I'm looking for a troll monster that is way different than dnd trolls. Based more on classical fairy tales. Turn to stone in sunlight, hatred towards and fear of loud bells and Christians (so just general religion for in game I think). But generally speaking, in my mind anyway, they are not evil. Just very foul tempered, petty, witty, fey like mood swings. Quick to resort to violence and are hated by many humanoid races for making travel through woods difficult. They would be around ogre or small hill giant sized on average.
Any recommendations for already made hombrew monsters to use or tweak? Or any guidance of what to include in their stat blocks please?
Well, first I would likely start with the hill giant as the basis for one major reason, it has less stuff to it so there’s less to change or delete and you can simply just add to it.
As for their personalities, “foul tempered, petty, quick to resort to violence” and having a penchant for hustling travelers who have committed no transgression is pretty much the D&D definition of “Evil.” So not sure how much you could justify moving away from Evil as an alignment, maybe Neutral at best. And “fey like mood swings” is the quintessential D&D definition of Chaotic. So for alignment I would personally put “Usually Chaotic Evil,” but you might prefer “Usually Chaotic Neutral.” The rest of it would basically just be in the description and left up to DMs to portray through RP.
Not for nothing, but in folklore, especially pre-para Medieval folklore, whenever a creature had any aversion to sunlight it was a symbolic representation of that creature’s wickedness. The sun was a symbol of good and righteousness and when Christianity rolled around it was adopted as a representation of God’s power, grace and goodness. So the reason trolls in folklore turned to stone in sunlight is because they were sposta e evil. The aversion to bells and religion are just more symbolic representations of trolls being evil.
As for the mechanics of their turning to stone in sunlight, did you want the transformation to be permanent or temporary? That makes a big difference not only in how the mechanic is written, but also in how to weigh things when calculating their CR, as it could be either detrimental or beneficial depending on what you choose, or meaningless depending on how they are used by DMs.
To apply mechanics representing their aversions to bells & religion, I would personally draw inspiration from the Berserk & Aversion of Fire special traits found on the flesh golem stat block. I would make it so that whenever a troll hears ringing bells or sees or hears a priest of any sort (cleric or non cleric) pray to or invoke their deity in any way, that the troll must succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or at the start of its next turn it will succumb to its aversion and then has a 50:50 chance to either go berserk or gain the frightened condition until the start of its next turn. Something along those lines at any rate.
Turning to stone would not be permanent. In fact I forgot to mention that another inspiration, but smaller is the comic and Netflix animated show "Hilda." Outside of their city walls are numerous boulders, some of which are trolls. They have to keep watch and monitor their progression so they don't get too close to the city.
I was thinking that while in stone form, they could only be destroyed by magical means.
And I also envision them to be lethargic and sluggish due to them turning back and forth, which is a big reason why they have not made better efforts to try and take human settlements.
Turning to stone would not be permanent. In fact I forgot to mention that another inspiration, but smaller is the comic and Netflix animated show "Hilda." Outside of their city walls are numerous boulders, some of which are trolls. They have to keep watch and monitor their progression so they don't get too close to the city.
I was thinking that while in stone form, they could only be destroyed by magical means.
And I also envision them to be lethargic and sluggish due to them turning back and forth, which is a big reason why they have not made better efforts to try and take human settlements.
Thank you for the advice.
If temporary, then I would look to the medusa’s Petrifying Gaze special trait for inspiration on how I would apply it to trolls.
Also, if you start with the hill giant as your template, I would drop the Strength 2 points, and drop the size from Huge to Large and the Hit Dice to the corresponding d10 as well.
I'm looking for a troll monster that is way different than dnd trolls. Based more on classical fairy tales. Turn to stone in sunlight, hatred towards and fear of loud bells and Christians (so just general religion for in game I think). But generally speaking, in my mind anyway, they are not evil. Just very foul tempered, petty, witty, fey like mood swings. Quick to resort to violence and are hated by many humanoid races for making travel through woods difficult. They would be around ogre or small hill giant sized on average.
Any recommendations for already made hombrew monsters to use or tweak? Or any guidance of what to include in their stat blocks please?
Well, first I would likely start with the hill giant as the basis for one major reason, it has less stuff to it so there’s less to change or delete and you can simply just add to it.
As for their personalities, “foul tempered, petty, quick to resort to violence” and having a penchant for hustling travelers who have committed no transgression is pretty much the D&D definition of “Evil.” So not sure how much you could justify moving away from Evil as an alignment, maybe Neutral at best. And “fey like mood swings” is the quintessential D&D definition of Chaotic. So for alignment I would personally put “Usually Chaotic Evil,” but you might prefer “Usually Chaotic Neutral.” The rest of it would basically just be in the description and left up to DMs to portray through RP.
Not for nothing, but in folklore, especially pre-para Medieval folklore, whenever a creature had any aversion to sunlight it was a symbolic representation of that creature’s wickedness. The sun was a symbol of good and righteousness and when Christianity rolled around it was adopted as a representation of God’s power, grace and goodness. So the reason trolls in folklore turned to stone in sunlight is because they were sposta e evil. The aversion to bells and religion are just more symbolic representations of trolls being evil.
As for the mechanics of their turning to stone in sunlight, did you want the transformation to be permanent or temporary? That makes a big difference not only in how the mechanic is written, but also in how to weigh things when calculating their CR, as it could be either detrimental or beneficial depending on what you choose, or meaningless depending on how they are used by DMs.
To apply mechanics representing their aversions to bells & religion, I would personally draw inspiration from the Berserk & Aversion of Fire special traits found on the flesh golem stat block. I would make it so that whenever a troll hears ringing bells or sees or hears a priest of any sort (cleric or non cleric) pray to or invoke their deity in any way, that the troll must succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or at the start of its next turn it will succumb to its aversion and then has a 50:50 chance to either go berserk or gain the frightened condition until the start of its next turn. Something along those lines at any rate.
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Turning to stone would not be permanent. In fact I forgot to mention that another inspiration, but smaller is the comic and Netflix animated show "Hilda." Outside of their city walls are numerous boulders, some of which are trolls. They have to keep watch and monitor their progression so they don't get too close to the city.
I was thinking that while in stone form, they could only be destroyed by magical means.
And I also envision them to be lethargic and sluggish due to them turning back and forth, which is a big reason why they have not made better efforts to try and take human settlements.
Thank you for the advice.
If temporary, then I would look to the medusa’s Petrifying Gaze special trait for inspiration on how I would apply it to trolls.
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Also, if you start with the hill giant as your template, I would drop the Strength 2 points, and drop the size from Huge to Large and the Hit Dice to the corresponding d10 as well.
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