D&D 5E Troll regeneration

[Croesus]

In any case, four PCs at 3rd level will probably throw that troll a beating unless they're already low on resources.

Yes and no. If the troll wins initiative, it can easily drop a character before the party acts. If the party does not have access to fire or acid damage, the 10 HP per turn will add up, especially if the dice are not kind. I love 5E, but it's very swingy, so a single troll could TPK a group of 3rd level characters.

I've thrown trolls at PCs multiple times at multiple levels, and the battles have been everything from "Run away!" to "Gee, that was easy."

The "Run away!" fight was five 4th level PCs against a single troll and a few pirates.

 

[iserith]

Yes and no. If the troll wins initiative, it can easily drop a character before the party acts. If the party does not have access to fire or acid damage, the 10 HP per turn will add up, especially if the dice are not kind. I love 5E, but it's very swingy, so a single troll could TPK a group of 3rd level characters.

I've thrown trolls at PCs multiple times at multiple levels, and the battles have been everything from "Run away!" to "Gee, that was easy."

The "Run away!" fight was five 4th level PCs against a single troll and a few pirates.

But characters almost always have access to fire damage by way of the contents of their adventurers' packs. And in the case of this party, they have a caster with fire bolt. Even if the troll does win initiative, it could potentially drop, but not kill a character unless we're talking about critical hits.

I predict the party will be able to take this thing down. Not without cost, mind you, but I don't think it will result in character death presuming the players are at least modestly capable.

 

[Croesus]

But characters almost always have access to fire damage by way of the contents of their adventurers' packs. And in the case of this party, they have a caster with fire bolt. Even if the troll does win initiative, it could potentially drop, but not kill a character unless we're talking about critical hits.

I predict the party will be able to take this thing down. Not without cost, mind you, but I don't think it will result in character death presuming the players are at least modestly capable.

You're probably right, but it's still a risk.

The last time my players took on trolls, the wizard missed almost every firebolt he cast (I think he hit only 2 out of 10 shots). One troll rolled well, dropping the 6th level paladin in 3 rounds, even after the paladin used pretty much all his healing on himself. He tried to buy enough time to smite, but never got the chance. The druid (in crocodile form) was able to grapple the troll, keeping it from ripping the paladin's throat out, but the troll dropped the croc/druid to zero in a single round. The rogue and wizard were able to keep it occupied long enough for the rest of the party to drive off the other troll and come to their rescue, but it was a near-run thing. And this was with 6th level PCs.

One nasty trick is for a troll to attack, deal a lot of damage, then run away to heal. Then come back before the party has time for a rest. Rinse and repeat. If the party is unable to prevent this, they're in trouble.

 

[iserith]

You're probably right, but it's still a risk.

The last time my players took on trolls, the wizard missed almost every firebolt he cast (I think he hit only 2 out of 10 shots). One troll rolled well, dropping the 6th level paladin in 3 rounds, even after the paladin used pretty much all his healing on himself. He tried to buy enough time to smite, but never got the chance. The druid (in crocodile form) was able to grapple the troll, keeping it from ripping the paladin's throat out, but the troll dropped the croc/druid to zero in a single round. The rogue and wizard were able to keep it occupied long enough for the rest of the party to drive off the other troll and come to their rescue, but it was a near-run thing. And this was with 6th level PCs.

One nasty trick is for a troll to attack, deal a lot of damage, then run away to heal. Then come back before the party has time for a rest. Rinse and repeat. If the party is unable to prevent this, they're in trouble.

You're talking about more than one troll though. The OP, if I understood him or her correctly, is creating a challenge with just the one.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

What I learned last week: Hit and run from trolls is nasty... Even blasting them with fireballs won´t stop them regenerating for long. One way to make a long rest terribly stressing is trying to get the party unaware over and over again.

 

[empireofchaos]

Yes and no. If the troll wins initiative, it can easily drop a character before the party acts. If the party does not have access to fire or acid damage, the 10 HP per turn will add up, especially if the dice are not kind. I love 5E, but it's very swingy, so a single troll could TPK a group of 3rd level characters.

I've thrown trolls at PCs multiple times at multiple levels, and the battles have been everything from "Run away!" to "Gee, that was easy."

