Don’t Feed the Trolls
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A monstrous compendium of
twelve troll variants
by Thomas Heasman-Hunt
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other Wizards of
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material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of
Wizards of the Coast.
©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley
Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.
Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
Bog Troll ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Bridge Troll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Deep Troll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..… 5
Ice Troll ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Mutant Troll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………... 7
Nightmare Troll …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Rock Troll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Shadow Troll …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
Venom Troll ……………………………………………………………………………………………………... 11
War Troll ………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 12
Web Troll ………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 13
Zombie Troll …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14
Variants and Credits ………………………………………………………………………………………………15
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Maps discovered amongst remains
believed to have belonged to
members of an expedition to
Trollclaws (annotations added
by unknown hand)
IF THERE IS INDEED ONE CREATOR, ONE
architect of this great universe, I can tell you only this
about them: he or she is inordinately fond of trolls. I
have spoken with explorers and adventurers from as
far afield as the Spine of the World, Calimshan, and
even distant Kara-Tur and they all report the same;
wherever they go, whatever clime, whatever terrain,
each place has its troll. They are a notoriously
adaptive race, and there is apparently no environment
in which they do not thrive. Even those who have
travelled beyond the Material Plane and walked in the
strange lands of the gods claim to have encountered
trolls in still more bewildering variety. If there is one
constant amongst their unstable kind it is that trolls
are all, in their own way, different. It’s enough to make
a naturalist despair.
–Vepple Von Verwick, renowned gnome scholar
Here Be Trolls…
Trolls are, perversely, one of the great success stories
in the multiverse. Hideous and misshapen though they
are, their unnatural metabolisms mean they can survive
almost anywhere and eat almost anything. Because
trolls regenerate from wounds almost instantaneously,
they are highly prone to mutation. This means that,
while adapting to a hostile environment might take a
group of humans thousands of years or longer, a troll
tribe can achieve the same in just a few generations.
When a troll regenerates, its body metabolizes
whatever is in its system at the time, which means that
trolls quickly take on aspects of their environment. A
troll that feeds exclusively on fish will, when
regenerating, develop scales, fins, or even gills. Trolls
that live in a certain place – particularly a dangerous
one – will soon start to fit in with their surroundings
and eat their way to the status of apex predators.
Trolls almost never have a real society of their own.
At best they live in crude family groups that are barely
worthy of the name tribe. Only certain trollish breeds
demonstrate more affinity towards civilization than
this, but even then their primary interests remain food
and violence. Most adventurers know that trolls are
little more than malevolent forces of destruction who
rampage through villages when on their own, or
willingly serve more powerful monsters if bullied or
beaten into obedience by them. A rumor of a troll in a
nearby cave or swamp is enough for a community to
send out calls for brave souls to dispose of the beast
before it begins to pillage the countryside. Trying to
negotiate with a troll is, in some places, used as a
phrase where others might say ‘like talking to a stone
wall’, with the notable difference that a stone wall
rarely tries to eat the person sent to discuss terms.
Trolls truly are a plague on civilization, and even if
an adventurer thinks he knows what to expect when
hunting one, trolls are full of surprises…
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Trolls! Perhaps the only fictional monster more
ubiquitous is the mighty dragon, for trolls appear in
one form or another in countless bodies of mythology,
folklore, and literature. From the ancient Norse sagas
to modern video games, trolls seem to be everywhere,
but they rarely look, feel, or act the same when they
do, even in the same property. In Tolkein’s Middleearth, trolls are both a gang of bullies with a cookpot, a
magic bag and names like Bert and Tom, and
monstrous servants of evil, found fighting alongside
orcs in apocalyptic battles. Sometimes trolls turn into
stone (or are already made of stone), they’re often
large (but can be quite small), they’re dumb (or smart
and cunning), they live under bridges (or in caves)
…really, all that trolls seem to have in common is that
they’re all different!
