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Troll Culture, Psychology, and Lore

by Vassar Oenbring

“The Queen hungers, yes, and so does Hraka. Come, little man-thing, fight not, and maybe Hraka will kill before eating.”

– Hraka Mackakcath, Gorger

Culture and Psychology

Trolls have a well-deserved reputation as vicious and voracious killers. Their infamous regenerative ability is an outgrowth of a rampant metabolism that requires constant fuel. As a result, Troll culture fixates on the need to feed.

Troll infestations are notoriously difficult to eradicate. Seasoned adventurers may rid an area of Trolls with fire and acid, only to discover new ones living there within a season. Recently, the discovery of Troll Queens has shed light on the brutal and robust nature of Troll reproduction.

A female Troll that survives and feeds well will eventually grow into a Queen. Queens build great nests underground, plastering natural cave walls with viscous secretions and the cracked bones of their victims. A nesting chamber may have dozens of outlets, each blocked by large stones, bones, and rubble when not in use.

Troll Queens are often imprisoned in their own chambers by their swelling bulk. Queens exude a bitter narcotic stench that intoxicates the males of the species, and compels them to provide the Queen with living flesh. Many humanoids have spent their final moments crushed in a Troll Queen’s grip as she lazily scrapes the flesh from their bones.

Troll mating is ruthless; Queens routinely devour their mates. Troll child-rearing habits are non-existent. Newborn Trollings enter the world in litters of 20 or more, but quickly kill and eat each other until only the strongest remain. The surviving Trollings then worm their way into the stinking crevices of the nest, where they feed off their newborn siblings and scraps from the Queen’s meals until they are large enough to escape the chamber.

As Trolls are born, so do they live. Cetes of Trolls are rife with infighting and thievery. Trolls rend each other limb-from-limb over minor arguments, a practice presumably made tolerable by the fact that the limbs grow back.

New reports confirm that Trolls will cannibalize each other to boost their own regeneration. They bleed their enemies into withered husks, then save the blood in vats for quick healing. Interestingly, withered Troll husks do not die immediately. They can be rolled up and stored in containers the size of a rucksack, where they keep for about a year. Troll husks soaked in fresh Troll blood will return to life, often with no more than a stiff back and a surly attitude.

The most perilous Trolls are Maidens—those females in the process of becoming Queens. Maidens are driven by the need to nest, and use their immense size and developing musk glands to organize armies of males. Enthralled Maiden armies raid entire villages, leading long lines of downtrodden men, women, and children to screaming deaths in the jaws of their Maiden. Occasionally Maiden armies capture a small castle to use as a nest. The inhabitants and livestock are eaten alive. Their bones, armor, art, and complex tools are heaped in a pile by the front gate. Once a Maiden’s nest is complete, she molts. The new Queen then summons her musk-drunk minions to the Brood Room and feasts on as many as she can.

Mages, Seers, and Tinkerers have long speculated that musk oil from Troll Queens could be used to command male Trolls. Reports have been mixed. On one hand, sightings of Troll armies led by Humans and Elves have been increasing. On the other, it is a fact that many researchers in the field of Troll Queen musk oil have never been seen or heard from again.

Special Tactics

Cunning and aggressive by nature, Trolls faced with powerful opponents make full use of their strength, craftiness, and regenerative powers. Trolls use the environment to their advantage, hurling enemies into sharp rocks, causing cave-ins and avalanches, shattering ice atop frozen lakes, and enticing wild beasts to join the fray. Trolls working together in cetes will set net and deadfall traps, attack from ambush, and drive their prey before them like hounds chasing rabbits into the teeth of the pack.

Maiden armies sometimes fight in ranked lines. Wounded Trolls in these armies will drop back to regenerate, and make use of handmade wooden javelins to keep enemies at bay if even one of their arms is still functional. While they rarely forge metal weapons or armor themselves, Trolls have no reservations about using whatever is available. A mob of Trolls wielding looted greatswords and wearing piecemeal metal armor is a terrifying sight.

Mages and other magic-users are the bane of all Trolls. They will conceal themselves to ambush Mages and Clerics before attacking the rest of a group.

Qualities

Stoic. Dismissive of personal pain and discomfort, Trolls can endure the most unpleasant situations imaginable. Starving Trolls enter a vegetative state that can last for years until the presence of nearby food awakens them.

Cowardly. Trolls will retreat from combat if they feel they are outmatched, even tripping up their fellow Trolls to ensure their own escape.

Gambler. Games of chance and betting are common pastimes in Troll society. Trolls are easily persuaded to gamble, but are sore losers.

Humorless. Though Trolls are known to laugh and carouse with each other, they are easily offended by non-Trolls and have -5 to Insight checks to resist mockery. On a failed check, they react with Reckless Attack for 1d6 rounds.

Pain Connoisseur. Fear and agony are the primary spices in Troll cuisine. Trolls toy with their prey, devouring it piece-by-piece while still alive.

Vengeful. Trolls on death’s doorstep will attempt to take an opponent down with them however they can. Trolls that survive defeat seek revenge as long as their foes live.

Weaponry

Melee 1. Mauls, Pikes, and Tridents. These crude weapons are fashioned by Trolls for hunting and as eating utensils. They are sometimes no more than bone hammers, skewers, and large forks, and are rarely used in combat.

Melee 2. Greatswords. A Troll with a scavenged Greatsword may forgo its bite and claw attacks to perform 3 sword attacks.

