Troll

A typical Troll

Trolls were savage giant-kin that could be found all over the world, from the Xaspen's northern reaches, to the tropical jungles of Azlatlan. Voracious, uncivilized brutes, trolls devoured anything they could catch.

### Description

Standing over nine feet tall, a troll was an imposing figure. Though its clawed arms and legs appeared lanky and ungainly, a troll was a deceptively strong and agile creature. Its rubbery skin was usually an unsightly shade of green or muddy-brown and mottled with warts. Trolls were known for their long, bulbous noses, which granted them a keen sense of smell. A troll's most terrifying ability, however, was its regenerative power. Unless its wounds were cauterized with fire or acid, a troll could recover freakishly quickly from any injury, including missing limbs or heads. Because of this regeneration, trolls were often subject to mutations. In folklore, these regenerative abilities were attributed to the troll god, Vaprak the Destroyer, who was unwilling to devour any troll who wasn't "cooked". A diverse and widespread race, some sub-species of Troll are listed below:

#### Ice Troll

Native to the colder climates of Xaspen and Gorathan, an Ice Troll was shorter and broader than most other trolls and was covered in shaggy black fur. An aura of cold surrounded the troll, a trait it used to its full advantage when hunting prey. The heart of an Ice Troll was said to have many magical properties, such as imparting the Troll's regeneration on any creature who consumed it.

#### Scrag

Scrags, also known as river trolls, were a variety of Troll that had adapted to a freshwater environment. Scrags usually had lighter skin tones than other trolls, and they had gills on their bodies, which allowed them to breathe underwater. Saltwater-dwelling Scrags were known as Sea Trolls.

#### Dire Troll

The most fearsome of all Trolls, Dire Trolls were trolls who had devoured their own kind, which caused many hideous mutations, including several extra heads, limbs, and faces and an unusually large size. Once a troll was mutated in such a way, their own desire for growth often led them to consume more trolls, or to graft the flesh of other trolls onto their own bodies, causing them to become more and more misshapen.

### Mutated Trolls

On rare occasions, a Troll that is seriously injured by magical means can, upon regenerating, discover odd mutations related to the damage that lay them low. Such mutations have been found to be more common near magical emanations, sites of mass death, planar energy. Mutant trolls could also be created deliberately by evil mages.

#### Venom Troll

A troll defeated by noxious poisons can regenerate as a Venom Troll. Such a creature was bulbous, swollen and covered in pustules and boils, which oozed venom constantly. These boils would often burst, causing venom to erupt from them, when the troll was injured.

## Venom Troll

A Venom Troll, with poison oozing from its wounds

#### Rot Troll

A troll nearly obliterated by necrotic energy could return as a Rot Troll, a gruesome creature whose flesh sloughs from its body faster than the troll can regenerate. Over time, however, the monster can develop a symbiotic relationship with this necrotic force, allowing it to set loose waves of decay on its enemies.

#### Spirit Troll

Spirit Trolls were formed when a troll defeated using Psychic power became insubstantial upon regenerating. The Troll's psyche survived, but its physical body was no more. In most cases, a Spirit Troll was unaware of this transition: It still lashed out at prey with its teeth and claws, however, its attacks damaged a victim's mind.

### History

Trolls could be found in any climate or environment around the world. Most roamed the wilderness as solitary predators, however, they were hardly territorial and thus often formed alliances with other monsters or evil creatures.

Tralold, a Venom Troll, served Molval Cragwatcher and, by extension, the Cult of Tiamat at the human nobleman's lodge in the Glaive's Edge Mountain range.