Monster House

[BaldHero]

we take a standard monster manual creature, and while its out, we redesign its lair and home to better reflect its nature and its capabilities.
This week we turn a filthy, understated troll lair into a place adventurers would be glad to call their final resting pace.

trolls have an Int of 6, on average. Not every troll, but most trolls.
So what does a troll with an Int of 6 do to make his home more comfortable?
The answer is probably nothing. The filthy beast barely knows to wear clothes to keep warm. but it might have taken time to chose a lair that offered some cunning advantages, such as:

A wet environment, not just caves, but really damp caves and caves behind waterfalls, and caves that are partially submerged. This way, should someone set the troll on fire, it can simply dunk its self to put out the flames. And water three feet deep is a serious threat to people that traditonally threaten trolls. Adventurers cant move through it quickly, nor can they move through it quietly, and for some, it might even require swimming. Not too much water though, as that would just be a blatant attempt to mimic the lair of the merrow and we dont want to seem desperate.

Maybe hanging some trophies about the entrance to a lair that would rattle and clack (bone trophies you know.) when they were tampered with, to act as sort of an alarm.

Perhaps trolls are just cunning enough to share their space, with a creature that is to them a minor nuisance, but could be a threat to smaller, weaker foes that might invade their spaces. Say a swarm of angry housebadgers?

Of course the only reason to speculate is because i swear to god if i have to walk into one more, simple, stupid, unimaginative troll cave, im going to...nevermind. The troll needs five elves to show up and help him pick out his flavor text. I need cool, memorable trolls. Not stat changes or better feats or anything like that, just trolls...with personality.

Anyone else have any good ideas?

 

[KB9JMQ]

Love this thread idea BTW

The cave could have hot spring vents to keep it moist and slippery.
Maybe his cave has an air vent in it to keep it windy and keep torches from being an issue.

 

[F5]

Trolls have Int6, but Wis9. They're stupid, but they have just below-average levels of human cunning and common sense. They're clever enough, in other words, to realize that their minor injuries will heal in moments, and that they can pretty much disregard them.

With that in mind, I'm thinking of a Troll who is very fond of broken glass. It covers every available surface of the enrtyway of its' lair with razor-sharp shards of pretty, shiny, sparkly glass. Maybe even ties it to strings and hangs it over the entrance to the cave, so it tinkles. There is no way to pass through this relatively narrow corridor without cutting yourself to ribbons. This is fine for the troll, he'll just regenerate. But a serious pain for anyone else.

He just sits in the depths of his lair, picking at his scabs and watching the pretty rainbows of light sparkle on his walls, until he hears the crunch of broken glass and the muffled swearing that means dinner just arrived.

 

[BaldHero]

Sparkling glass, pretty refelections, it kind of makes me think perhaps an interesting troll could be found living beneath a large temple, with shards of stained glass that decorate his lair. Within vast domains of parisian inspired tunnel he could lurk about under a suitably large city, eating the stray beggar child. An interesting place to find a troll i think. Perhpas one with a twisted need to try and mimic the rituals he secretly witness in the temple above, or who has a horribly skewed view of the temples doctrine and inflicts it upon the faithful.
It would help if there were some places nearby that trolls could use to their advantage, like a deep ditch that is just wide enough to keep intruders from reaching the troll, without missles or reach weapons, but would still allow the troll to use its claws.
Since the troll has darkvision, there will of course be no light sources within the well kept trollhome. If adventurers come in they wil have to rely on either magical light, which is no threat to the troll or, torches which can be extinguished.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Perhaps he'd like a pet. A faithful watchdog, perhaps. Something to keep him company, keep an eye on his lair while he sleeps or hunts. Maybe something those nasty adventurers would never suspect, like a Hellhound. After all, sometimes Trolls like their food cooked a little.

Great thread, by the way.

 

[BaldHero]

A hellhound is an excellent idea. I will surely pilfer that one. Adventurers that meet a hellhound guarding a cave entrance will never suspect that a troll lives somewhere within, unles they have some sort of prior warning. Or perhaps better would be the surprise they get when the troll they are tracking or fighting calls out to Rex, to sic 'em.
Of course there are going to be things to throw laying about the lair as well. with their great strength, trolls should keep things on hand to fling at intruders. Im not sure they would know the value of a tanglefoot bag, but they have old skulls stuffed with rancid gore that invokes nausea, laying about, that would make great missles. The old skulls are brittle and shatter on impact, leaving behind a horrible stench and putrid mess that would ruin any adventurer's outift.
all of these ideas are coming together to form a very strong lair. these would make a very memorable encounter. Something the players would talk about later.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't think an Int 6 creature would be stupid. Check out what's the chance for a human NPC (3d6) to have 6 or less in one ability score and think that's the % of people you may know with that score. They still won't live in a cave.

That doesn't mean trolls shouldn't live in a cave, just that they are separate things

OTOH, this thread already has very nice ideas!

 

[BaldHero]

The heroes stumbled upon a whitewashed, thatched roofed cottage, only to find the resident was a troll. Good call, trolls are wise enough to be opportunists. They might lair in any place they can be reasonably sure is secure while they digest the last meal they had, and think about the next.
Maybe the enclosed wagon of travelers they waylay, perhaps the silo of a farmer whose cattle and sheep go missing.
My suggestion thatthey live in caves originates not from their lack of intelligence, but my perception of them as lazy. An imaginative or particularly cunning troll would surely lair someplace that would afford some kind of surprise...imagine a troll hunter that might lead a pack of trolls to build a mock camp, a camp that from a distance might resemble any human or demi human travelers camp. A cookfire, some small tents and some presonal effects strewn about, perhpas a pouch or small box...what adventurer would pas up the chance to investigate the camps strange absence, and perhaps scavenge some free gear or loot. Suddenly the tents are torn aside to reveal an entire pack of ravenous trolls.
Caves might put adventurers on guard, and so might not make the best lair for our trolls.

 

[Sigurd]

Strength and sloth

Trolls don't even have to work to heal!

Given that virtually any physical abuse would simply vanish they might be really able to live with a whole lot of discomfort. I think trolls would live where they had a plentiful food supply more than where they liked the view. But I can easily see a troll invading an isolated farmstead - eating the chief objectors but allowing the remainders to live so long as they supplied better food with less work for the troll. Imagine a farm where the Troll eats his way through the pig population while terrorizing the original settlers.

I have had characters with 6 intelligence that had very similar strategies as a troll. Nasty and brutish.

Most clothes must seem really flimzy to a troll who can pull a spear from his arm and heal overnight! I imagine cloth would simply shred on their bodies if the wer not careful. Add their natural barklike hide and a lot of niceties might seem really pointless.

I wonder what a Troll idea of a beauty skin peal would be? A fillet knife? Sandpaper???

There was a dungeon magazine with a tale of a troll who lived in a shack and had a haunting singing voice that filled his swamp with sorrow.


S

 

[JackGiantkiller]

About the Hellhound: it's just as smart as the troll, nearly as tough, and it's a Fiend. And the hellhound can roast the troll to death if conflict arises. So, the troll , with its near human wisdom, avoids such a dangerous pet. Or has some way to actually control it...

Also, trolls live in Cold Mountains, according to the SRD, and Hell Hounds are vulnerable to cold. Not their favorite terrain.

You just can't go wrong with the wet caves idea above, classically under a bridge...maybe his home is decorated with things that washed down the river, were tossed off the bridge..and of course the grisly remains of his victims, and the tribute he extorts from those who cross the bridge. But i'm into cliche, I guess.