Homebrew Half-Troll Species Details

Physical Description
Half-trolls bear visible signs of their giant heritage. Like goliaths, they tower over most other medium humanoids, but unlike goliaths their proportions are distinctly non-humanoid. A half-troll's arms and legs are very long compared to the rest of his or her body, and they walk with a troll's hunched gait. They tend to grow thick, sharp fingernails, though still noticeably blunter and shorter than a troll's, and tough growths on their shoulders and backs.  Half-trolls have a variety of skin-colors, mostly greens, blues, and greys in a variety of shades. Most have either yellow or green eyes or eyes like their other parent's species. Additionally, most half-trolls have larger noses, smaller eyes, and sharper teeth than humanoids without troll blood. Half-trolls tend to have thick hair that grows out very quickly. Dreadlocks and braids are very common hairstyles, although facial and body hair is uncommon.

Society
There is some truth to the stereotype that all half-trolls come from violence between their monstrous parents and other races, but it is a bit offensive to most to assume that it is always so. In wilder regions, individual trolls may engage in semi-peaceful trading with isolated communities, exchanging protection for food and treasure, not unlike their mercenary activity for monstrous races. Frontier folk may also find that troll tribes with particularly fruitful territories are more interested in easier prey than humans. Some rare cosmopolitan urban communities can offer plentiful food and employment for those rare trolls with thicker streaks of self-control than their brethren, or sewers with disgusting but plentiful repasts for the savage. And, of course, most trolls find that other appetites supersede that particular drive. 

Half-trolls often experience prejudice growing up, not only because of their resemblance to a dangerous and monstrous race but because they are often seen as stupid and impulsive. Due to shared experiences and similar outlooks, urban half-trolls almost always gravitate towards half-orc neighborhoods, where they find they fit in better, if not perfectly. Frontier half-trolls will have very different experiences depending on how dangerous and aggressive the local troll tribes are.

Even in peaceful circumstances, few troll parents stay long with their offspring, as their wanderlust and capricious nature get the better of them. Most leave the child with the other parent. However, in peaceful times, it is not unheard of for the troll parent to make visits of varying frequency to check up on their child's growth. It is rare for half-trolls to be raised among trolls, but as one of the strongest taboos in troll culture forbids the consumption of one's own progeny until they are grown, half-trolls born into the tribe are usually left as foundlings in places the trolls regard as too dangerous to attack. 

All half-trolls have known hunger at least once in their lives. They require huge amounts of food to maintain their bodies, and they starve much more quickly than other humanoids when deprived of it. This fact, combined with their difficulty finding high-paying employment and natural restless temperament, means that many half-trolls choose to supplement their caloric intake through unconventional means. Few outsiders, even among half-orcs, can easily understand the sight of a hungry half-troll nipping a quick snack out of some carrion on the road or half-rotten garbage from a gutter, but the answer has some basis in troll biology. Like dogs, trolls find very few smells naturally unpleasant, and their half-troll relatives don't taste all the nasty flavors of rot that normal humanoids have adapted to stay away from. After all, their bodies can usually handle the strain. 

Half-Troll Traits

Your Half-Troll character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Half-trolls age more quickly than humans, reaching physical maturity at around 12 years old. Though their powerful metabolism grants them good health and staves off the physical decline of old age, it also reduces their overall lifespan, and they usually don't live as long as their human counterparts do, at 60 years old.

Alignment

Though their drives are weaker than those of their troll parents, half-trolls are still very passionate and individualistic. Most are  chaotic, while almost none are lawful. Many half-trolls engage in destructive behavior, but many more have enough self-control to simply come off as uncouth.

Size

Half-trolls are smaller than full-blooded trolls, but are noticeably larger than most humanoids, standing from 6 to 8 feet tall, with as much as two extra feet of height gained from straightening out. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Iron Gut

You have advantage on Constitution saving throws against diseases, ingested substances such as raw meat or poison, and effects that rely on breathing or inhalation such as poison gas or the stinking cloud spell. 

Keen Sense

You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Regeneration

You can tap into the trolls greatest ability to stave off damage, regeneration. As a reaction, when you take damage you can expand a Hit Die to reduce the damage by the amount rolled. You cannot reduce the damage if it is acid or fire damage. However, if you use this trait is again in the next round there is a chance of mutation. Roll a 1d6, on an even number you regeneration as normal, on an odd number you take necrotic damage equal to the amount you would have negated.

Thick Skinned

Instead of adding your Dexterity modifier, half-troll's add their Constitution modifier when determining their Armor Class.

Voracious

You're almost always hungry, you must eat as much food and drink as a Large size creature, twice as much, each day to stave off starvation.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.