Troll, Tunnel

Description

An ugly, misshapen creature with a pale, warty hide, coarse hair, and the exaggerated facial features of a very old gnome, this stunted being moves about clumsily and seems to take little notice of its surroundings.

These stunted, misshapen creatures are generally humanoid in form, with a rather ugly appearance. They have pale, hairy flesh with many warts; big noses, long arms, humped backs, and large, pointed ears. Few bother to bathe and smell just as bad as they appear.

Tunnel trolls are dull-witted creatures who live in caves and will only come out on the surface at night. Many have a well-deserved reputation as thieves, and enjoy horde gold or kidnapping children to labor as slaves. Not all are evil, however, and some will labor for long hours over their forges, turning out useful metal implements. (Although these are rarely up to the quality of the best dwarven work).

If a tunnel troll is caught out in the open when the sun rises, it is permanently turned to stone. As a result, whenever dawn approaches they will scurry to find shelter in any dark location, such as under a bridge or deep in an old forest.

Combat

Tunnel trolls rely on brute force to win their fights, slugging it out with their opponents until they are worn down. Due to their fey nature, tunnel trolls are impervious to most weapons and have little fear from combat.

Sunlight Vulnerability (Ex): Each round that a tunnel troll is exposed to direct sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell, it must succeed on a Fortitude save or turn to stone permanently. For direct sunlight the save DC is 19.

Tunnel Trolls as Characters

Tunnel troll characters possess the following racial traits.

• +8 Strength, +6 Constitution, -4 Intelligence (minimum 3), -2 Charisma.
• Small size. +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
• Space/Reach: 5 feet/5 feet.
• A tunnel troll's base land speed is 20 feet.
• Darkvision out to 120 feet and low-light vision.
• Racial Hit Dice: A tunnel troll begins with four levels of fey, which provides 4d6 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +4, and Will +4.
• Racial Skills: A tunnel troll's fey levels give it skill points equal to 7x(6 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Climb, Craft (blacksmith), Hide, Listen, Search, and Spot.
• Racial Feats: A tunnel troll's fey levels give it two feats. A tunnel troll receives Toughness as a bonus feat.
• +3 natural armor bonus.
• Special Qualities (see above): Damage reduction 10/cold iron, sunlight vulnerability, spell resistance equals 10 + Hit Dice.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to metal.
• Automatic Languages: Dwarven, Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Common, Giant, Orc, Terran.
• Favored Class: Rogue.
• Level adjustment +3.

Also in this section of the source

Two-Headed Mutant

By Sean K Reynolds. (Two-headed orc by the editor).

Some creatures suffer mutations, giving birth to two-headed offspring. These creatures often are tougher than normal creatures of their kind and grow to become a new strain of monster.

Whether arising from intentional experimentation by mages or accidental creation by strange magical fields, two-headed mutants may pop up almost anywhere. Assuming its parents don't kill it outright, a two-headed mutant is tougher, more adept in combat, and more resistant to some magic than a normal creature of its kind. Creatures such as the ettin, amphisbaena (venomous snake with a head on each end), and even the hydra may be end products of this sort of mutation.

A two-headed mutant looks like a normal variety of its kind of creature, except that it has a second head, normally attached in the same general area as the head of a normal creature. For example, the two-headed mutant of a humanoid would have two necks sprouting from its upper torso, each with its own head. In some cases, such as for creatures with more symmetric or unusual bodies, the head may appear elsewhere, such as on the end of the tail (as is the case with the amphisbaena). In some two-headed mutants the second head is noticeably different from the first one (smaller, discolored, and so on), but normally it is a normal head for the creature.

Some accidental two-headed mutants born of humanoid parents are left to die in the wilderness after they are born but end up being rescued by evil creatures, mad wizards, or strange cultists, where they may be raised with the intention of being sacrificed upon reaching adulthood. The lucky ones either escape their captors to live in remote places or somehow prove their worth to their captors and earn a place for themselves among their new family.

A two-headed mutant normally learns whatever languages its parents speak.

Sample Two-Headed Mutants

This example uses an ogre as the base creature.