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| [[Image:troll.png|thumb|500px|A troll in its natural habitat of an imageboard.]]
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| A '''troll''' is a person who posts inflammatory comments in an attempt to start a fight on the internet. The term itself originated from the trolling fishing method.
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| As most species of mythological troll can only be totally defeated through the use of fire or acid, many internet users assume this will be true of the internet troll. However, the internet troll is a [[Powergamer|Min-Maxing Powergaming Wanker]], and always has some combination of templates and one-level PrC dips to make it immune to Flaming attacks, or worse still is able to feed off them and increase its Trolling ability. This is the reason 3 trolls seem to pop back up and start three more worthless RAGE threads for every one that is defeated by logic or sage, neither of which are listed as doing fire or acid damage in the [[Dungeon Master's Guide|DMG]] or [[Player's Handbook|PHB]].
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| ==Fantasy trolls==
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| Oh, you wanted to know about these, eh?
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| Trolls originated in European mythology, with the iconic forms hailing from Scandinavian myths, though similar creatures like ''[[Oni]]'' or even Bigfoot exist in other cultures. Other than that, it's really hard to pin down what a "troll" officially is. According to [[TVTropes]], this is because whenever one european culture didn't have a word for one of the mosnters in another one's folklore, it was translated simply as "troll." Often they're big dumb brutes who turn to stone in sun light; one of the most well-known examples of these in fantasy literature would be the three trolls in [[Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Hobbit]]''. Norse myths go further and say these trolls are descended from or otherwise related to [[giant]]s, or ''Jötnar''. Other times, they are portrayed as smaller, social beings that can turn invisible and hoard gold and treasure, a bit like [[dwarf|dwarves]] or [[gnome]]s. They're usually portrayed as fairly ugly, but not always; female trolls being [[monstergirls|surprisingly gorgeous, if inhuman]] isn't unheard of - for example, the Scandinavian [[Huldra]] is technically a female troll, but looks more like a [[nymph]] with a fox's or cow's tail, and/or a back that is either covered in bark or "hollow like a rotting tree", who just so happens to be as strong as ten men and very interested in securing a human husband.
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| In fantasy gaming, trolls are typically the next step up from or equivalent to [[ogre]]s in the scale of "monstrous humanoids". Generally regarded as being giant-kin, due to the giant/troll/ogre overlap in European folklore, trolls are usually portrayed as being incredible dim-witted but savage, strong and tough. They may also have one or two innate magical abilities to further differentiate them from ogres, with the most iconic of these being the ability to regenerate, thanks to the influence of [[Dungeons & Dragons]].
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| The D&D Troll (and, by extension, the [[Pathfinder]] Troll) is a lesser [[giant]]-offshoot race who are somewhere between ogres and 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.
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| 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''.
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| 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.
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| D&D Trolls have their own [[god]] (or at least [[Demon Prince]]) named [[Vaprak]].
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| In [[Shadowrun]], trolls are essentially the game's equivalent to ogres, being a relative of the [[orc]] metahuman strain who grows even larger and more powerful, with pronounced bony growths, mostly in the form of long, curling, ram-like horns sprouting from the skull. Like orcs, they serve as a stand-in for real-world racial minorities in many ways.
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| In [[Warhammer]] Fantasy, trolls are one of the races allied with the [[Orcs & Goblins]] army, being one of the few creatures even stupider and more brutal than the greenskins. These ogre-like [[Chaos]]-touched humanoids are mindless predators, who'll eat just about anything courtesy of hyper-corrosive stomach juices. This meant that not only could they regenerate and appear in mutant varieties for more killing power (rock trolls that were magic resistant due to turning partially into living stone as a result of eating too much rock, for example), but they could also wipe out whole regiments of heavily armoured foes by puking on them. For many years GeeDubs had managed to acquire (re: Throw some food towards and then beat them around the head) some Stone Trolls to provide menial labour in their Mail Order division. However after a dispute, they demanded to be renamed something less conspicuous to what they actually were. After all, it is hard to kill and eat interns if they can see the obvious signs of troll life in the warehouse. They're renamed to 'Troggoth' in [[Age of Sigmar]].
