Coup de Grace A troll with fire resistance Question
- Thread starter Belzbet
- Start date
ImperatorK
First Post
I ran a solo campaign some time ago. My player was playing a War Troll. Due to events in one of the first adventures he became a half-green dragon. Wasn't really that big of a deal, I just made sure that killing him wasn't the objective.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
What are you guys talking about? All you need to do is wait until the sun comes up and the troll will turn to stone. 
Seriously though, to kill a troll that has somehow acquired acid and fire resistance (like a fiendish troll), you need a lot of fire and acid to get the job done. A flaming burst or acid burst weapon would probably do the trick, especially if it were on a heavy pick or scythe. You can't dismember a troll with just any weapon (at least the rules do not say this is a way to kill it; see the rules for regeneration: "A regenerating creature that has been rendered unconscious through nonlethal damage can be killed with a coup de grace. The attack cannot be of a type that automatically converts to nonlethal damage."). So attempting to chop off the head of an unconscious troll with a greatsword simply fails. You'll deal a lot of nonlethal damage, but not enough to dismember the troll. You have to overcome that energy resistance by at least one point to get the possibility of a coup de grace succeeding.
I would probably allow the dumping of several vials of alchemist's fire on the body to be sufficient. I would also treat this as a coup de grace. Alchemist's fire is technically a weapon after all, so you ought to be able to score a critical hit with it. And several vials of 2d6 fire damage over 2 rounds is likely to proc at least a few coup de grace saves against death. Of course, if you are going up against an elite or advanced (or divine as you describe) troll this still might be easier said than done as they might have an incredible Fortitude save and very high fire resistance. Perhaps a rule that multiple alchemist's fires poured over the body in succession are additive, instead of being counted as single individual attacks.
Personally though, I favor the Spike of Fiery Detonation, a legendary heavy pick with the flaming burst and giant bane qualities. Aside from that, the orc could just try to find a wizard to cast finger of death and kill the troll outright. He could also level drain or Con drain the troll to death, such as by summoning wraiths or spectres to assist him in the fight.
Seriously though, to kill a troll that has somehow acquired acid and fire resistance (like a fiendish troll), you need a lot of fire and acid to get the job done. A flaming burst or acid burst weapon would probably do the trick, especially if it were on a heavy pick or scythe. You can't dismember a troll with just any weapon (at least the rules do not say this is a way to kill it; see the rules for regeneration: "A regenerating creature that has been rendered unconscious through nonlethal damage can be killed with a coup de grace. The attack cannot be of a type that automatically converts to nonlethal damage."). So attempting to chop off the head of an unconscious troll with a greatsword simply fails. You'll deal a lot of nonlethal damage, but not enough to dismember the troll. You have to overcome that energy resistance by at least one point to get the possibility of a coup de grace succeeding.
I would probably allow the dumping of several vials of alchemist's fire on the body to be sufficient. I would also treat this as a coup de grace. Alchemist's fire is technically a weapon after all, so you ought to be able to score a critical hit with it. And several vials of 2d6 fire damage over 2 rounds is likely to proc at least a few coup de grace saves against death. Of course, if you are going up against an elite or advanced (or divine as you describe) troll this still might be easier said than done as they might have an incredible Fortitude save and very high fire resistance. Perhaps a rule that multiple alchemist's fires poured over the body in succession are additive, instead of being counted as single individual attacks.
Personally though, I favor the Spike of Fiery Detonation, a legendary heavy pick with the flaming burst and giant bane qualities. Aside from that, the orc could just try to find a wizard to cast finger of death and kill the troll outright. He could also level drain or Con drain the troll to death, such as by summoning wraiths or spectres to assist him in the fight.
Greenfield
Adventurer
By the rules, attacks against regenerating creatures do non-lethal damage. Suffocation is a condition, not an attack in the normal sense, and doesn't do an explicit amount ofdamage, so drowning, strangulation or smothering would work.
Since the unconscious Troll isn't holding his breath, strangulation/suffocation goes to work immediately. His actual hit points drop to zero. If, by some rationale of the DM's, this makes him come conscious, that's okay. He'll try to break out of the stranglehold, because if he doesn't he's dead. That effort, while at zero hit points, will put him to -1, whether he succeeds or not. And again, that's real hit point loss, not from any attack but because of his own efforts while wounded. Now he's in shock and dying, and Regen can't help. He's dead unless he can stabilize.
Need him dead faster? Keep strangling. Do that and he's dead in a round, and stabilization never comes into play.
There's a way around pretty much everything, if you know the rules.
Since the unconscious Troll isn't holding his breath, strangulation/suffocation goes to work immediately. His actual hit points drop to zero. If, by some rationale of the DM's, this makes him come conscious, that's okay. He'll try to break out of the stranglehold, because if he doesn't he's dead. That effort, while at zero hit points, will put him to -1, whether he succeeds or not. And again, that's real hit point loss, not from any attack but because of his own efforts while wounded. Now he's in shock and dying, and Regen can't help. He's dead unless he can stabilize.
Need him dead faster? Keep strangling. Do that and he's dead in a round, and stabilization never comes into play.
There's a way around pretty much everything, if you know the rules.
Greenfield
Adventurer
Well, if you can cut his head off using starvation, thirst or suffocation...
Lord Zack
Explorer
Consider some of the nastier poisons, too, like the ones that do Con damage.
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