Darkworld Troll

I’m not sure where I got the idea for this one, but it may be that the Rock Trolls of the Sword of Shannara inspired me, although these are quite different.

Darkworld Troll

Darkworld Trolls are believed to be a distant off-shoot of the surface dwelling trolls. Sages see enough similarities between the two species to realize there is a connection, but the differences are quite remarkable. Whenever the darkworld trolls left the surface world, it was in the remote past.

Darkworld trolls are a visually startling contrast to their surface-dwelling relatives. Standing twelve feet tall, their skin is a medium grey and their bodies are covered in short dark grey hair, which is longer on their heads. Only their faces, the palms of their seven-fingered hands, and the bottoms of their six-toed feet are devoid of hair.

They tend to be slender and sinuous, able to squirm through holes smaller creatures cannot. Their wide jaw filled with sharp teeth leaves no doubt that they are carnivores. However, the first thing most notice is darkworld trolls are blind, having no eyes. The nose is merely two slits and the face above the nose is smooth, having no eyes or any irregularity to indicate their species ever had eyes.

The second thing most noticed about darkworld trolls is they completely lack the stench that surface dwelling trolls carry as a miasma around them. Up close a musky odor may be noticed, but they lack that characteristic reek.

While fully capable of using weapons, darkworld trolls typically strike their opponents with their heavily clawed hands and bite with their teeth-filled maws.

The feature most like their surface-dwelling cousins is their rapid regeneration. They regenerate 3 hit points each round, and three rounds after losing a body part, the part attempts to find the remainder of the body. The parts will slither toward the largest remainders, guided by an unknown ability. Even if hacked to pieces, the parts will slither together and reform in 3d6 rounds.

If unable to join, each part will grow the remainder of the body. This can take from 1d4 hours for fingers to regrow, to 4d6 days for the fingers to regrow the body. A reformed body that included the head will have the memories of the troll. Other parts will be like children, having strong instincts but no memories. They will feel a kinship with other trolls that regenerated from other parts of the same body.

Damage due to acid and fire will not regenerate and must heal naturally. Small body parts that are cauterized (as with a flaming blade) will die and not seek to rejoin the body.

Sages believe that darkworld trolls have some form of navigation similar to bats and appear to know what is around them to a range of 120′, even around corners. It is not possible to surprise a conscious troll. They move unerringly in total darkness but are disrupted by consistently loud sounds. Given their lack of vision, visual illusions and any attacks that affect vision, including magical darkness, are useless against them.

Darkworld trolls live in clans of up to forty adults. Children will be one quarter the number of adults and they grow to adulthood in two years. Children are typically one-fourth, one-half, or three quarters the hit dice and damage potential of the adults. All but the newborn are deadly.

Oddly enough, they are neutral in alignment and often exhibit good tendencies. However, poor dealings with other sentient races render them suspicious of intelligent beings, especially surface races. If treated honestly and fairly, they can be good friends. If not, they are quite deadly enemies.

Treasure

Lair: 2d4x1,000 cp (10%), 2d6x1,000 sp (35%), 2d4x1,000 ep (35%), 1d6x1,000 gp (50%), 1d10 gems (30%), 1d6 jewellery (25%), 2 magic items or 1 potion (15%)

Individuals do not carry much treasure but may have 1d4 magic items of any types (50%)

Level/XP Value