When Gary Gygax included the troll as a monster
in the very first version of Dungeons & Dragons
(1974), he unwittingly codified an interpretation of the
monster that would endure in gaming history for
decades to come. These trolls were large, unpleasant
giants whose most unusual feature was an incredible
ability to regenerate damage from wounds – something
only fire or acid could arrest. Smart adventurers who
expected to run into trolls always made sure they had a
fire source to hand, otherwise a troll would just keep
coming until it had eaten its way through the whole
party. Trolls proved so iconic that they have appeared
in every version of D&D since, and they are perhaps
one of the most useful monsters in any edition. A troll
is a good challenge for low-level heroes at the
conclusion of an adventure, a fun random encounter
later in their careers, and a large group of them can
cause trouble even for mighty dragonslayers who are
veterans of years of tough campaigning! Trolls really
are everywhere in the worlds of D&D, and they should
show the same variety as their habitats. In this
supplement you will find rules and background for
using a dozen different breeds of troll in your games of
D&D, inspired by variants published for previous
editions of the game, as well as archetypes from realworld mythology and folklore. Each is designed to
provide your players with a different kind of challenge
and to fit in with adventures taking place across the
length and breadth of Faerûn and even beyond, from
mysterious exotic lands to other planes of existence.
Even if your campaign is set outside of the Forgotten
Realms, you’ll find plenty to use here too.
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Introduction
“Hunt ‘em down! Tie ‘em up! Stab ‘em good!
Squash ‘em flat! Mince ‘em fine! Gobble ‘em
down! You’re goin’ in the cookpot tonight!
Yes, you’re goin’ in the pot tonight, lads!”
- Apparent troll war chant, recorded
by unknown observer
2
Bog Troll
Bog Troll
Large giant, chaotic evil
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 84 (8d10 + 40)
Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft.
STR
18 (+4)
DEX
13 (+1)
CON
20 (+5)
INT
7 (-2)
WIS
9 (-1)
CHA
7 (-2)
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +4
Damage Resistances poison
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Giant
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Amphibious. The troll can breathe air and water.
Keen Smell. The troll has advantage on Wisdom
(Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Regeneration. The troll regains 10 hit points at the start of
its turn. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait
doesn’t function at the start of the troll’s next turn. The troll
dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t
regenerate.
Swamp Camouflage. The troll has advantage on Dexterity
(Stealth) checks made to hide in swampy terrain.
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ACTIONS
Multiattack. The troll makes three attacks: one with its bite
and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage.
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Even by the low standards of their kind, bog trolls are
particularly loathsome. Also known as swamp trolls,
slime trolls, or sewer trolls, this unpleasant breed is
found anywhere fouled water gathers. They are most
common in marshy terrain, but also lurk in rivers,
canals, and below city streets in sewers. They feed on
fish, rats, reptiles, amphibians, and almost anything
else, including offal and waste. It is often said by
adventurers who have been unlucky enough to
encounter one that a bog troll’s odor is enough to make
an otyugh sick.
Watery Predators. Bog trolls resemble ordinary
trolls, except they quite often sport webbed hands and
feet and other marine adaptations. Some breeds of bog
troll live permanently underwater, even in oceans, and
these are sometimes known as scrags. One other
feature makes these monsters unique: due to their
particularly foul dietary habits, bog trolls have
developed a truly unpleasant means of defending
themselves in the form of regurgitating their most
recent meal over their foes. This combination of halfdigested food and corrosive stomach acid makes an
effective, if disgusting, weapon.
Repulsive Lairs. A bog troll’s lair is normally a
heap of detritus, constructed from rotting logs,
shattered bones, and reeking pondweed, all plastered
over with muck and dung. This provides a defense in
and of itself, for few adventurers will willingly enter
such a fetid hovel. Because bog trolls are only really
interested in food, their lairs often contain remains of
previous interlopers, including treasure or even
magical items. This makes venturing into these
unpleasant creatures’ domains potentially profitable,
though only a very cash-strapped party would make a
habit of it.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one
target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Projectile Vomit (Recharge 5–6). The troll regurgitates the
corrosive contents of its stomach in a 15-foot cone. Each
creature in that area must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving
throw, taking 16 (3d8) acid damage on a failed save, or half
as much damage on a successful one.