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Trollhound
Trollhounds are squat, slavering beasts akin to trolls in canine form. With a similar nigh-insatiable hunger stoked by their regenerative metabolisms, packs of wild trollhounds prowl the foothills of regions where trolls dwell to hunt for vast quantities of meat. In some regions, trolls breed trollhounds as pets, utilizing the trollhounds' keen sense of smell to aid in the hunt.Covered in fetid, weeping sores, trollhounds are carriers of a debilitating contagion known as bloodfire fever. Creatures that contract the disease through the bite of a trollhound experience deep internal pain, as if their blood were on fire. Additional symptoms include loss of muscle coordination, pus-filled blisters, and overall lethargy and fatigue. Other than living with the pain from skin irritation, both trolls and trollhounds are immune to the major effects of the disease.
Trollhounds are fearless on the hunt and in combat, relying on their ability to regenerate to carry them through. Not even the threat of fire is enough to repel them, as the beasts don't recognize the danger it represents. Nevertheless, fire is one of the most effective tools in combating trollhounds; canny hunters know to burn every last remnant of a supposedly slain trollhound, for their regenerative powers are potent indeed.
While trolls have had great success in domesticating, training, and even befriending trollhounds, the same can't be said for other would-be masters. Whether impeded by constant exposure to trollhounds' diseased slobber, their ravenous hunger that never seems to be fully sated, or simply their foul personality and quick-to-bite temperament, most attempts to use trollhounds in place of more reliable guardians end in pain, misery, and a pack of feral trollhounds escaping into the hinterlands.
Left to their own devices, trollhounds will breed relatively quickly. It can take less than a year for a small pack to multiply into such a size that they pose a significant threat to the countryside. Best to leave the trollhounds to the trolls, as they say!
Recall Knowledge - Beast (Arcana, Nature): DC 18
Unspecific Lore: DC 16
Specific Lore: DC 13
Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level
Changes from being Elite are marked in red below.NOTE: The +2 damage bonus to non-strike offensive abilities (+4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.
Elite TrollhoundCreature 4
Medium Beast Troll Wraith Source Monster Core 2 pg. 332
Perception +8; darkvision, scent (imprecise) 30 feet
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +11, Stealth +10, Survival +8
Str +4, Dex +1, Con +5, Int -3, Wis +1, Cha -2
AC 19; Fort +16, Ref +10, Will +8
HP 80, regeneration 15 (deactivated by electricity or fire); Weaknesses electricity 8, fire 8
Flailing Bite [reaction] Trigger The trollhound takes electricity or fire damage; Effect The trollhound makes a jaws Strike against a random creature within reach. If the trollhound has persistent fire damage, they attempt a DC 17 flat check to remove it.
Speed 35 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +13 [+8/+3], Damage 1d12+2+4 piercing plus Knockdown and bloodfire feverBloodfire Fever () Trollhounds and trolls are immune to bloodfire fever; Saving Throw DC 20 Fortitude; Stage 1 carrier with no ill effect (1 day); Stage 2 enfeebled 1 (1 day); Stage 3 enfeebled 1 and clumsy 1 (1 day); Stage 4 enfeebled 2 and clumsy 2 (1 day); Stage 5 enfeebled 2, clumsy 2, and fatigued (1 day)Pack Attack The trollhound's Strikes deals 1d6 extra damage to creatures within reach of at least two of the trollhound's allies.
Trollhound Genesis
The first trollhound was the result of a clash between a starving warg and an enraged forest troll. Though the warg was no match for the troll, it landed several bites before retreating into the nearby woods. The regenerative chunks of troll flesh within the warg's bleeding maw infected the warg's body, slowly and painfully transforming the beast into a proto-trollhound. Stripped of cunning and intelligence, the altered warg attacked an approaching pack of wargs, spreading the unusual infection. Soon, trollhounds became their own species, and successive generations of the beasts have been discovered hunting alongside trolls, sharing an instinctual bond with the lumbering giants. Many modern-day wargs hold a deep-seated animosity toward trollhounds because of this past. This antagonism is exacerbated by the fact that, in rare cases, a warg who reaches stage 5 of bloodfire fever might transform into a trollhound.
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