Trollblood
“...AND SO THEN HE SAID "I'M SO HUNGRY, I COULD eat a horse!" We didn't believe him until he was running alongside our riders for the rest of the trip, nibbling on a leg as he jogged.”
In the wildlands beyond civilization -- far enough to avoid competition -- the trollblood eke out a barbaric existence. If you see trollblood, you probably won't see more for years. Though infinitely more difficult to put down in a fight, a trollblood would sooner move on to an easier meal than work up more hunger fighting a town of humanoids. Trollblood take all sources of food in an area that are easy to take, and then move on as soon as it becomes worth their while.
Trollblood are humanoids descended from trolls. While trolls cannot usually reproduce with humanoids, trolls are so incredibly mutagenic that it is not hard to imagine that one could. Alternatively, a trollblood line may have been started by a humanoid that ingested an under-cooked trollsteak or a potion with a troll base that was not fully-diluted, and yet others owe their existence to the meddling of wizards. A trollsteak is a meal that never seems to end, as it grows before your eyes. To "eat a trollsteak" means to become sickened by excess, or to waste time on self-indulgence.
Trollblood heal almost instantly at a cost of a frightening metabolism, eating ten times as much as other humanoids. Their clans number no more than a dozen; any more would be unsustainable. When a clan starts to have difficulty hunting, they move on; no sense in wasting time and effort if you can get more elsewhere.
A trollblood values society insomuch that adventuring is a meal ticket. A trollblood recognizes nobility when they have a bounty to turn in and a feast to receive. Though hearty and willing sellswords, they are overlooked by all but the most desperate armies, as even one trollblood is a white elephant. Savvy employers will cut costs by supplying their trollblood with raw meat. In fact, trollblood almost always prefer raw meat over cooked due to their instinctive aversion to fire. Trollblood have long pointed ears, noses, teeth and claws. Their skin ranges from light green to pale gray, often punctuated by skin tabs and moles. They have coarse hair prone to clumping, ranging from light brown or auburn to very dark green or black. Trollblood feigning civility often tie back their dreadlocks.
While they are not nearly as acrid-smelling as their forebears, the stale stench of a trollblood is immediately noticeable if the trollblood is not regularly attentive. The smell, gross over-eating, and a perceived general laziness or single-mindedness, all stem from their metabolism.
While trollblood aren't nearly as dumb as trolls, they do suffer setbacks. A trollblood that sustains a brain injury will regenerate the tissue, but not the content. Trollblood can be named human, giant, or trollspeak names. Trollspeak is a pigeon language, picking up convenient words and phrases from the languages the user comes into contact with, and is not cohesive in the slightest. Trollblood name their children to help them remember. A trollblood might be named after an event that happened around the time of their birth, after a goal one of the parents has, or after a notable event in their parents' lives. This leads many trollblood to be named after other trollblood or possibly even their enemies.Trollish Ancestry
Trollsteak
Trollfreaks
Trollblood Names
Trollspeak Names. Dam Blodbok, Guthash Copperwise, Lorach Chew, Nying Blad, Gareke Stomper, Fange Kazaht, Ferd Worth, Vaws Fjell, Mal Crownfeast, Durbuluk Arumwon
Trollblood Traits
Despite themselves, Trollblood share a number of common traits.
Ability Score Tradeoff. Your Constitution score increases by 2, your Strength score increases by 1, and both your Intelligence and Charisma scores are reduced by 1.
Age. Trollblood enter adulthood in their early teens and usually live less than a century.
Alignment. The direct nature of trollblood often leaves them frustrated by law, but they understand the value of a good deal. The best of them work well enough with others in order to sate their hunger, however a hungry trollblood is prone to selfish and impulsive decision-making.
Size. Trollblood are lanky with overly-long arms and mid-sections, standing 6-8 feet tall and weighing between 180 and 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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.
Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Natural Weapons. Your teeth and claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal damage equal to ld4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. For your bite this damage is piercing, and for your claws this damage is slashing.
Trollspeak. If you observe a conversation in a language you don't know for 10 minutes, you can make a DC 15 Intelligence check to get the gist of it. You pick up enough to be able to communicate and understand the most basic intent relevant to the topic discussed.
Trollsteak. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level. When you start your turn with less than your maximum hit point total, you immediately spend a single hit die as if you had just taken a short rest. This feature does not activate if you have taken acid or fire damage in the last minute. Once per long rest, during a short rest you can regain hit die for every 5 gold in rations you consume (10 rations) up to a number of dice equal to half of your total number of them, rounded up. You count as five creatures for the purposes of benefitting from spells which create food.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common.
Credits
- Trollblood by /u/TehlalTheAllTelling
- art from Midgard Heroes by Kobold Press.