Editing Troll (section)

==D&D==
[[File:Troll MC 2e.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Come give granny a hug!"]]
The [[Dungeons & Dragons]] Troll (and, by extension, the [[Pathfinder]] Troll) is a lesser [[giant]]-offshoot race who are somewhere between [[ogre]]s and [[Hill Giant|hill giants]] in size, but not quite as stupid as either. However, they are still utterly savage due to an intense hunger, a side-effect of their powerful regenerative abilities. Nullified only by acid or fire, trollish regeneration has risen and fallen in terms of raw power over the edition - back in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], for example, they literally ''could not die'' unless you burned the corpse with fire or chemicals, although certain "bodily destructive" spells like Disintegrate or Petrify could usually kill them as well, if your DM agreed.

Also, to those who look at the illustrations of each take on the common troll, it seems that every new edition, trolls get less wrinkly, less skinny, more buff, and their eyes become more noticeable.

D&D trolls were also highly mutable, with many different varieties arising as a result of dwelling place (the Scrags are amphibious trolls who need to be immersed in water to regenerate) or a result of hybridization with other giants (two-headed trolls descending from troll/[[ettin]] crossbreeding). Between the sheer variety of trolls, plus the addition of templates in 3.5, fighting them could be just as frustrating as fighting [[slime]]s as you tried to figure out what you were battling (for example, is it a Rock Troll, who only dies to Acid or Sonic Attacks? Or a Fire Troll, who only dies to Cold and Acid?) and how to kill it. In fact, with the right templates, a killer DM style [[GM|gamesmaster]] could build a troll you could only kill if you ''strangled or drowned it''.

Before you ask why D&D trolls regenerate, apparently it's because they were inspired by Poul Anderson’s ''Three Hearts and Three Lions'', where regenerating trolls are an enemy defeated at one point.

D&D Trolls have their own [[god]] (or at least [[Demon Prince]]) named [[Vaprak]], whom they share with [[Ogres]]. They are usually said to hate all non-evil [[giant]]s.

And they suffer [[nilbog]]ism, becoming the Llort. If you think [[Fiend Factory]] deserves a hearing after disgracing itself with the [[Fiend Folio]], in which case you are a more forgiving person that most of us here.

In AD&D, trolls are stated to be matriarchal, living in small packs of 3-12 led by a dominant female, who gets her pick of the best males as her mates (producing a single pup about once every five years) and enforces her rule through beating the ever-living shit out of any uppity lesser females - and given trollish healing powers, these are ''bloody'' battles indeed, with the winner traditionally ripping the loser's head off to see if they'll survive the week or so it'll take for the head to grow back. The chieftess also doubles as the pack's [[shaman]], functioning as a 7th level [[cleric]] who typically has access to the Spheres of Charm, Divination, Darkness and Weather. Her main role is leading the hunt for food.

===D&D Troll Variants===
'''[[Scrag]]s''' are an amphibious troll breed.

'''Giant Trolls''' are the halfbreed bastard children of trolls and [[Hill Giant]]s, imbuing them with the size and stature of the larger giant-kin. Whilst they lack the formidable fangs of a regular troll, the ability to use a tree (or the average [[human]]) as a club and beat fuckers to death with it tends to make up for this lack, as does their ability to grab boulders and hurl them at anyone they don't like. Hill giant chieftains often keep them as elite guards, and when not found in a hill giant clan, giant trolls still tend to roam in packs of 1d12, served by vassal packs of 2d6 regular trolls - who often end up as snacks for their bigger relatives if the hunting goes poorly! Giant Trolls can be killed with fire.

'''2-Headed Giant Trolls''' are what you get when a troll shags an [[Ettin]]. They're less formidable than their half-[[Hill Giant]] counterparts, but still a formidable threat, and often serve as leaders for regular troll packs.

'''Desert Trolls''' have adapted to life in the scorching desert, which has made them immune to normal fire - to kill them, you need to use acid, magical fire, or clean water, which now dissolves their flesh like acid (especially pure or holy water is doubly effective). These trolls are tougher and more tenacious than their more common counterparts, but they are also more solitary. They skulk at the edges of settled areas, waylaying travelers and polluting sources of pure water.

'''Ice Trolls''' are smaller but smarter than regular trolls, and inhabit icy areas, typically fighting for dominance with neighboring Snow Trolls. Like [[scrag]]s, they can only regenerate if they are touching water. They are immune to cold (regular or magical) and to non-enchanted physical weapons, take double damage from fire, and have their regeneration nullified by fire and acid. Ice trolls live near settled regions, hoping to waylay and capture humans and demi-humans, even going so far as to use treasure from their victims to bait [[bandit]]s and [[adventurer]]s - when humanoid flesh is unavailable, they hunt for animals and steal livestock. They often capture humanoids alive and keep them well-fed until it's time for dinner. They have been known to hunt [[remorhaz]] and even pick off lone [[Frost Giant]]s.

