Half-Troll (Ice)

Physical Description

Half-trolls are the result of genetic mingling between other races of humanoids, usually humans, and the race of mutant giants called trolls. Like their troll parents, they have tremendous appetites and powerful metabolic abilities. However, despite still having a passionate and mercurial temperament, the average half-troll is markedly less chaotic and wild than a full-blooded troll.

Half-trolls bear visible signs of their giant heritage. Like goliaths, they tower over most other medium humanoids, but unlike goliaths their proportions are distinctly non-humanoid. A half-troll’s arms and legs are very long compared to the rest of his or her body, and they walk with a troll’s hunched gait. They tend to grow thick, sharp fingernails, though still noticeably blunter and shorter than a troll’s, and tough growths on their shoulders and backs.

Half-trolls have a variety of skin-colors, mostly greens, blues, and greys in a variety of shades. Most have either yellow or green eyes, or eyes like their other parent’s species. Additionally, most half-trolls have larger noses, smaller eyes, and sharper teeth than humanoids without troll blood. Half-trolls tend to have thick hair that grows out very quickly. Dreadlocks and braids are very common hairstyles, although facial and body hair are uncommon.

Society

There is some truth to the stereotype that all half-trolls come from violence between their monstrous parents and other races, but it is a bit offensive to most to assume that it is always so. In wilder regions, individual trolls may engage in semi-peaceful trading with isolated communities, exchanging protection for food and treasure, not unlike their mercenary activity for monstrous races. Frontier folk may also find that troll tribes with particularly fruitful territories are more interested in easier prey than humans. Some rare cosmopolitan urban communities can offer plentiful food and employment for those rare trolls with thicker streaks of self-control than their brethren, or sewers with disgusting but plentiful repasts for the savage. And, of course, most trolls find that other appetites supersede that particular drive.

Half-trolls often experience prejudice growing up, not only because of their resemblance to a dangerous and monstrous race, but because they are often seen as stupid and impulsive. Due to shared experiences and similar outlooks, urban half-trolls almost always gravitate towards half-orc neighborhoods, where they find they fit in better, if not perfectly. Frontier half-trolls will have very different experiences depending on how dangerous and aggressive the local troll tribes are.

Even in peaceful circumstances, few troll parents stay long with their offspring, as their wanderlust and capricious nature get the better of them. Most leave the child with the other parent. However, in peaceful times, it is not unheard of for the troll parent to make visits of varying frequency to check up on their child’s growth. It is rare for half-trolls to be raised among trolls, but as one of the strongest taboos in troll culture forbids the consumption of one’s own progeny until they are grown, half-trolls born into the tribe are usually left as foundlings in places the trolls regard as too dangerous to attack.

All half-trolls have known hunger at least once in their lives. They require huge amounts of food to maintain their bodies, and they starve much more quickly than other humanoids when deprived of it. This fact, combined with their difficulty finding high-paying employment and natural restless temperament, means that many half-trolls choose to supplement their caloric intake through unconventional means. Few outsiders, even among half-orcs, can easily understand the sight of a hungry half-troll nipping a quick snack out of some carrion on the road or half-rotten garbage from a gutter, but the answer has some basis in troll biology. Like dogs, trolls find very few smells naturally unpleasant, and their half-troll relatives don’t taste all the nasty flavors of rot that normal humanoids have adapted to stay away from. After all, their bodies can usually handle the strain.

Half-Troll Names

To the extent to which half-troll names exist as distinct entities, they are usually gruff and abbreviated.

Male: Grell, Kerfen, Zuuf

Female: Anje, Kap, Melkree

Half-Troll Traits

Tough, fierce, and hungry, half-trolls combine the best traits of both their parents’ biology.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1 and your Constitution score increases by 2.

Age: Half-trolls age more quickly than humans, reaching physical maturity at around 14 years old. Though their powerful metabolism grants them good health and staves off the physical decline of old age, it also reduces their overall lifespan, and they usually don’t live as long as humans do. Half-trolls with non-human parents may live much longer, but still with noticeably reduced lifespans compared to normal members of their non-troll parents’ kind.

Alignment: Alignment isn’t a thing in my game. All hail the backstory.

 

Size. Half-trolls are smaller than full-blooded trolls, but are noticeably larger than most humanoids, standing from 6 to 8 feet tall hunched, with as much as two extra feet of height gained from straightening out. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Half-trolls have longer legs proportionate to their size than other humanoids. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Fast Recovery: You may spend a bonus action during your turn to immediately regain hit points equal to d6 plus your character level plus your Constitution modifier. Alternatively, if you are unconscious, you may use this ability instead of making a death saving throw to immediately stabilize. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you complete a long rest. This ability will not function while you have a level of exhaustion.

Voracious: You are almost always hungry, needing twice as much food as a normal humanoid each day to remain in fighting trim. Additionally, your rapid metabolism works against you, subtracting rather than adding your Constitution modifier to the number of days you can go without food without suffering levels of exhaustion, to a minimum of one.

Iron Gut: You have advantage on Constitution saving throws made for ingesting poisonous or distasteful substances or from inhaling unpleasant smells, such as a monster’s Stench ability or the stinking cloud spell.

Cold Resistance (fur): Gain advantage on cold-based saving throws and does not suffer exhaustion when exposed to cold weather.

Mountain Climber: You can move through rocky and mountainous terrain as if it where regular.

Good Health: You have advantage on saving throws against diseases.

Keen Nose: You have advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) tests related to smell.

Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.

References