Pratchett's Trolls [3.5 Race, PEACH]

[Fortuna]

Lithic Trolls

Lithic trolls are mineral beings. They usually live in the mountains, and do not eat people (except for the flavour). A lithic troll is a fearsome opponent, particularly in a cold environment.

Game Rule Information

+8 Strength, +2 Constitution.
Lithic Trolls are Elementals.
A Lithic Troll's size varies with age. To determine a Lithic Troll's size, extract the vulgar logarithm of their age in years and round down. This is the number of size categories above Small that they are.
Lithic Troll base land speed is 30 feet.
Automatic Languages: Terran. Bonus Languages: Common, Gnomish, Dwarven.
A Lithic Troll does not breathe or sleep.
A Lithic Troll has hardness 5, as well as a +4 natural armor bonus.
Silicaceous Brain: A Lithic Troll's brain is silicon based, and its performance varies with the temperature. For every ten degrees above 32 Faranheit, a Lithic Troll takes a -2 to Intelligence. For every ten degrees below this temperature, a Lithic Troll gains a +2 to Intelligence.
Lithic Diet: A Lithic Troll eats rock, and may eat any kind of rock (although certain rocks are viewed with distaste, and where possible a troll will avoid stale rocks). They cannot digest organic matter, and attempting to do so forces a DC 10 Fortitude save to avoid being nauseated for 1d4 hours.
Favoured Class: Fighter.
Level Adjustment +4

[Edwin]

Did you just make a troll that's math based..? :smalleek:

So horrible, and yet.. So beautiful.

[Fortuna]

Yes. Yes I did :smallbiggrin:

[Boci]

I'd make the int bonus/penalty scale by 1 instead of 2 and cap it at +/-5. Why no bonus to constitution? Also, if their size changes, then their LA needs to change along with that, unless theres some mathetic joke in the vulgar logarithm that stops them from being too big. Do these trolls still have regeneration?

[Fortuna]

That is meant to do that, it is quite a drastic change in the books. The size will reach Large at 100 years, Huge at 1000, etc. Once a lithic troll reaches Colossal, it will usually setlle down to think for a while. No, they are a completely new race, and have no regeneration.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

...Large at 100 years, Huge at 1000...

That's a lot of manys....

One, two, three, many, many-one, many-two, many-three, many many, many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three, many many many, many-many-many-one, many-many-many-two, many-many-many-three, LOTS...

So I think what you mean to say is that they reach Large size in...*gets out calculator*...many-one-lots-many years.

[Lysander]

Maybe work their size into their natural lifespan. A troll doesn't die outright but at a certain point they lie down, become a mountain, and stay a mountain.

I'd say get rid of the constitution bonus and instead give them hardness.

[DracoDei]

Well, how resistant are they to poisons tailored to them? (Humanoid poisons probably would do zilch). How long can they run or hold their breath for?

Because that would feed in to whether they have a Con. Bonus.

[Fortuna]

IIRC they don't get tired and they don't breathe. So yeah. Perhaps I will remove the Con bonus then.

[DracoDei]

"Not getting tired" may require some special rules with a bit of detail, especially for forced marches.

[Fortuna]

That's a lot of manys....

One, two, three, many, many-one, many-two, many-three, many many, many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three, many many many, many-many-many-one, many-many-many-two, many-many-many-three, LOTS...

So I think what you mean to say is that they reach Large size in...*gets out calculator*...many-one-lots-many years.

Just noticed this post. Actually, using the Detritus system, we have one twofourfourfourfour and one fourfourfourfour and one twofourfourfour and one fourfourfour and one twofourfour and one twofour. But anyway.

For not getting tired, how about "A Lithic Troll never becomes fatigued or exhausted." That might boost the LA a little, but it seems about right.

[DracoDei]

Oh, that at a minimum, but I think forced marches do non-lethal damage instead of (as well as?) fatigue/exhaustion.

[Fortuna]

Well, I could also give them immunity to non-lethal damage. In fact, shall I go the whole hog and give them everything in the books?

[DracoDei]

All my comments were based on the idea that you wanted them to be as close as possible to the books without making the rules ridiculously cumbersome.

