Trolls Aging?

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Do trolls have aging categories? If so, where would I find that info?

Thanks

[Someonelse]

The simplest answer would be yes, because age categories apply to every creature in the game unless it is explicitly stated that they are immortal. As far as I know they only give age categories for player races.

However, I would say no and I'll tell you why...

Usually game mechanics trump science, but in this case I would like to turn to science. Before I get into it though, I want to point out that I'm not a scientist, I'm just a geek who loves science, I like to learn as much as I can about how and why things work, I find it endlessly fascinating. Just keep in mind that the following is simplified by a layman who only understands the basic principles and not the specific details.

Trolls have amazing regenerative abilities, but humans also can regenerate, just not as well. The cells that make up our bodies are constantly dividing and dying. When they divide, the new cell is essentially a clone of its predecessor; but with each successive generation the DNA that guides the construction of the cell degrades a little bit. Over the course of a century that DNA can degrade quite a lot, this is why we age. This cell division equals regeneration. If you are injured, the damaged cells cannot repair themselves, instead they divide, creating a new, undamaged cell. Over time new cells are created and put into place and the damaged cells die off and we call this "healing". There are a rare few animals that are essentially immortal because their DNA does not degrade when their cells divide.

Trolls obviously enjoy extremely fast cell division. Furthermore I would suspect that, like those few rare animals, troll DNA does not degrade as the cells divide. But then again, maybe they do? I see two ways of doing it.

If their DNA doesn't degrade and the only way to truly kill a troll was with fire or acid, and assuming trolls reproduce at the same rate as say, humans, then trolls would quickly take over the world simply by means of over population. For this reason I would want to restrict their reproduction, like maybe trolls don't have sex, they don't even have genders or genitalia, instead they reproduce by regeneration, any limb severed from a troll will regenerate quickly, but the severed limb itself will grow a new troll (I think that any time this regeneration creates a new brain it is genetically identical to every other troll brain and contains basic abilities such as speaking and walking and fighting but no actual memories or specific knowledge). This is my preference, the trolls in my campaign world do not have genders, they reproduce by regeneration, this is what keeps their population marginalized and isolated to remote regions.
Another option for explaining trolls would be to assume that their DNA does degrade. In this case they could only heal themselves so many times. Each time they regenerate they age significantly. This could be a myth, but I have heard that (with the exception of bones) people replace every single cell in their body every 7 years, even brain cells (again, I could be wrong about that one, I'm not certain). By this estimation, every time a troll regenerated their max hit points worth of damage they would age 7 years. Assuming human age categories a troll could only regenerate damage equal to their max hit points 10, or maybe as much as 15 times before they died of old age. Maybe you would want to extend their life span, if it's based on elves this would be more like 100 to 150 regenerations. For an evil violent creature like a troll this doesn't equal a very long lifespan considering how much they fight with other creatures and each other. If you go with this method I would suggest making the trolls sexually active and have them produce lots of offspring and don't allow severed limbs to create new trolls.

[BWR]

If their DNA doesn't degrade and the only way to truly kill a troll was with fire or acid, and assuming trolls reproduce at the same rate as say, humans, then trolls would quickly take over the world simply by means of over population.

Not counting predation and culling. There are plnety of powerful beings that would take an interest in too many trolls and want to limit them.
Sounds a lot like the plot of an adventure or three.

[Duke of Urrel]

I'd like to consider the counter-possibility not mentioned by Someonelse. Suppose trolls do age, according to their natural life span, which I confess I do not know; and suppose they add the normal penalties and bonuses for aging.

I would imagine that aging trolls are rare, because they are not as strong, tough, or quick as younger trolls, but probably no less eager to involve themselves in potentially mortal combat. Those old trolls who do survive are likely to be smarter than average. I would consider Cohen the Barbarian (http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Cohen_the_Barbarian) – minus the legendary hero's charm and sense of justice, allowing that trolls are more brutish and usually Chaotic-Evil – to be a model for such extraordinary individuals.

[Petrocorus]

~~ Snipped interesting DNA stuffs~~

If their DNA doesn't degrade and the only........this is what keeps their population marginalized and isolated to remote regions.


In this case, every troll would be a clone of some original troll or trolls. Kinda creepy, but interesting. Could build a campaign or a world "mystery" with this.
That however implies they have some kind of genetic memory.
Else, the new troll would be nothing more than the most basic savage animal until an older troll find him and educate him.

That also remind me of the fluff of the goblinoïds in Warhammer and WH40K. They are mushroom who reproduce when they get killed or injured by dumping spores which grew into the ground.


Another option .... If you go with this method I would suggest making the trolls sexually active and have them produce lots of offspring and don't allow severed limbs to create new trolls.

Which mean that their practical lifespan would be really low.

[The Insanity]

There's an Ecology of the Troll article in Dragon #301 and it says troll lifespan is approximately 100 years long and they reach maturity by the age of 10. Nothing more than that.