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| [[Monster Hunter International]] Trolls are much like the D&D Troll. They are big, green, ugly, strong and regenerate while being weak to fire. There's one critical difference though: They're also highly proficient at non-in-person communication methods. In the past they were primarily mail and phone scammers (eg Nigerian prince). Now they are hackers and, yes, '''internet''' trolls.
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| ==Monstergirls==
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| [[File:MGE Troll.jpg|thumb|right|250px|With how diversely trolls look, this is a perfectly legitimate depiction of a female troll. (No we don't know where her nipples are either)]]
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| {{monstergirls}}
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| Troll [[monstergirl]]s are a touch rare, mostly because, due to what defines a troll being so diverse, they are all-too-often easily confused with [[ogre]] monstergirls.
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| An artist called F.K. Andersson portrays his female trolls as inspired by Shadowrun's trolls; tall, curvaceous [[musclegirl]]s with lion-like tails, cute little tusks, and curling ram-like horns. They regularly seek out humans to interbreed with (as do their male counterparts, who are likewise portrayed as fairly handsome) because prolonged interbreeding with only trolls causes them to devolve into hideous, mindless monsters, forcing them to regularly "supplement" their blood with human blood. Still, the couples tend to be happy.
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| The [[Huldra]] is an actual mythical "troll" who is portrayed as being both very attractive and very interested in winning herself a human husband.
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| The [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] bases its trolls on Germanic myths, predominantly Swedish; their trolls are shy, gentle and affectionate humanoids with big ears, oversized hands & feet, and cute little cow-like tails. They suffer an inferiority complex about their appendages, as well as their strongly arousing feminine musk, and so decorate themselves with flowers to try and make themselves "look pretty". They possess a powerful natural affinity for earth [[elementalism]], and some forward-thinking individuals have actually sought them out as brides, hoping that when the Demon Lord finally gets past the Chief God's "no men born of monsters!" curse, their sons will likewise be powerful [[wizard]]s with prodigious affinity for the magics of earth and plants.
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| ==Patent Trolls==
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| Patent trolls are real-world extortionists that shake down people for 'infringing' their criminally vague, broad, and utterly useless patents (unless you count having a patent that that can be used for shaking someone down, ''and only for shaking someone down'', as useful). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bxcc3SM_KA]
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| See Games Workshop
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| ==See Also==
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| *[[Tzeentch]]
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| *[[RAGE]]
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| *[[Female Space Marines]]
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| *[[4e]]
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| *[[Twilight]]
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| *[[Trollzyn]]
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| *[[50 Copper and Ludi'drizz't]]
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| *[[Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls]]
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| *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670if6Etx0o|"Troll" a poem by Shane Koyczan]
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| ==Gallery==
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| <gallery>
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| Image:ITT troll.JPG|4chan is the preferred environment of a troll.
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| Image:Trolling.jpg|Now you can be a troll to!
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| Image:RealTroll.jpg|That is how trolls were supposed to look.
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| Image:3BGG_littlegoat01_v1_x1_sm.jpg|No, /tg/, you are the little goat.
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| Image:Trollfishing.png|There is no better troll bait than [[Female Space Marines]].
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| Image:Disagreement_graph.jpg|Trolls start at the bottom and work their way up to the basement.
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| Image:FUUUUUUUUCK.jpg
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| Image:MailOrderTroll.jpg|GeeDubs former Troll delivery service (and check out the Bretonnian descriptions)
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| Image:God-Troll of Mankind.PNG|What heretics want you to believe.
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| </gallery>
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| {{D&D1e-Races}}
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| [[Category:Monsters]][[Category:RAGE]]
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