D&D General Should a low level character know to burn a troll?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Should in as: "Is it required to know"? Probably not. Maybe he didn't hear that particular tale, or just can't remember it because there is giant monster in front of him that threatens to rip him apart.
But could he? Sure.

It might be fun if every monster had a list of 3 weaknesses mentioned in folklore (real world and in game world), and only one of them is true, randomly (per Campaign, or per individual monster... Maybe that's why the tales don't always match.)

 

[jasper]

The question is more about experienced players who know about monster weaknesses, rather than new players who don’t.

Now monster knowledge checks should be a separate thread. But the AD&D Troll page 97 have a frequency of Uncommon. Page 5 of the MM has very rare 4%, rare 11 % , Uncommon 20%, and common 65%. This % of you encountering the monster. Quick and dirty change to 5E
Common DC 10
Uncommon DC 15
Rare DC 20
Very Rare 25
What skill check the DM calls for is open to debate but I think survival and history should be the starting two.

 

[Zardnaar]

2E lost a level 19 wizard to horde of trolls. Stupid troll priests, hold person spells.

 

[akr71]

No.

That is to say, there is a slight chance some characters might know and I would allow a roll. Anybody who has studied lots of lore or lived in an area frequented by trolls.

To everybody else, trolls are big nasty creatures that a commoner never survives an encounter with, let alone long enough to discover that fire is useful against them.

I fully expect my seasoned players to say "Would my character know that fire stops their regeneration?" To which I would ask them for more information - that is, how would they obtain that knowledge. I'm not going to be difficult about it, but if they come up with something valid, I'll likely allow it.

 

[jasper]

If they have read Volo's Guide to Monsters the answer would be yes and no.

That bum left with 3 IOUs worth 1000 GP and a deed to a worthless bar. I had to evict that bum Cliff.

 

[iserith]

As a DM, I have no opinion as to whether a low-level PC should know to burn a troll.

As a player, I will almost always burn trolls, if I can.

 

[Tonguez]

isnt that one of the many rumours that people hear growing up - like the one about Lions can be chased off with loud noise, sharks can be punched in the nose and moose will stomp you until you dont move anymore

 

[vpuigdoller]

In most settings, yes.

This is the sort of thing they would learn as children from scary stories.

I agree to this, depending on type of knowledge I might have them roll wisdom or history to see if they remember it but yes.

 

[Guest 6801328]

isnt that one of the many rumours that people hear growing up - like the one about Lions can be chased off with loud noise, sharks can be punched in the nose and moose will stomp you until you dont move anymore

...and mountain lion scat has bells in it and smells like pepper spray.

 

[aco175]

I find that PCs are different than common villagers. Although villagers just carry burning torches anyways, so the troll problem would be solved. I tend to have villagers not know a lot of these things, but fire and trolls would be yes and maybe they would throw in some other suggestions as well.

Any adventurer would know a lot of these common things on the lower level monsters. At the Adventurer's Scholl for the Gifted while teaching the fighter which end of the sword to hold, the teacher would say "Put your sword away when fighting trolls and take out a torch." "Hey, mage in training, make sure you pick a fire spell in case you run into trolls."