Trolls, trolls and more trolls

[SciFiGirl]

I am currently playing a troll and I need clarification on the ever on-going question of fire and acid damage.

Can a troll heal from fire and acid damage?

I am playing a 3.5e version game. Here is the where the confusion lies: under the regeneration heading it simply states that fire and acid damage does not go away. With that being said, does this mean it never goes away and the troll permenantly loses HPs or does it mean that the damage simply does not regenerate when the troll regenerates?

Does that mean that the rules of regeneration simply don’t apply to that type of damage and it must be healed normally such as what a person heals after a days rest or does it simply never ever under any conditions go away?

And does anyone know how a troll heals after taking fire and acid damage? Is it days, like a human? Sooner? Longer?

Help?

SciFiGirl

 

[Rhun]

I believe the damage would heal normally/naturally, or that a cure spell could be cast on the troll to heal the damage.

 

[jonesy]

Does that mean that the rules of regeneration simply don’t apply to that type of damage and it must be healed normally such as what a person heals after a days rest.

I believe it's this, yes. So, what Rhun said.

 

[Magesmiley]

If you read the description of regeneration, it helps. Regeneration really has a couple of effects:

1. I heals the creature of nonlethal damage at a fixed rate.
2. It converts most forms of damage into nonlethal damage.

So essentially fire and acid are normal damage (which can be restored in the usual ways). Everything else becomes nonlethal, which gets removed by the regeneration ability (which actually removes all nonlethal damge, FWIW).

 

[AuraSeer]

And does anyone know how a troll heals after taking fire and acid damage? Is it days, like a human? Sooner? Longer?

It takes the same amount of time.

Regeneration has two effects. It causes most damage to convert to nonlethal damage, and it heals nonlethal damage at an accelerated rate. Fire and acid do not get converted, and stay normal damage, which means those hit points have to be recovered via natural healing.

Natural healing recovers 1 hp per HD, per night of rest. So your normal troll will recover 6 hp overnight. Trolls with extra HD, like the Troll Hunter in the MM, will recover more than that.

 

[frankthedm]

And if the troll can get a hold of magical healing, it's doubly useful...
Healing Nonlethal Damage
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
When a spell or a magical power cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

 

[Scott DeWar]

If it can hole up somewhere safe, then it can heal 2 hp/hd / full day of rest.

 

[Jacob]

I think the real question that needs to be asked is what happens to a Troll that's beheaded by a Vorpal sword? Something like that happened to a Troll in a game I played, and kept regenerating. Now, I'd like to think that's wrong, but then again, the tarrasque can't be killed until a Wish is cast upon it, even after a beheading, so...

 

[Rhun]

I think the real question that needs to be asked is what happens to a Troll that's beheaded by a Vorpal sword? Something like that happened to a Troll in a game I played, and kept regenerating. Now, I'd like to think that's wrong, but then again, the tarrasque can't be killed until a Wish is cast upon it, even after a beheading, so...

I would rule that the Troll continues to regenerate, as the damage inflicted by the vorpal blade is neither fire or acid.

Plus, there is a great scene in the book Another Day, Another Dungeon in which one of the characters goes to kick a decapitated troll's head across the room, and the head bites his foot.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I think the real question that needs to be asked is what happens to a Troll that's beheaded by a Vorpal sword? Something like that happened to a Troll in a game I played, and kept regenerating. Now, I'd like to think that's wrong, but then again, the tarrasque can't be killed until a Wish is cast upon it, even after a beheading, so...

An attack that can cause instant death only threatens the creature with death if it is delivered by weapons that deal it lethal damage.

By RAW, a vorpal sword deals normal damage to a Troll and beheads it, but doesn't kill it. The Troll grows a new head in 3d6 minutes. There are no official rules for being headless, but I would probably rule that the Troll is unconscious until the head grows back. Why Trolls retain their memories in regrown heads is a mystery.

Of course, you could just as easily rule that headless trolls aren't impaired in any fashion except the loss of their bite attack, which would be more consistent with their retention of memory.