Trolls tend to be a staple monster in anything that draws its lineage from Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings. And yet, they're generally super boring.
James Raggi explained the problem a couple years ago in a podcast that I can't find now: essentially, trolls are a puzzle monster whose solution is already known. That means they end up being non-challenging because you just whip out the torches and burn them, or else you stay "in character" and pretend not to know their weakness for a while until you "discover" that it's fire.
As a side note: the prohibition against metagaming is often made necessary by cases like this where players are given a puzzle they already know the solution to. Instead of telling people not to metagame, try giving them a real puzzle that can't be easily solved by out of character knowledge.
So how do you do that with trolls? Instead of all of them all being vulnerable to fire and acid, give each group of trolls a different, randomly-selected weakness. Some will be weak against fire, others against cold, still others against light.
Trolls generally live in family groups where everyone has the same weakness. If two groups merge, the trolls will swap DNA so that everyone has the weaknesses of both groups, which is totally a thing their regeneration powers let them do. This is important for letting players figure out the troll's weakness, because this becomes too arguably a bit too complicated if you mix different types of troll in the same group.
As for how they do that– trolls are about as smart as a really dumb human. That is to say, smart enough to know to guard against their weakness but not smart enough to be subtle about it. They are terrified of their weakness, and the very precautions they take to protect themselves can end up giving them away. Therein lies the challenge.
Troll Stats
Hit points, attacks, saves and all that as whatever system you're using. Trolls can also throw rocks but rocks should both have a harder time hitting and do less damage than hand to hand combat– important because it acts as a giveaway to them avoiding their weakness sometimes.
Regeneration also as whatever system you're using but instead of fire and acid, they have one or two weaknesses rolled on the following chart. If they have two weaknesses their regeneration is also more powerful. Or maybe as strong as the default if they have two, weaker if they have one.
1- Fire. These trolls can't regenerate from fire damage. They don't cook their meat, although they'll eat meat others have cooked. They carry water with them at all times in case they get lit on fire, and stay far away from fires. If it's freezing cold, they'll shiver, bundle up, huddle like sheep, but never start a fire even to save their lives.
If they attack a village they will notably not attack any home with a fire going in the fireplace. They will attack anyone carrying a torch with thrown rocks rather than hand to hand, even though that's demonstrably less effective.
2- Acid. These trolls avoid anything even remotely acidic, including vomit and fruit juice. They are weirdly clean for trolls and have been known to loot soap– that's because soap is a base and neutralizes acid, so they all carry soap with them just in case. They can smell acid from a long way away and won't attack businesses that use acids, like tanners or jewelers.
3- Cold. Any temperature below what humans find comfortable is painful for these trolls; much lower and they can't regenerate, and below freezing causes damage directly. These trolls are always bundled up way too warmly for whatever the weather is. They also try to avoid getting wet and will dry off as fast as they can if they do get wet, and rarely go out in the rain. They always attack during the day when it's warmer, and always keep fires going at night even if it risks giving away their position.
4- Light and radiation. Direct sunlight on a bright day is enough to stop them from regenerating; overcast days are still safe for them. Harder radiation does a lot of damage, really fast. They prefer to attack at night, and camp indoors during the day. They wear dark cloaks and broad-brimmed hats, sometimes carry parasols, and show a pronounced fear of the sun. If you attack them in their dwelling during the day, they'll be loathe to chase you outside. They have darkvision.
5- Fear and psychic damage. Any psychic damage doesn't regenerate and has to heal normally. Beyond that, they can't regenerate at all if they're afraid. They're not afraid of damage they know they can regenerate, but they're terrified of psions, enchanters and other mind-affecting enemies. They're also very superstitious and easily fooled into believing you're a psion. Really well-made monster masks sometimes work.
The leaders of these groups are constantly trying to psych up their troops by leading chants or giving rousing speeches– think of the halftime locker room speech in a sports movie. It's like that, all the time.
6-Electricity. These trolls avoid going out in the rain, despite having no fear of water under other circumstances. They're also wary of stuff that can generate static electricity, like dry wool. They hate copper and will notably not loot copper stuff in their attacks. They avoid high places and the tallest trees and buildings in an area, even on a cloudless day, since they know that's where lightning strikes. They sometimes wear improvised rubber armor for insulation.
7- Darkness. They can't regenerate in the dark. They attack during the day and keep excessive amounts of light on at night like a scared kid. At night they will all have torches, and if a torch goes out the troll holding it will get scared and stick near someone with a lit torch.
8- Water. Only pure water though, not liquids that are mostly water. Again, no going out during the rain but also they avoid rivers, baths, and won't attack any building with a lot of water in it, like the baker or the laundress. They drink beer, juice, wine, soup– anything but water. They carry umbrellas just in case, but really avoid rain at all costs. They wear rain coats if they can find any.
9- Wood. These trolls avoid wood and are noticeably scared of weapons made of wood, like spears and arrows. Wooden palisades with sharpened spikes scare them off. They will loot metal weapons but break wooden ones so nobody can use them.
10- Poison. Possibly including rotten food. These trolls will use an animal or prisoner to taste-test all of their food and drink. If they don't have an animal or prisoner, they'll make the most junior troll do that but will try to capture a prisoner ASAP. If shot with an arrow, a troll may pull out the arrow and inspect it to see if it looks poisoned.
These all benefit from the trolls having a known history that can be investigated, i.e. they've already attacked a village or two or been seen in the area so people can tell you about them, as opposed to they just now showed up out of nowhere. There might also be a cool magic item around that the trolls are vulnerable to.
For extra uniqueness, you can also steal the idea from Spellbound Kingdoms that every troll has a body part that can be detached and remotely controlled by the owner, for scouting, guarding or whatever shenanigans you can think of. Up to you whether this is every troll, or maybe just the leader of each group.
1- Hand- Can crawl around like Thing from The Adams Family. The owner can feel what it feels.
2- Eye Can see, but poor depth perception for both the detached eye and the remaining one. The owner needs to keep one of the two eyes closed at any given time or it'll get dizzy.
3- Ear Ears can't be closed like eyes so ear trolls are vulnerable to having their detached ears screamed into.
4- Mouth and jaw Can speak even though it's detached from the vocal cords.
5- Nose Can smell, obviously.
6- Entire head Killing the head incapacitates the body until a new head is grown. If you kill the head using its weakness, this takes days.
If you like this idea, check out how I re-imagined dwarves and dragons.
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