Quickleaf
Legend
I've always loved trolls as an iconic monster of D&D and plan on including them in our new campaign, but I want to make them a different, even if just cosmetically - to recreate trolls as feared creatures of myth. I wasn't satisfied with the fluff in 2nd or 3rd edition, so I began looking to third-party sources. I was impressed with Paizo's Classic Monsters Revisited, which has ideas for variant trolls like scrags and moss trolls, and am working on writing them up in a similar fashion.
I though it would be neat if trolls IMC were like the Green Knight who challenged Sir Gawain. I learned the Saxon word for tree -treow- also means 'truth' or 'trust' and that they would swear oaths of fealty or marriage under the trees who they believed would serve as witnesses of the oath. I'm going for less of the "troll under the bridge" and more of the "troll of the dark woods".
So the troll is an oath-binder/keeper, but instead of being wise like the Green Knight most are excessively vindictive, in keeping with their giant/fey origins. Encounters with trolls will usually include some kind of looming ultimatum ("in 5 days hence, if you do not hand over your daughter, I shall kill every woman child in the village") or reference to an ancient oath that has unwittingly been broken ("...and now you oath-breakers shall know the wrath of the troll king, who has lurked in the forgotten places these long years...").
These trolls are going to be devastatingly honorable, and enjoy playing off of appeals to "honorable combat". A trolls might grin and say "it's not my fault I was born bigger and stronger."
They share the regenerative properties of plants, but they are not plants. Tied to the most ancient of trees, acacias and willows and other water-loving trees, they gain enhanced regeneration when immersed in water.
3 questions came up while I was re-concepting my trolls...
(1) What is their relationship to dryads? Are dryads simply female trolls? Are trolls wrathful protectors of dryads or are trolls their oppressors? What about treants and other plant creatures?
(2) Since warlock means "oath-breaker" I wonder if there might be special connection between trolls and warlocks? As in trolls are sent to punish those warlocks who renege on their end of the bargain or rough up a warlock to get him to send more souls to their master...Hmm.
(3) This suggests several new troll stat blocks that could emphasize their culture and background. I wonder what kind of interesting concepts could re-imagine trolls? A troll "river mother" who spawns minions as she is bloodied, pieces of her springing from moist soil just like planting a cutting of a willow grows a new willow tree. An "oath-binder" who acts as a striker against a particular target (the one who break their word), maybe just a troll with a ranger/rogue template.
Any ideas you have or ways you've breathed new life into trolls?
I though it would be neat if trolls IMC were like the Green Knight who challenged Sir Gawain. I learned the Saxon word for tree -treow- also means 'truth' or 'trust' and that they would swear oaths of fealty or marriage under the trees who they believed would serve as witnesses of the oath. I'm going for less of the "troll under the bridge" and more of the "troll of the dark woods".
So the troll is an oath-binder/keeper, but instead of being wise like the Green Knight most are excessively vindictive, in keeping with their giant/fey origins. Encounters with trolls will usually include some kind of looming ultimatum ("in 5 days hence, if you do not hand over your daughter, I shall kill every woman child in the village") or reference to an ancient oath that has unwittingly been broken ("...and now you oath-breakers shall know the wrath of the troll king, who has lurked in the forgotten places these long years...").
These trolls are going to be devastatingly honorable, and enjoy playing off of appeals to "honorable combat". A trolls might grin and say "it's not my fault I was born bigger and stronger."
They share the regenerative properties of plants, but they are not plants. Tied to the most ancient of trees, acacias and willows and other water-loving trees, they gain enhanced regeneration when immersed in water.
3 questions came up while I was re-concepting my trolls...
(1) What is their relationship to dryads? Are dryads simply female trolls? Are trolls wrathful protectors of dryads or are trolls their oppressors? What about treants and other plant creatures?
(2) Since warlock means "oath-breaker" I wonder if there might be special connection between trolls and warlocks? As in trolls are sent to punish those warlocks who renege on their end of the bargain or rough up a warlock to get him to send more souls to their master...Hmm.
(3) This suggests several new troll stat blocks that could emphasize their culture and background. I wonder what kind of interesting concepts could re-imagine trolls? A troll "river mother" who spawns minions as she is bloodied, pieces of her springing from moist soil just like planting a cutting of a willow grows a new willow tree. An "oath-binder" who acts as a striker against a particular target (the one who break their word), maybe just a troll with a ranger/rogue template.
Any ideas you have or ways you've breathed new life into trolls?
