Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast.

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In a situation that has been common in this reading, we’re in a halfway place when it comes to trolls. The Monster Manual marks their debut in this edition, and the Monster Vault gives us a final selection of updated stat blocks. Here in the Monster Manual 2, published between those two books, we have a selection of trolls that expands the options from the MM, but is not yet updated for the MV’s math.

Ice Troll

It’s unclear from the text whether ice trolls are a variant troll species or just a variant culture. They inhabit the Frostfell, one of the world’s coldest regions, but occasionally make their way to slightly warmer climates. Ice trolls have a more complex and technically advanced culture than that of “typical” trolls. They know how to make weapons, and prefer to use them in combat instead of their claws. They also emanate a cold aura.

If you want to portray your trolls less universally hostile, ice troll communities could make good trading partners in cold regions, trading their weapons and crafts for other products they need. Ice troll mercenaries might also be found among the forces of anyone who sets up shop in the frozen regions of your campaign world.

The Numbers

Ice trolls are Large Natural Humanoids and Level 10 Soldiers with 109 HP. Their Emanating Cold aura (1) slows any enemies caught inside for a turn. They have a ground speed of 8.

Ice troll regeneration works exactly like that of standard trolls: Regeneration 10 plus Troll Healing that allows them to keep regaining HP after hitting 0. Both are shut down for a turn if the troll takes acid or fire damage.

This troll wears scale armor and fights with a maul. If their maul attack bloodies an enemy, Frenzied Strike allows them to make another free attack. This could lead to a big chain combo if the ice troll manages to hit several near-bloodied PCs, but most likely you’ll be looking at one extra attack when this triggers.

Weapon use would make ice trolls a lot more dangerous than standard ones in a “realistic” system like GURPS, but here it’s mostly for color since damage is entirely level-based. It does allow you to place magic weapons and armor as treasure by saying the troll was using them.

Bladerager Troll

This troll was updated for the Monster Vault, so we already saw its numbers on the MM/MV reading. A new bit of lore in this entry says that some of the weapons and armor implanted on a bladerager are magic, which gives GMs an excuse to place magic items as treasure in bladerager encounters. This makes them the only monster in the game to have literal loot drops.

Troll Vinespeaker

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a troll spellcaster with genius-level intellect! You go, vinespeaker! Break those stereotypes! Unfortunately the vinespeaker doesn’t break every troll stereotype, so it’s still Chaotic Evil. You’ll have to break that one yourself if your campaign calls for it.

Vinespeakers use a style of primal nature magic that involves wrapping themselves in thorny vines and letting their blood soak the plants to gain control over them. This would be lethal for any other practitioner, but for a troll it’s no trouble at all. With their magic power and high intelligence, vinespeakers tend to become leaders or revered advisors of larger troll communities.

The Numbers

Vinespeakers are Level 14 Controllers with 142 HP. They have Regeneration 10, Troll Healing, and the usual vulnerabilities, as well as the usual Speed 8.

They can use their claws to fight like a typical troll, but their vines give them many more options. They have a ranged attack named Ray of Thorns that deals physical damage, and an area burst attack named Thorny Burst that deals light physical damage and immobilizes (save ends). This also creates a zone of thorny difficult terrain that deals damage to those caught inside, and lasts until the end of the encounter. If any of these attacks bloodies a target, the vinespeaker gets to make a free claw attack. No target is specified, so any PC within reach will do fine.

Note: Thorny Burst is at-will. Vinespeakers can turn the entire battlefield into a spiky mess in no time at all. A good tactic for the is to spam this attack until there’s no more ground to cover or until the PCs are all immobilized, then target the most vulnerable foes with the single-target Ray.

Finally, they have an encounter ability named Chant of Power, which gives allies in within 5 squares 10 temporary HP and a +4 damage bonus while the temporary HP lasts. This works wonderfully as either a fight opener or a mid-fight boost.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

I like these MM2 trolls, they do a good job of subverting the troll stereotype.

We get three encounters:

  • Level 10: 2 ice trolls, 2 worgs, and 1 manticore. Lots of raw melee power in this one, with a maneuverable skirmisher thrown in.

  • Level 12: 3 bladeragers, 1 duergar blasphemer, 1 duergar hellcaller. Duergar diabolists are exactly the sort of person who’d make bladerager trolls.

  • Level 15: 4 war trolls, 1 destrachan far voice, 1 vinespeaker. The war trolls can more or less ignore the thorns. They’ll be slowed by the difficult terrain, but so will everyone else. The destrachan offers some artillery support and can stay far away from the thorn zones.