MitD XV: The Other Dark One

[Crusher]

I know this might have been up for discussion before I know many others have the same idea, but since the story are on it's last chapter(s) and we will soon (hopefully) know what the MitD really are. But since this is one of the last arc and it seem to somehow resolve around Trolls (Serini's Friends), I bet that MitD are a powerful rare version of a troll. And I bet either Serini or someone else will recognize MitD soon enough, and explaining it's mysterious backstory.

I think trolls are a good canditate in general as trolls have high regeneration, high strength, can be ugly to look at, but can't really explain all the magic stuff, but there is one specific troll type that sticks out for me.

Pseudonatural Troll

The Escape Scene:
Acces to spell-like at will; blur, dimension door, shield, unhallow. Caster level 20th; save DC 8 + spell level. The DC is Charisma-based. Now, Dimension door are in this case are not enough to fully explain the Escape scene, but there might be some magic items or similar involved. We don't really know.

The fact that the Pseduo Troll can cast spell at will, but are restricted by Charisma explains a bit at least how it can't use it regularly, but only when he was under huge stress. Maybe a powerful version somehow explained by the Giant at later date.

Captured scene:
Pseudo trolls speaks in Giant language, (not very different from common) but might have been around enough to learn to speak common, surprising the hunters of his skills. Worth noting that Common and Orc is bonus langues for trolls in general. Also he is most likely a young version of a Pseudo Troll as his dad is much bigger, making him small enough to fit the trap.

Tower Scene:
Armor class: 51 (–1 size, +7 Dex, +35 natural)
DR 5/epic
Str 45, Dex 24, Con 33, Int 6, Wis 19, Cha 6
Also access to shield and blur.
EDIT: A pseudotroll’s natural weapons are treated as epic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Circus Scene:
Alternate Form ability. At will, a pseudotroll can take the form of a grotesque, tentacled mass (or another appropriately gruesome form), but all its abilities remain unchanged despite the alien appearance. Perfect fit as the Wizard can't see what he is, and the rest are grossed out.

Existed time:
Not sure, but probably way before OotS.

Size/strength:
His size is large Outsider, but as he is a younger version he might be tiny enough for the box. Still very strong as the strenght is massive along with his high challenge rating.

Mind effect:
Weakest save is his Will save that's only +7, but he does have natural high spell resistance (30SR) and Iron Will (+2), his wisdom skill is also decently high at 19, but can be explain as he is a younger version and just failed a save. At least he is not immune to mind effecting spells.

Challenge Rating:
21. That fit nicely.

Childish behaviour
He is obviously a young version, but the fact that he only have 6 in intelligence means he is acting like Elan v2. Note, that under 8 in inteligence means you have hard to speak properly. As he can speak quite nicely in common as well, creates a downside to my theory.

Connection to astral plane:
As a pseudo troll there might be some connections to planes as he is a extraplanar type. Tho this might just be some backstory that fits every monsters in how he ended up in the jungle in the first place. I guess we have to wait and see.

EDIT2: Trolls have access to darkvision. Not sure if Pseudo Trolls have that, but in general all Trolls does. Maybe explaining how he can look out of the darkness spell?

I think all this fit the bill quite nicely. It might be a different variety of troll, but this version look quite solid imo. The weakest being the one explaining the escape spell, but as he does have access to spell at will and one of them being dimension door, there might be something in it.

As far as templated suggestions go, this is good. Sadly, its still a templated suggestion. That having been said, I can improve upon it.

One of my favorite candidate suggestions of all time: the Black Troll. I'm trying to pull up the original link but it might be dead since its been a few years. In a nutshell, its group of trolls that somehow ended up in... Either Hell or the Abyss, I forget, but somehow survived and multiplied eventually becoming infernal creatures, but still "biological", I suppose.

In terms of brass tacks, they're regular trolls except slightly tougher, smarter (INT and CHR of 10), "demonic looking" (unspecified how exactly), and for no apparent reason they can cast Chain Lightning and Teleport without Error (aka Greater Teleport) like a 10th level caster. Wish or Miracle is better, but Greater Teleport is a tolerable answer to the Escape Scene.

Pseudonatural Black Troll ftw.