Troll

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Greyhawk creature
Troll
A troll, as depicted in the 3.5 Monster Manual (2003).
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Type Giant
Subtype
First appearance Dungeons & Dragons (1974).

Trolls are predatory creatures of the Giant type. In the Flan language, they are known as trulent.

Ecology

Environment

Trolls are most often found in cold, mountainous regions, but can be encountered nearly anywhere.

Trolls are prevalent in the notoriously-named Troll Fens, as well as the Corusk and Yatil Mountains. A black-hided variety can be found in the Land of Black Ice.

Typical physical characteristics

The average troll stands nine feet high and weighs roughly 500 pounds, though females tend to be a bit larger than males. The hide of trolls is rubbery, and usually either moss green, putrid grey, or mottled gray and green. Their coarse hair is typically iron grey, or greenish-black.

Trolls initially seem to be somewhat shorter, due to their sagging shoulders and tendency to hunch forward. They walk with an uneven gait, and their arms dangle and drag the ground when running. Despite this apparent awkwardness, trolls are quite agile.

Trolls are infamous for their regenerative abilities, able to recover from the most grievous of wounds or regenerate entire limbs given time. Severing a troll's head results merely in temporary incapacitation, rather than death. After cutting off a troll's head or other limbs, one must seal the wounds with fire or acid to prevent regeneration. Because of this, most adventurers will typically carry some sort of implement capable of creating fire.

Alignment

Trolls are usually chaotic evil.

Society

Trolls often band together with ogres, and sometimes act as guardians in gnoll lairs.

Religion

Trolls usually worship Vaprak, the Destroyer, though some revere the Oeridian god, Erythnul.

Language

Trolls speak Giant

History

Troll Variants

  • Black troll - Also known as demon trolls, these horned trolls reside in the Abyss and possess powerful magical abilities.
  • Blood troll - Lawful evil red-skinned trolls who often serve devils.
  • Cave troll - Powerful, feral trolls that often live underground.
  • Crystalline troll - Charismatic troll with crystalline skin.
  • Deep Sea troll - These trolls have a primal connection to water. They terrorize the oceans and coastlines.
  • Desert troll - Chameleon-like, intelligent ambush hunters.
  • Fell troll - Huge, two-headed troll.
  • Fire troll - Immune to fire and acid.
  • Forest troll - Includes variant "muskwart".
  • Giant troll - Giant trolls are the result of trolls breeding with hill giants.
  • Gray troll - Having been nearly energy drained to death by undead creatures, these emaciated trolls forge strong ties to negative energy and have venomous spittle.
  • Ice troll - Cold-dwelling trolls.
  • Mountain troll - Massive trolls that prowl mountains. Includes variant Halruuan mountain troll.
  • Phaze troll - Mutated by great concentrations of magic or Underdark radiations, these trolls possess some magical powers and are more intelligent than their brethren.
  • Pseudo-troll - Troll from the Far Realm with the pseudonatural creature template.
  • Rock troll - Trolls with an affinity for earth, they possess natural camouflage in areas of stone. Rock trolls sometimes are found on the Elemental Plane of Earth.
  • Scrag - These are aquatic cousins of the troll.
  • Spirit troll - Spirit trolls are a crossbreed of troll and invisible stalker.
  • Stone troll - Stone Trolls have rough, somewhat rocky skin and are generally native to mountain ranges
  • Tree troll - Small arboreal trolls created by magic gone awry.
  • Troll hunter - An ordinary, though more cunning than usual troll who is not satisfied with merely eating civilized beings but trains to hunt them relentlessly.
  • Two-headed troll - These creatures are a horrendous crossbreed of troll and ettin.
  • War troll - Trolls bred for war that form mercenary companies.
  • Wasteland troll - Found in mountains and badlands of the deserts.

Related creatures

  • Llort - (Llort is "troll" spelled backwards) A creature visually indistinguishable from a troll, with similar methods of attacking. Llorts, however, have at some point been affected by a temporal magic effect which means that damage done to them heals them. To kill a llort, once damage has been done to it, it is necessary to use healing magic in order to reduce its hit points. It is also the case that, once its hit points fall below its original level, trollish regeneration kicks in and will also heal the llort.
  • Trollhound - Wolflike creatures that share many of the same traits as trolls, including the powerful regenerative capabilities. They often associate with trolls.
  • Gnoll - back when the gnoll creature was still in development, it was meant to be a hybrid between a gnome and a troll (hence the name gnoll) but the designers abandoned the hybrid idea, and gave it a Hyena-like appearance for unknown reasons.

Creative origins

While trolls can be found throughout folklores worldwide, the D&D troll has little in common with these. Instead it was clearly inspired by Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. This includes their appearance, as tall skinny humanoids with long noses and rubbery skin, their ability to regenerate, and their weakness to fire.

Publication history

Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1976)

The troll was one of the first monsters introduced in the earliest edition of the game, in the Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974), where they are described as thin and rubbery, loathsome creatures able to regenerate.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The troll appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where they are described as horrid carnivores that know no fear and are able to regenerate damage taken.

Several new varieties of troll were introduced in the Fiend Folio (1981), including the giant two-headed troll, the giant troll, the ice troll, and the spirit troll. The module Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982) introduced the marine troll, also known as the scrag, which was later reprinted in Monster Manual II (1983).

The black troll and rock troll were introduced in Dragon #141, in the Dragon's Bestiary column (January 1989).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The troll appears first in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989), and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993) along with several troll variants.

The Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (1992) reintroduced the ice troll. The snow troll first appeared in Dungeon #43 (September 1993), and was later reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994).

Several new types of trolls were introduced in Dragon #199's "Dragon's Bestiary" column (November 1993), including the fire troll the gray troll, the phaze troll, the stone troll, and the trollhound. The fire troll was later reintroduced in Paizo's Dragon Compendium, Volume 1 (2005).

Monstrous Compendium Annual Four (1998) included the Far Realm creature, the troll mutate.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The troll appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000).

The troll is further detailed in Dragon #301 (November 2002), in The Ecology of the Troll, which also introduced the deep sea troll, the fiendish troll, the ice troll, the rock troll, and the scrag.

Savage Species (2003) presented the troll as both a race and a playable class.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The troll appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003), which also included information on the scrag. Several new trolls were introduced in Monster Manual III (2004), including the cave troll, the crystalline troll, the forest troll, the mountain troll, and the war troll. The wasteland troll was introduced in Sandstorm (2005).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

The troll appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), along with the war troll and fell troll.

Miniatures

Trolls appear in the D&D Miniatures: Harbinger set #77 (2003).

Bibliography

  • Baclawski, Alec. "The Dragon's Bestiary: Those Terrible Trolls." Dragon #199. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1993.
  • Burlew, Rich, et al. Monster Manual III. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
  • Cook, David, et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989.
  • Eckelberry, David, Rich Redman, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Savage Species. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
  • Leach, Paul. "Malignant Growth: The Ecology of the Troll." Dragon #301. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2002.
  • Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual. renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2008.
  • Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994.
  • Szarmach, Michael J., and Linda Hankins. "The Dragon's Bestiary: Those Nonhuman creatures - with human form." Dragon #141. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989.
  • Turnbull, Don, ed. Fiend Folio. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1981.
  • Williams, Skip, et al. Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.
  • Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
  • -----. Monster Manual Core Rulebook III v 3.5. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
  • Wise, David, ed. Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994

External links

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