Trollhound Working Draft
Trollhound
Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 3d10+9 (25 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6 (+26 with lockbite)
Attack: Bite +7 melee (2d4+4 plus disease/18–20/×2 plus lockbite and disease)
Full Attack: Bite +7 melee (2d4+4 plus disease/18–20/×2 plus lockbite and disease)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Lockbite, disease
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., extreme light sensitivity, low-light vision, regeneration 2, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Survival +3* (+7 track by scent)
Feats: Alertness, Trackᴮ, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, pair, gang (3–6), troupe (2–8 plus 1–4 trolls) or pack (7–24)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: 25% coins; 50% goods (gems); 50% items
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium); 7-9 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
A hulking muscular canine that stinks like death and sewage whose eyesockets are dark pits from which sunken black eyes glitter balefully. Its body is an ugly patchwork of green-grey-violet skin with a disturbingly rubbery appearance, covered in places by patches of coarse wiry hair colored iron gray or black. The wolflike beast's lips, tongue and fangs are as inkblack as its eyes.
While they may resemble rubbery worgs, these beasts are actually more closely related to trolls. They live in packs who roam the night for prey, retreating to the comfortable darkness of a den when the sun rises. A family of trollhounds needs a lot of meat to feed so usually claim a substantial territory with multiple dens the pack cycles through, dens are usually burrows, caves or abandoned cellars. A trollhound's den is always dark and filled with offal and waste.
Trollhounds are viciously predatory towards other creatures but surprisingly gently to their own kind, never willingly attacking their own kind. They instinctively defer to the strongest trollhound they can smell, and should two packs scent each other the weakest pack always backs away. Trollhounds recognize normal trolls as being their own kind and frequently live with them, serving as guards and hunting animals.
A typical trollhound stands about 4 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs around 500 pounds. Pack leaders can reach 6 feet at the shoulder and weigh up to 3000 pounds.
Combat
A trollhound normally charges into melee as soon as possible and uses its bite attack. Should it achieve a lockbite the trollhound tries to hold on until its enemy is torn to pieces. Trollhounds are intelligent enough to use pack tactics like ambushes and flanking attacks, but are so viciously chaotic they generally only cooperate under the strong leadership of an advanced trollhound or troll beastmaster significantly more powerful than them. A trollhound usually only considers retreat if it is injured and threatened with fire, but even then it often prefers to keep fighting.
Disease (Ex): Filth fever—bite, Fortitude DC 14, incubation period 1d3 days, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Extreme Light Sensitivity (Ex): In full sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell a trollhound takes a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls and a -2 penalty on Search and Spot checks.
Lockbite (Ex): A trollhound's deadly jaws give its bite attack a critical threat range of 18–20. If its bite attack confirms a critical, the trollhound's jaws automatically lock into the flesh of one of its opponent's limbs. Determine the limb randomly (for example, roll 1d4 for a typical humanoid with 1=left arm, 2=right arm, 3=left leg, 4=right leg). A trollhound in a lockbite is effectively grappling its opponent.
Every round a trollhound holds an opponent in a lockbite it automatically deals bite damage on its initiative and immobilizes the limb it is biting. A lockbite on an arm imposes a –4 penalty on attack rolls, Strength checks, Climb checks, and Swim checks, and makes it impossible for the subject to use objects or cast spells with somatic components unless it has a remaining hand free. The victim also loses the ability to wield a weapon two-handed (unless it has at least two arms left). A lockbite on a leg imposes a –4 penalty on Reflex saves, Dexterity checks, and Dexterity-based skill checks and reduces the victim's land speed by 10 feet. These penalties are in addition to the normal consequences of being in a grapple.
A lockbite last until the trollhound voluntarily releases it, dies, loses consciousness or is forcibly removed via grappling. To remove an lockbite-attached trollhound through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the creature. The trollhound has a +20 racial bonus on grapple checks against an opponent in its lockbite.
Regeneration (Ex): Fire and acid deal normal damage to a trollhound.
Skills: *A trollhound has a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #199 ("Dragon's Bestiary - Those terrible trolls" by Alec Baclawski, November 1003).