Ranged 1. Javelins. Many Trolls carry 1d10 handmade wooden javelins. Due to their strength, they can throw these weapons twice as far as normal (range 60/240).

Ranged 2. Staff Slings. Used for hunting, Troll staff slings are large and do 3d4 base damage.

Special Units

Eternal. Considered sadistic even by their own kind, Eternals use pit traps, nets, and harpoons to hunt and extract blood from other Trolls to increase their longevity. An Eternal may use an action to consume one of its 1d6 crude flasks of Troll blood to double its regeneration rate for 1 minute. Eternals gain +2 to all WIS Saves. Some Eternals are reported to be over 200 years old.

Gorger. Grotesquely obese, these large Trolls can unhinge their jaws to swallow Medium-sized or smaller beings whole in order to haul their prey back to a Maiden or Queen. If a Gorger hits an opponent with both a bite and claw attack, it may make a Grapple check as a free action. If the Gorger wins, it swallows its foe. Swallowed creatures suffer 2d6 bludgeoning damage per round and are restrained. Dealing 10 or more damage to the inside of the Gorger’s stomach makes it vomit up its victim.

Maiden. The musk exuded by these females pacifies Trolls enough to allow them to work together. Trolls within 300 feet of a Maiden will desire to stay within that distance, and will follow the Maiden’s instructions, even when outside that range. This allows Maidens to gather sizable armies of Trolls and direct them toward an objective, which is almost always the construction of a nest. Maidens are thoughtful planners and will direct their minions to make use of weapons, tools, traps, and tactics not often seen among stag Trolls.

Queen. Massive and slow, these Huge creatures have 50 additional hit points and their speed is reduced to 10. Their attacks have a Reach of 10. A Queen constantly exudes a musk that affects male Trolls at a distance of up to 5 miles, compelling them to feed and protect her. When threatened, once per day she may use a full round action to release a 30′ radius cloud of concentrated musk. Non-Trolls exposed must make a DC 14 CON Save or lose their actions for the next round, while Trolls inside the cloud receive 10 bonus hit points, and +2 to STR.

Trolling. Young Trolls are nearly as strong as adults, but not as resilient. They have 4d10+10 hit points and regenerate 5 hit points per round. They often travel and hunt in loose packs, and fall quickly to infighting when food becomes scarce.

Unburnt. Wrapped in layers of animal hide, these Trolls carry 1d4 animal bladders filled with water and wood ash. Their clothing grants them resistance against fire and acid damage. An Unburnt may use its action to spray itself with the contents of a bladder, effectively extinguishing lingering flames and/or acid and allowing it to regenerate on subsequent turns. If part of a Maiden’s or Queen’s army, the Unburnt will also use this ability on its fellow Trolls.

Special Abilities

Aversion to Death. A Troll killed but not completely destroyed (disintegrated or burned to ashes) will resume regenerating if Troll blood is poured into its mouth within 3 rounds.

Hunger Gains: Trolls about to enter battle may spend 1 minute consuming 5 or more Hit Dice of creatures. Doing so grants them +2 STR and +20 temporary hit points. The effects last 1 hour, after which the Troll falls asleep for 8 hours.

Hush Claws. Upon hitting with its first claw attack, a Troll may forgo its second claw attack to try and seize its opponent’s throat with a Grapple check. If successful, the opponent is Silenced and Restrained until it breaks the grapple. Trolls primarily use this ability on spell casters.

Mottled Hide. Trolls have Advantage on Hide checks in natural environments.

Ferocious Bite. Once per round, wounded Trolls who make a successful bite attack may forgo their claw attacks and instead eat a chunk of their enemy. This extra bite deals 1d12+4 damage and heals the Troll by the same amount. Queens use this attack whenever possible, a Troll Queen bite does 3d12+6 damage.

Sacrificial Limb. Outmatched and fleeing Trolls sometimes rip off one of their arms and hurl it up to 30′ as a ranged attack. If the attack hits, the severed arm attempts to grapple the target using the Troll’s STR, subtracting 3 from its usual modifier. If successful, the Grapple lasts until the end of the next round.

Movement

Run. Good. Trolls are tireless pursuers and their long limbs eat up distances.

Climb. Good. Trolls’ sharp claws and strength allow them to climb with ease.

Swim. Average. Most Trolls are not fond of water and are clumsy but adequate swimmers.

Burrow. Good. Trolls can burrow through packed dirt and hard clay. They cannot be bothered with solid rock.

Fly. Terrible. Trolls cannot fly, yet cannot be killed by falling. They will hurl themselves off long drops without hesitation if the need arises.

Grudges

Trolls harbor little love for any species, but bear a particular hatred toward Giants and Dragons. Giants prize Troll flesh as a delicacy, and may shackle an unfortunate captive to be perpetually dismembered as a steady source of Troll dumplings. Some Dragons do the same, although they tend to enjoy their Troll whole and flame-broiled. Trolls in turn consider Dragons’ eggs and young Dragons to be delicious, and as a result the highest honorific among Trolls is “Dragoneater,” with “Giantkiller” as a close second.

Trolls classify most other creatures as either predators or prey, and deal with them accordingly. While Trolls view most living beings as potential food, they are also abject cowards and will flee from anything that looks particularly dangerous. Often they will stalk potential victims for leagues, plotting and waiting for a moment of weakness in which to strike from hiding.

Trolls