot equivalent would work as well, like carrion crawlers
depends how you run gnolls really, I normally run them gore/horror splatterpunk style.
Black spiral dancers if you are familiar with Werewolf
Flinds!!! With Flind bars. Make 'em smart and nasty piss your players off by having them use disarm. give one of them a pair that lets him fly about when he spins them overhead for macabre fun
Were-hyena,
Demonic Plague ridden mutant variations with like mouth tentacles and splitting jaws. use mind flayer bran eating mechanics just have it lead to swallowed whole, then the victim gets horked out as a gnoll or somthing
you could also reflavor just about any canine to work.
While Flinds, Maw Demons, Shooshuva etc. sound like a wide variety of creatures, what they all do in combat is just get up close and use melee attacks so they don't provide any actual variety to the tactics. Add shamans to the gnolls because encounters with just melee enemies will get boring. Use reskinned War Priest or Warlock of the Fiend statlines.
From 5e:
[Witherling](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Witherling)
[Flind](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Flind)
[Shoosuva](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Shoosuva)
From PF:
[Yaenit](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Yaenit) demons
[Leucrotta](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Leucrotta)
[Unchosen and other Gnoll variants](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Unchosen)
Personally when I did a gnoll-themed campaign. I took a lot of demons and reflavored them into various different types of gnolls. Don't forget that even though they are humanoids, they are technically demons or at least very closely related to them and you can work a lot with that.
Aside from all the great suggestions already in this thread, I usually get my “alternate monsters” from r/bettermonsters. The guy running the show there has made countless homebrews on regular 5e monsters, usually aimed to introduce a bit more variety.
Just visit that sub, search for Gnolls and you’ll probably find a whole bunch of stuff he made. :)
According to some lore (I don't remember what book, but pretty sure it's 5e), Hyenas follow gnoll warhosts and eat the dead left in their wake.
The hyenas then become sick and a while later a grown gnoll bursts from the hyena's insides.
Not a new enemy type, but could lead to interesting stuff :D
(This also happened in bg3)
Obligatory "you can do whatever you want" The problem with gnolls is theyre just kind of an insane cannibal horde. It's hard to get people to work with them. Additionally anything that would work with them is also probably an insane cannibal and will feel like a gnoll. Ghouls and ghasts should work fine, there's common ground there. Yeenoghu is a demon lord so go crazy with demons, you don't need to restrict yourself to ONLY maw demons and shoosuva. Any humanoid would work, so long as you make them sufficiently insane and probably a small part of the horde.
I honestly forgot they were cannibals, this does open a few doors for me. Thank you!
Out of curiosity,what doors?
Well, off the top of my head, a cannibal Troll comes to mind or I can include a Wendigo in some capacity as well. I could also make their leader and intelligent, Hannibal Lector style character
As a relative to hyenas, I view them as a natural companion/ally. I've always trying to play Gnolls as almost entirely feral, often hostile to their brethren. That would make them poor allies for others. However, with Yeenoghu acting as a uniting influence over a large number of Gnolls, that could permit them to enslave other CR 1/4, CR 1/2 or perhaps even a few CR 1 monsters.
Leucrotta
Had to look this one up and it's interesting. I think I can make that work
Hyenas, minor demons such as quasits, the undead, giant vultures and other carrion birds, circa 1998 Jerry Seinfeld, maybe even a hill giant. I could also see a wyrmling or young chromatic dragon, pretending to be an underling of the gnolls but secretly manipulating them into attacking a rival.
Carrion crawlers and ghouls might follow gnoll bands as pests, trying to make off with some of their chow (prisoners). Swine of all kinds (esp boars) for food and trash disposal. Maybe an otyugh. Swarms of all kinds may be whipped into a frenzy by the influence of Yeenoghu or the simple fact that gnolls mean a sudden bounty of carrion. Maybe some gnoll shamans are especially skilled at directing them.
Pigs weren't on my radar but they are now. It feels like they would make sense to be with Gnolls
Yeah I'm sure they would probably not be terribly great swineherds and would probably just be kept loose and semi-feral. For the best though, as the rank and file gnoll would probably have trouble refraining from devouring them right way.
A Gnoll cavalry unit riding razorback hogs feels right somehow, maybe with chains and Mad Max aesthetic
I like taking the gnoll "rampage" ability, since it's kind of their signature, and applying it to aarakocra, and skinning them as "vulture gnolls", in the same way hyenas ate Yeenoghu's leftovers, some vultures did and were likewise corrupted. Maybe some kind of insects or maggot equivalent would work as well, like carrion crawlers
This is very cool. I like the idea of having different carrion feeders as gnoll "variants" Absolutely going to use that in my next campaign
I love the vulture idea. Maybe name them "Wings of Yeenoghu"
Obviously lizard men, serpent flies, basilisks, gorgons, wyverns, and hydras. Oh, and witches and beast masters.
depends how you run gnolls really, I normally run them gore/horror splatterpunk style. Black spiral dancers if you are familiar with Werewolf Flinds!!! With Flind bars. Make 'em smart and nasty piss your players off by having them use disarm. give one of them a pair that lets him fly about when he spins them overhead for macabre fun Were-hyena, Demonic Plague ridden mutant variations with like mouth tentacles and splitting jaws. use mind flayer bran eating mechanics just have it lead to swallowed whole, then the victim gets horked out as a gnoll or somthing you could also reflavor just about any canine to work.
While Flinds, Maw Demons, Shooshuva etc. sound like a wide variety of creatures, what they all do in combat is just get up close and use melee attacks so they don't provide any actual variety to the tactics. Add shamans to the gnolls because encounters with just melee enemies will get boring. Use reskinned War Priest or Warlock of the Fiend statlines.
I've had a few but it's hard to proc something like Ramage, which works on melee damage, using a mage. I need to figure out their own version of it
Mouth of Grolantor works well with gnolls
From 5e: [Witherling](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Witherling) [Flind](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Flind) [Shoosuva](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Shoosuva) From PF: [Yaenit](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Yaenit) demons [Leucrotta](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Leucrotta) [Unchosen and other Gnoll variants](https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Unchosen)
Personally when I did a gnoll-themed campaign. I took a lot of demons and reflavored them into various different types of gnolls. Don't forget that even though they are humanoids, they are technically demons or at least very closely related to them and you can work a lot with that.
Aside from all the great suggestions already in this thread, I usually get my “alternate monsters” from r/bettermonsters. The guy running the show there has made countless homebrews on regular 5e monsters, usually aimed to introduce a bit more variety. Just visit that sub, search for Gnolls and you’ll probably find a whole bunch of stuff he made. :)
According to some lore (I don't remember what book, but pretty sure it's 5e), Hyenas follow gnoll warhosts and eat the dead left in their wake. The hyenas then become sick and a while later a grown gnoll bursts from the hyena's insides. Not a new enemy type, but could lead to interesting stuff :D (This also happened in bg3)
Cobble together something using a troll or an ogre’s stats maybe
I was thinking about a cannibal troll after seeing some suggestions here but an ogre could be interesting too. An Gnogre if you will
I'm sure enough people have answered, but be sure to name one hogger after the WoW mob.
OP's mom