>>15954Its a fantasy creature. Essentially its a 6-7 foot tall hyena like creature that functions as a wendigo for more wooded, savanna, or otherwise warmer climates. (Though the ones blessed by their dark God can get even larger.) They typically have an insatiable hunger for the flesh of living and dead creatures.
They're typically depicted as driven mad by their need for bloodlust due to the ties with their demon God, and are typically birthed when a tainted hyena gorges itself; allowing its belly to explode and thus giving birth to a fully grown gnoll.
(The God of gnolls name is Yeenoghu)
Though, there are gnolls who have broken their ties with that God over generations and have eventually developed a higher intelligence and *can* be negotiated with. Though, ill put it to you this way:
In terms of most DnD campaigns even these gnolls are usually extremely evil and less reasonable than orcs. Depending on the group of gnolls you run into, some can even pursue the intellectual arts of magic. (Wizards. And again it depends on your campaign. Technically the more insane and demon bound gnolls can, but their intelligence is more akin to how the xenomorphs from Alien operate: with a desire to consume and kill everything around them. And to reproduce.)
The biggest difference outside of becoming more self aware and reasonable is that the more detached a group is from Yeenoghu loyalists is that the former no longer receive blessings, and are much much less likely to be born part fiendish