Trollwife

Description

Trolls are huge, rangy humanoids with lumpy skin that is a dull grayish green in color. They stand up to 9 feet tall despite having a rather hunched posture, and may weigh as much as 600 pounds. Their skin is rubbery and slightly damp to the touch, and they have long sharp black claws and long sharp white teeth. Trolls have a disconcerting tendency to smile toothily most of the time, as if their brutal lives are the most entertaining thing imaginable.

Trolls have the power of regeneration; they heal 1 hit point of damage each round after being injured. A troll reduced to 0 hit points is not dead, but only disabled for 2d6 rounds, at which point it will regain 1 hit point. Note that the troll may "play dead" until it has regenerated further. Damage from fire and acid cannot be regenerated, and must heal at the normal rate; a troll can only be killed by this sort of damage. The lower morale rating (in parentheses) is used when the troll faces attackers armed with fire or acid.

The regenerative power of trolls is so great that limbs or other body parts (even a head!) can be reattached if severed simply by pressing the severed ends back together for a moment. Trolls in a group will generally help dismembered fellows to reassemble themselves, but only if it's convenient. If the severed part is not restored, a new one will grow in its place in 1d4 turns. Note that a troll with a new head will not remember its former life, nor will it yet know how to speak; it will behave as would any confused and hostile animal.

Trolls speak a primitive language, and are often fluent in Goblin, Hobgoblin, Orc, Ogre, or Giant depending on which of these species live nearest them. A few (20% or so) speak Common.

Trolls are hateful creatures, reveling in combat and bloodshed. Though trolls could easily use a variety of weapons, they much prefer the sensation of flesh being rent by their teeth and claws.

A trollwife is a female troll; despite the name, there is no requirement that she be married (nor, in fact, do trolls normally engage in formal marriages). A typical adult trollwife stands 11 feet tall and weighs 700 pounds. They have no outward appearance of femininity, at least according to the standards of humans, elves, or even orcs; rather, a trollwife simply looks like an extraordinarily large troll. Like a normal male troll, a trollwife has lumpy skin that is a dull grayish green in color.

Trollwives have all the abilities and weaknesses of the males of the species; in particular, they regenerate exactly as do the males.

When encountered, a trollwife may be alone, cohabitating with a male (her "husband"), or raising a brood of trollkin. Roll 1d10; on a result of 1, she is living alone; on a roll of 2-3, she is raising her young; on 4 or higher, she is living with a male. If one has a mate or offspring, there is a 1-3 on 1d10 chance she is encountered alone, 4-7 that her mate or young are encountered in her absence, or 8-10 that all are present.

Add 1 to the trollwife's morale score if she is with her mate, or 2 if she has young present. This means that, unless threatened with fire or acid, a trollwife will fight without checking morale while her offspring are present. If a trollwife's mate or offspring are slain in her absence, she will track the killers unerringly, and upon finding them will attack with the same morale bonus.

Trollwives are solitary with respect to other adult trollwives, for they hate each other with a fierce passion. If forced together they will put aside their enmity until all non-troll enemies are dead (at which point they may well fight over who will eat the choicest of the remains).

Source note: This creature is converted from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition Release 142, © 2006–2025 Chris Gonnerman. The Basic Fantasy textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.

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