The "Run away!" fight was five 4th level PCs against a single troll and a few pirates.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings. 5e is very swingy. If the troll gets a jump on the party, and rolls well, he can easily take out a character in one round if he hits with all three attacks (average damage: 29; party HP ranges from 18 to 27). The half-orc ranger does have that Relentless Endurance feature, which will help keep him up beyond round one, and the Gnome Moon Druid can go into beast form, if he's ready, but dropping a character in the first round will definitely swing things in the troll's favor decisively.

You're talking about more than one troll though. The OP, if I understood him or her correctly, is creating a challenge with just the one.

But characters almost always have access to fire damage by way of the contents of their adventurers' packs. And in the case of this party, they have a caster with fire bolt. Even if the troll does win initiative, it could potentially drop, but not kill a character unless we're talking about critical hits.

I predict the party will be able to take this thing down. Not without cost, mind you, but I don't think it will result in character death presuming the players are at least modestly capable.

Yeah, just one. A lot will depend on party tactics. Mostly, whether the ranger and the wood elf EK can tank it out long enough to let the sorcerer do his stuff - pumping the troll with several 2nd-level slot Magic Missiles, before moving in with the kill (Fire Bolt). The EK should take his Action Surge immediately, and then help the sorcerer by piling on more Magic Missiles for the automatic damage. The ranger should also try to use his pig well (little luck with that so far, plus, as I mentioned already, the pig has a fatigue level). The druid will be the swing character: he will either go to Giant Spider form, help the tanks, and hope that the troll fails poison saves, or stay back and try to Charm the troll. There is a better than even chance this will work (given the troll's low WIS), but the problem will be communication: the gnome can't really talk to him, and therefore, the Charm may not do anything for his companions.

So, if the party makes bad decisions (esp. the sorcerer trying to Sleep the troll, or the druid casting worthless cantrips), or worse, rolling badly (we're using DiceStream), it can get pretty bad fast.

One nasty trick is for a troll to attack, deal a lot of damage, then run away to heal. Then come back before the party has time for a rest. Rinse and repeat. If the party is unable to prevent this, they're in trouble.

That won't be happening here. What happened is that the pig has eaten himself into exhaustion (not its fault - product of a failed save), and had to be carried by its master. The party sought to take cover in a cave, where unfortunately for them the troll makes his home. His plan is to block the entryway with a boulder to keep anyone from fleeing. That's really bad for the PCs, obviously, if things head south early on, but also good, because it may eat up the troll's surprise round. So it will pretty much be "do-or'die" for all involved, unless the druid does manage to work his Charm.

 

[hejtmane]

Yes and no. If the troll wins initiative, it can easily drop a character before the party acts. If the party does not have access to fire or acid damage, the 10 HP per turn will add up, especially if the dice are not kind. I love 5E, but it's very swingy, so a single troll could TPK a group of 3rd level characters.

I've thrown trolls at PCs multiple times at multiple levels, and the battles have been everything from "Run away!" to "Gee, that was easy."

The "Run away!" fight was five 4th level PCs against a single troll and a few pirates.

I have to add Trolls my last encounter i rolled so bad I missed all my attack it was like 4 or 5 times in a row I think my highest roll in that stretch was a 6; I never ever rolled that bad before needless to say that fight the players slaughtered the trolls. I added two more in hiding and the dice rolls went back to normal it was all over the place because of the regeneration. Man I was this close to killing the Cleric but the Ranger ran up and used a cure wounds as his action to save him because he was prone with a troll on top with zero hit points it was about to get ugly. Gerr team work at it's finest the Goliath Barbarian has tavern brawler so he punched and bonus action grappled and succeed. Trolls are fun to throw at the players a group of 6 7th level toons had a wild ride with them.

 

[PnPgamer]

How would chill touch work?

 

[Croesus]

How would chill touch work?

The way I read this spell, it would stop their regeneration for one round. As it requires an attack roll, I don't see it as better or worse than firebolt against trolls. Thanks for pointing this out - I'd never noticed chill touch's secondary effect before.

"You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range [120']. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target.

If you choose an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn."

 

[empireofchaos]

The way I read this spell, it would stop their regeneration for one round. As it requires an attack roll, I don't see it as better or worse than firebolt against trolls. Thanks for pointing this out - I'd never noticed chill touch's secondary effect before.

"You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range [120']. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target.

If you choose an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn."

Except that Firebolt does 1d10 damage.