[Narmy]

I think that he has it as close as possible to the books by just making it immune to all exhaustion/fatigue effects.

Viola, It does no get tired, end of story, done with.

Aside from that, YOUR MATH CONFOUNDS ME!

[Fortuna]

My math is relatively simple. Which bit of it confounds you?

As to everything in the books, I meant stuff like stays alive for one round after dropping to -10, stays conscious for one round after dropping to 0, and is illiterate.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Just noticed this post. Actually, using the Detritus system, we have one twofourfourfourfour and one fourfourfourfour and one twofourfourfour and one fourfourfour and one twofourfour and one twofour. But anyway.

True. But I wasn't using the Detritus system. I was using the standard troll counting system as detailed in Men at Arms. :smallbiggrin:

[Fortuna]

Fair enough. Less of a mouthful.

[Eldan]

Well, if you don't give them a con bonus (I would, actually, just a low one), they really should have Natural Armor. Hardness 10 is pretty extreme, though. Perhaps hardness 5 and +4 natural armor?

[Fortuna]

How does that look?

[Lysander]

Trolls sleep. The books note that they tend to hibernate during the day, when the sun makes it hard for them to think. While sleeping they're often mistaken for boulders.

I don't remember any book saying they don't breathe.

I also think the intelligence rises and falls too quickly. Let's say it's merely 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside. You troll would have an Int of 2, less intelligence than an animal. At 80 it would be brain dead. How about this rule instead:

*Silicaceous Brain: A Lithic Troll's brain is silicon based, and its performance varies with the temperature. For every fifteen degrees above 32 Faranheit, a Lithic Troll takes -2 to Intelligence, to a minimum of 3. For every fifteen degrees below this temperature, a Lithic Troll gains a +2 to Intelligence. Use its base intelligence for the purpose of assigning skill points. Trolls are automatically fatigued after an hour in temperatures of 90° or higher, but do not progress to exhaustion from heat alone. An Endure Elements spell protects a troll from non-lethal damage but not from troll-specific penalties for heat.

[Bibliomancer]

So I think what you mean to say is that they reach Large size in...*gets out calculator*...many-one-lots and many years.

Shouldn't it be many-two-lots-many years? [6 x 16 + 4 = 100]

[Glimbur]

Lithic Diet: A Lithic Troll eats rock, and may eat any kind of rock (although certain rocks are viewed with distaste, and where possible a troll will avoid stale rocks). They cannot digest organic matter, and attempting to do so forces a DC 10 Fortitude save to avoid being nauseated for 1d4 hours.

Nauseated means you can't take standard actions. Maybe reduce that to sickened instead?

Hardness is really nice. I was hesitant about the +4 LA, but I'm not sure how much exactly hardness is worth.

[Beelzebub1111]

Isn't hardness on creatures, supposed to be DR X/Adamantine?

[DracoDei]

The problem is, neither DR X/Adamintine nor DR X/- works versus energy... you could give them Energy Resistance X (each energy type, taken individually), too I guess...

[Agi Hammerthief]

I don't remember any book saying they don't breathe.
a troll dropped from Lancre Bridge into the river below is described as walking to the shore under water


@Random_person:
you should add a note for which size the Level Adjustment +4 is for and how it changes with size.

LA= +4 x carrying capacity multiplier ?
seeing that Detritus is probbably a Large creature I'd put the LA to +2 for medium and adjust the statistics in your description accordingly



plus keep in mind the Metaphorical Rock they are made out off for a bonus to hide checks:

IIRC the troll Brick in Thud is described as being able to easily hide in front of a brick wall.

[Debihuman]

How about these changes:
I think the original post could use a little tweaking.