'''Snow Trolls''' are another frostfell-dwelling troll variant - not as organized as their Ice Troll rivals and lacking their resistance to unenchanted weaponry, but their regeneration is much more potent and they are much nastier. These trolls always hunt alone, or at most as a mother/young child pair. Each third year, dozens or even hundreds of snow trolls gather in the mid-winter darkness to mate in dark mountain valleys unknown to other creatures.

'''Spectral Trolls''', also known as Troll Wraiths, are [[undead]] trolls cursed to take material form only in darkness, where they appear as regular trolls with jet black hair and skin. They are only vulnerable to silver and magical weapons, and can be [[Turn Undead|turned]] as if they were [[spectre]]s. A humanoid slain by a spectral troll becomes one itself in three days, unless a proper burial ceremony is performed by a priest of the victim’s religion. Spectral trolls vanish in direct sunlight. They do not take damage from sunlight, they merely fade from view and reappear at the same spot at nightfall. Even those captured, unconscious, or trapped in temporal stasis have escaped permanent imprisonment in this manner.

'''Spirit Trolls''' are either a mutated form of Spectral Troll or a hybrid of troll and [[Invisible Stalker]], depending on who you ask. Naturally invisible and immune to unenchanted weapons and cold, they are vulnerable to fire. They attack with a [[Strength]]-sapping and a bite attack that allows the spirit troll to heal itself by draining the victim's life.

'''Legacy Trolls''' are mutated [[scrag]]s from the [[Red Steel]] subsetting of [[Mystara]].

'''Troll Mutates''' are trolls who have lived in close proximity to a portal or dimensional bleedover from the [[Far Realm]], which has resulted in their regeneration going haywire and producing horrific mutations, which only multiple as the mutate takes further damage and its warped healing factor is pushed to its limit. The typical troll mutate has multiple eyes and a third arm, whilst the pack matriarch, who drives off or devours any rival females, tends to have two heads, [[psionics|mental wild talents]], and a prehensile tentacle-tail. Mutated packs spend much of their time merely surviving, for they share their environment with roving bands of [[Far Realm]]-derived horrors, such as brood [[gibberling]]s, [[Gibbering Mouther]]s, and [[myconid]] work bands. (The myconids are not particularly dangerous to the trolls, but are eaten with gusto.) These trolls appeared in the Firestorm Peak adventure, so all lore for them only describes a single tribe.

===D&D Troll PCs===
In BECMI, Trolls were amongst the "humanoid" races given a PC writeup in the Orcs of Thar splatbook. They stand out for having the highest XP requirements in the game, but between their regeneration ability and the ridiculously high (for the edition) number of hit points they were scoring? It was kind of justified.

::Troll Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligent, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
::Troll Minimum Strength: 16
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Troll has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Troll determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from - not the normal 9, but an 8, such is their terrifying appearance and reputation.
::Troll Natural Armor Class: 9
::Troll PCs retain their [[Regeneration]] (starts healing 3 rounds after first injured, heals 3 hit points per round, can't regenerate wounds inflicted by fire/acid, can't die unless destroyed with fire/acid), but this ability doesn't develop until they reach Normal Monster status (Level 0).
::Can become a [[Shaman]] (4th level) or a [[Wokani]] (2nd level).

{| class=wikitable
!Troll's level || XP Required || Troll's hit dice
|-
|Whelp (-3)||-35,200||3d8+2
|-
|Youngster (-2)||-26,400||4d8+2
|-
|Teenager (-1)||-17,600||5d8+3
|-
|0||0||6d8+3
|-
|1||35,200||7d8+4
|-
|2||105,600||8d8+4
|-
|3||246,400||-
|-
|4||528,000||9d8+5
|-
|5||828,000||10d8+5
|-
|6||1,128,000||11d8+5
|-
|7||1,428,000||-
|-
|8||1,728,000||12d8+5
|-
|9||2,028,000||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||300,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Troll 1e.jpg|1e
troll kobold REF3.png
Troll MM 2e.png|2e
Troll Night Below 1.jpg
Troll Night Below 2.jpg
Troll mutate MCAV4.jpg|Mutant Troll
Troll 3e.jpg|3e
Troll Ravenloft DMG.jpg
Troll 4e.jpg|4e
Troll 5e.jpg|5e
Troll B1.png|Pathfinder
</gallery>

{{D&D1e-Races}}
[[Category: Giants]]