[Hellstrom]

Playing a gnoll, I've noticed something I find odd. Gnolls don't walk or run as fast as humans and other races do. This doesn't appear to be related to the slowdown from wearing heavy armor, as I've walked and run alongside other races in heavy armor and get quickly outpaced by them.

My assumption is that this is not intentional, but before I posted a bug on it I wanted to make sure. The following makes me think it is a bug:

Gnolls are hyena-headed, evil humanoids with long limbs that possess lean strength... Despite the somewhat awkward appearance of their legs and feet, gnolls walk as bipeds and are as agile and speedy as a normal human.

I think it's due to something with the gnoll models themselves and the animations that are built for them. But since it's possible to script slowing down of PCs (including gnolls) due to the armor they're wearing, I wonder is it possible to fix this issue so that gnolls walk and run at the same speed as other PCs?

The main reason I'm asking is that since gnolls cannot ride horses and get that speed boost, it means they are slower than almost every creature in the game which can make things pretty dangerous for them. The other night I was playing and ran into an Aballin. Even after downing an Elixir of Retreat Garr was still being outpaced by the Aballin and barely survived.

I know Gnolls have a number of advantages, but they also have a number of disadvantages that balance those out I think. But if this is intentional, let me know and I'll pipe down :)

[Nehetsrev]

My Gnoll, Ollivarra (who is a monk), moves almost as fast as mounted characters do. I didn't notice her moving slower than other characters at lower levels before the monk-speed began to take effect. As to Aballin moving faster than your character, they frequently have random speed boosts themselves, and sometimes even my speedy monk can't out-pace them.

I guess to test your assertion that Gnolls in general move slower than other races you'd have to get one wearing AC 0 clothing and then have them race side-by-side against a Human PC also in AC 0 clothing with neither of the two having either the monk or barbarian class which both get speed bonuses.

[Hellstrom]

As I said I've walked side-by-side with humans who I know were wearing heavy armor which should slow us down equally. You might well not have noticed a speed difference if others were traveling with armor on and Ollivarra (naturally) didn't.

But ok, I can try to re-confirm w/o armor on.

[Purulent Carcass]

I did test this with Garr and my PC Phydran and it does appear they are slightly slower.

[Hellstrom]

There appears to be about a 3 foot difference over a distance of about 30 feet with no armor on and walking. As best I can tell the difference is a little greater while running. I think I've seen a larger difference when wearing heavy armor and trying to keep up with other heavily armored PCs but haven't tested it like Carcass and I did tonight to try to quantify it. I can do that if you need me to.

[Nehetsrev]

Alrighty then. Sounds like it's time to get that fixed (if possible) since your testing revealed that Gnolls are moving slower than other PC races. Personally, I agree that they should move at least as fast as Humans, if not a little faster given their taller stature (and thus longer possible stride). While we're at it, maybe we should ask to have the speeds of shorter races such as Halflings, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Goblins reduced a little to reflect their much smaller stature (and thus much shorter stride)? Just a thought really. *shrugs*

(PS - I'm tired and probably shouldn't be posting due to my brain not functioning at it's best right now.)

[Hellstrom]

Well, as far as adjusting speeds for all races, what you suggest might be more realistic, but there are quite a few non-realistic things we ignore in the game for balance. I think this should be one of them.

I call for equality (in movement speed) amongst all playable races! Come on people, smile on your brother. Everybody get together, try to love one another right now :P

[Bertram Anders]

The shorter races already move slower.

[Animayhem]

Though if you take monk levels, does that not help speed up races who are normally slower?

[Bertram Anders]

Yes, it does. Monks have a speed bonus that increases with level.