+8 Strength, +2 Constitution.
Lithic Trolls are Elementals.
A Lithic Troll's size varies with age. To determine a Lithic Troll's size, extract the vulgar logarithm of their age in years and round down. This is the number of size categories above Small that they are.
Lithic Troll base land speed is 30 feet.
Automatic Languages: Terran. Bonus Languages: Common, Gnomish, Dwarven.
A Lithic Troll can hold its breath for 5 times its Constitution modifier.
A Lithic Troll does not sleep but appears dormant and sluggish during the day. They take a -2 penalty to all attack and skill rolls if fully exposed to natural light. They are only affected by normal light so a daylight spell would not affect them. If they are only partially exposed to natural light, they are unaffected by this penalty.
A Lithic Troll has DR 8/magic, as well as a +4 natural armor bonus.
Silicaceous Brain: A Lithic Troll's brain is silicon based, and its performance varies with the temperature. For every ten degrees above 32 Fahrenheit, a Lithic Troll takes a -2 to Intelligence to a minimum of 3. For every ten degrees below this temperature, a Lithic Troll gains a +2 to Intelligence to a a maximum of double its normal Intelligence.
Lithic Diet: A Lithic Troll eats rock, and may eat any kind of rock (although certain rocks are viewed with distaste [quartz in particular], and where possible a troll will avoid stale rocks [those with ammonites]). They cannot digest organic matter, and attempting to do so forces a DC 10 Fortitude save to avoid being Sickened for 1d4 rounds.
Favoured Class: Fighter.
Level Adjustment +4


A Lithic Troll can hold its breath for 5 times its Constitution bonus before it starts to drown. [This would allow it to walk under a river.]

According to Wikipedia, Prachett's trolls only appear dormant and sluggish during the day. "Rather than the traditional image of the flesh and blood troll that turns to stone during the day, on the Disc trolls are stone all the time, but become dormant and sluggish during daylight."

Creatures never have a Hardness rating. Most rock-like creatures, especially those with ties to the Elemental Plane of Earth have Damage Reduction. For example the Galeb Duhr in the MM2 (with the correct revisions from the update book) has DR 10/magic. It would make sense for the lithic troll to have some damage reduction. DR 8 [since rock has a hardness of 8]/magic.

Also from Wikipedia
Trolls have a numeral system of their own, based on powers of 4. The base numerals are one (1), two (2), three (3), many (4) and lots (16), which can be combined to form higher numbers. When combined, each numeral's value is added to those of the others. Higher-valued numerals take priority over lower-valued ones, so that 4 is written "many" and not "two-two" or "three-one" and 20 is written "lots many" rather than "many many many many many". If there are no ones, twos or threes, the number is written with spaces between the numerals; if any exist a hyphen replaces the space between every numeral. With only the revealed numerals the system rapidly becomes unwieldy in higher numbers (for example, one hundred twenty-six in English becomes lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-lots-many-many-many-two in trollish numerals, assuming that they do not have numerals higher than lots), but this may not bother the trolls.

Some trolls, particularly musicians, prefer to count "one, two, many, lots", although how they continue from there is unknown, even to some of them. For example, Jade in Monstrous Regiment says she "ran outa numbers" at that point.

I have no idea how to translate that into actual troll years for determining size. Obviously trolls age. However, they "are theoretically immortal, but as they get older they get bigger and slower and tend to be more inclined to sit and think. They call this "getting philosophy". Eventually they just stop moving altogether, gradually "decomposing" or eroding into an oddly-shaped heap of minerals with a tiny living spark in the center. Many of the Discworld's mountains are actually very old trolls." From the Wikipedia article.

Trolls "may gain some nutrition from the mineral content of carbon-based animals but not much, and occasionally cite this as the reason trolls did not (or at least do not) eat people." [Wikipedia] I think being Nauseated for 1d4 hours is too extreme since they can eat animals. I've reduced this to being Sickened for 1d4 rounds.

Debby

[Reaper_Monkey]

Technically trolls should have a unique word for 64, something like "loads", although I doubt many trolls have developed a need to count that high quickly for the most part.

Back on point however, I love this conversion, it sums the race up quite nicely. I do think the changes to Int score will become very annoying both mechanically and for RP. It'll probably be easier to just simplify it to a bigger boost and penalty after a considerable temperature change. Either that or I'll just cast perm endure elements on the Troll, if I need the Int boost and its cold I'll get it dispelled then, otherwise its not worth the hassle.