How to kill a troll in D&D 3.5?

Question

My level 6-8 Party is going up against a small troll army invading a forest. Previously, we just assumed that once the party wins, they can burn all the troll remains. Some of us, however, were interested in how the rules handle this.

Applying a torch would not do it, because a torch is treated as a "one-handed improvised weapon that deals bludgeoning damage equal to that of a gauntlet of its size, plus 1 point of fire damage" according to the SRD. Even if they dealt 1d6 fire damage, the other damage that brought the troll down is regenerating, so you need to keep hitting the pieces as you torch them for 63/3.5 rounds on average.

Alternatively, use coup de grace with a torch, forcing a Fort DC 17 save (trolls having Fort +11). Or finally, given that immersion in boiling water does 10d6 damage, assume the same for a pyre. Somebody also suggested using a coup de grace using a scorching ray but that severely limits the number of trolls the party can kill. Or a sneak attack using a torch or alchemical fire?

How is one supposed to kill a troll by the rules, and how do they handle a raiding party of ten or more trolls? How does a party keep the trolls down while they fight the remaining trolls?

Both the pyre and the hunt for the various twitching bits with sword and torch provide interesting visuals.

I know that Pathfinder has a different rule covering this, but this is a D&D 3.5 game.

Answer 1

63 damage done 3.5 at a time is on the order of two minutes' worth of rounds. Assuming that you are starting this after initiative has ended, why is this a problem? Taking two minutes to properly sear the wounds of the troll to be acceptable, especially considering how long it takes to sear a steak.

Additionally, if intelligent players sever the limbs first, even if the main troll body regenerates enough to wake up, it won't have any way to actually attack.

Answer 2

D&D 3.x isn't a "rules only" game. If there's no reason within the game world to worry about the remains reanimating (like, "we have to burn them before the reinforcements arrive to drive us off"), then it should just happen.

DM: Ok, so you gather the twitching remains and burn them in pyres. What's next?

Unless there is a pressure involved with doing things inefficiently, dragging out the combat system is just going to be annoying, boring, or both. The combat system is fundamentally not designed to handle non-combat stuff like efficiently cremating troll pieces.

Even if there is a reason to worry about it, then leaning on the combat system is using the wrong tool. Better would be the DM doing something smarter, e.g. calling for Spot checks with failure resulting in a random number of pieces being overlooked and regenerating into full trolls who attack the pyre-lighters by surprise.

This kind of thing, where the fact that the DM is a thinking human who can creatively handle events not covered by the rules, is what makes D&D a great game. Keep the combat system for actual combat, and rely on your DM being a good DM to handle things like this.

Answer 3

Some solutions beyond pyre/torching troll bits:

• At levels 6-8 a spell caster should have access to some fire spells. Use liberally on trolls and/or troll remains.
• Alchemist's fire will also do the trick and if the party has the right skill set can be made by the party (although depending on the size troll army this might be somewhat impratical)
• A simpler alternative to alchemist's fire is just getting a lot of vials of oil and pouring them over the remains and lighting them with a torch. Oil is far cheaper and more common then alchemist's fire.
• A very clever trap where trolls are baited into a wooded area which has been designed to be set ablaze and burn inward would probably permanently kill and possibly allow the party to watch from a safe distance (or pick off stragglers who slip through the fire line).

Answer 4

Set their hair and clothes on fire with the Torch. Since the Trolls are unconcious they don't get Reflex saves to put the fire out and burn to death. If the DM is really persnickity then use Oil to treat their hair and skin first to ensure it catches fire since it costs 1 SP a pint. Want to be absolutely sure? Use a Winter Blanket, 5 SP, soaked in a gallon of Oil, 8 SP, for an 13 SP cost and they're sure to burn to death. How can they sleep while their beds are burning?

D&D Glossary: catching on fire:

Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires such as a wall of fire might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells such as fireball or flame strike don't normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.

Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character's clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out. (That is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he's no longer on fire.)

Answer 5

The cheapest method will probably be drowning, as that scales the best. However, assuming you have a budget, the alchemical item "trollbane" in Dungeonscape, page 30, does what it says on the tin. 90 gp if purchased, DC 25/30 GP if crafted, negates the regeneration of a troll against that specific attack. Therefore it's best combined with a x4 crit weapon and a coup de grace.

Other poisons will absolutely be effective, due to regeneration not impacting ability drain/damage.

Suffocation through smothering in a pit should also work, if you dump the trolls into a deep deep mass grave, pile earth on top of them, and pack it in. The grave would require watching, but scales well.

Asking for various fire/acid based magical weapons is also indicated, and or spells that mimic those functions.

Answer 6

Poison can drop hit points to 0, but just as with a Ring of Regeneration, they'll revive each round to save vs poison again (eventually overcoming poison). Otherwise they'll stay dead until time to burn it.

Torches, etc. cause much more damage when sitting there on the body as opposed to being swung around like a weapon. Applied to a dismembered limb, fire ends regeneration immediately. A downed troll at 0 hp or less will not rise if flame is applied to the body.

Just like you don't have to read the entire set of blueprints of a building's construction to find your way to an office on the first floor, you don't have to waste 3 hours of game time to finish a troll you successfully brought down.

Answer 7

Just have your big nasty figther types go about knocking the trolls down and another char runs around on fire duty lighting up the trolls. Have your wizard use battlefield control spells and such to nerf and/or stop the other trolls... Ray of stupidity works wonders against your standard troll! :-)

Answer 8

First, the rules do not cover severing body parts through regular attacks. A troll brought down in this fashion is considered to be in one piece, barring several litres of putrid blood.

Second, you can hit the troll two times a round with a torch. This requires two characters (or one capable of 2 attacks per round).

Third,

If a torch is used in combat, treat it as a one-handed improvised weapon that deals bludgeoning damage equal to that of a gauntlet of its size, plus 1 point of fire damage. (c) SRD

That quoted, you will have a rough time toasting trolls with torches. You'd be better off using a pyre.

Last but not least, I don't see anything in the coup de grace description restricting you from performing a coup de grace with nonlethal damage, so have some pickaxes handy.

You could also drown the trolls. Dig a hole in the ground, create water and drag the troll remains there.