On a grassy gnoll
If I had to guess about the humanoid I most like to slay as a second or third level character, it is a gnoll. More specially a lair full of them. There are always a some gnoll females who fight with the strength of males while protecting the five gnoll younglings [who are equivalent to kobolds] and a couple guards who have nice flails or some other blunt weapon [I am unsure if gnolls have figured out how to sharpen anything. They mostly seem to be about smashing and blunt force trauma]. There is opportunity for the characters to die if they roll or play badly, but mostly these gnolls are the tasty treat before getting to the gnoll chieftain who almost always has a couple potions of growth or healing secreted on his person, in addition to having some large necklace worth about 300 g.p. around his canine-looking neck. Chieftain gnolls often also have a battle axe + 1 or a dagger + 2 that they acquired from some piss ant local demon who gave them the weapon because Drolic the gnoll knew where Zl’ee’sd could get some high-end baby flesh. The battle with the chieftain will be a fierce one; he will have a couple of other lieutenants by his side and one or two party members may become partially dismembered. But after hacking Drolic’s head off to grab that necklace, it will all seem worthwhile. So here is to all the gnolls hanging out with their god, Yeenoghu on the 422nd layer of the Abyss. Thanks for the effort.
All Hail Yeenoghu