Advice on the Trollhaunt Warren Module

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

shadowfox9r

Dec 02, 2011 7:22:05
So we have 5 person party for this module. I created 4 of the 5 characters because the 3 people playing these characters are still semi new to DND. My issue is that I overlooked a small fact and thats how trolls work in DND. I was unaware that they would not die unless killed by fire or acid. We have no fire weapons in the group and only 1 fire daily power.

Is there someway we can kill these for now without that. Maybe some enchant or something we could put on our exisiting weapons to get us by until we can afford something better to kill them.

Do you think the DM needs to find an inventive way to kill them maybe by lighting them on fire with a torch if they are unconcious?  
#2

wrecan

Dec 02, 2011 7:49:44
So we have 5 person party for this module. I created 4 of the 5 characters because the 3 people playing these characters are still semi new to DND. My issue is that I overlooked a small fact and thats how trolls work in DND. I was unaware that they would not die unless killed by fire or acid. We have no fire weapons in the group and only 1 fire daily power.

Is there someway we can kill these for now without that. Maybe some enchant or something we could put on our exisiting weapons to get us by until we can afford something better to kill them.

Do you think the DM needs to find an inventive way to kill them maybe by lighting them on fire with a torch if they are unconcious?  


Torches should inflict fire damage.  That's the traditional way to kill trolls in D&D.
#3

shadowfox9r

Dec 02, 2011 8:11:46
He states that we cannot use torches on them when they are below 0 hp because at the start of there turn, they start with 10 hp. I don't understand why once they are down, why we can't use a standard action to torch them.

Do you think this is a legit way to take down the trolls since pretty much we would never be able to kill them. 
#4

pluisjen

Dec 02, 2011 8:15:54
I think this is a pretty old module right? Troll Healing has been updated since to this:

Whenever an attack that doesn’t deal acid or fire damage reduces the troll to 0 hit points, the troll does not die and instead falls unconscious until the start of its next turn, when it returns to life with 15 hit points. If an attack hits the troll and deals any acid or fire damage while the troll is unconscious, it does not return to life in this way.



Which makes it pretty clear that if you hit it with a Fire attack while they're down, they stay down. You should definately be able to kill them with a torch as a standard action.
#5

gorkythatcher

Dec 02, 2011 8:16:04
He states that we cannot use torches on them when they are below 0 hp because at the start of there turn, they start with 10 hp. I don't understand why once they are down, why we can't use a standard action to torch them.

Do you think this is a legit way to take down the trolls since pretty much we would never be able to kill them. 

Any oil in the adventuring kits or character inventories?
#6

shadowfox9r

Dec 02, 2011 8:23:42
I don't think so. This module might be old but am not sure how we would go about killing these. I think that once they are down we should be able to set them on fire with a torch.
#7

Awesomologist

Dec 02, 2011 8:26:59
This was one of my favorite modules, though I admit I did take some liberties in changing a few of the encounters. When it comes to killing trolls you have a few options, torches as mentioned above, or consider giving a few item drops for whetstones or alchemical fire/acid to coat their weapons with.

Another option is in the warrens the party can come across a black dragon who may be willing to help the party. If the party wants the dragon's help have him grant them a boon that lasts 1 day (or more, however you see fit) that gives the player the option of changing their damage to Acid. My players actually killed the dragon and then one of them got the idea of using the dragon's breath power "sack" (or gland or whatever) to make coatings for thier weapons.

Also early in the dungeon there's a treasure drop of a Phasing Longbow. Be careful with this! My Archer ranger abused this item for the rest of the module. Yell
#8

mboss77

Dec 02, 2011 8:34:32
I don't think so. This module might be old but am not sure how we would go about killing these. I think that once they are down we should be able to set them on fire with a torch.

as stated above, they can be set on fire while they are unconscious.  Player A reduces the Troll to 0hp and then (1) spends an action point for another standard action to use a torch on it OR (2) Player B's turn comes up and uses his standard action with the torch before the start of the Troll's turn.
#9

shadowfox9r

Dec 02, 2011 9:12:53
Thanks all for the information. I'm going to pass it on to them DM.
#10

Lineov

Dec 02, 2011 15:21:11
don't they give you a firelongsword in the adventure somewhere?  I could have sworn they did...
#11

warpig95b

Dec 06, 2011 13:51:56
We just finished this adventure (although my group did not complete it). I was the DM. Torches did just fine killing a troll.

Have one of the support PCs (or hire a minion) hold a torch. Pour a little oil on it and touch it with a torch after the front line fighters or rear mages/archers put it down. It's more old school than heroic, but it works.
#12

mboss77

Dec 06, 2011 20:48:27
We just finished this adventure (although my group did not complete it). I was the DM. Torches did just fine killing a troll.

Have one of the support PCs (or hire a minion) hold a torch. Pour a little oil on it and touch it with a torch after the front line fighters or rear mages/archers put it down. It's more old school than heroic, but it works.

glad it worked out for you.
#13

TheChilliGod

Dec 07, 2011 4:32:35
I think this is a pretty old module right? Troll Healing has been updated since to this:

Whenever an attack that doesn’t deal acid or fire damage reduces the troll to 0 hit points, the troll does not die and instead falls unconscious until the start of its next turn, when it returns to life with 15 hit points. If an attack hits the troll and deals any acid or fire damage while the troll is unconscious, it does not return to life in this way.



Which makes it pretty clear that if you hit it with a Fire attack while they're down, they stay down. You should definately be able to kill them with a torch as a standard action.


 ... Gods-damnit, a group I'm in has gone through almost the entire module using its old rules. Frustrated us to no end that we mysteriously couldn't burn a troll dead after it fell, but the DM prefers to stick to the rules. I wish I could have used this to persuade him to be more lenient to troll-killing.

We had three flaming weapons and a fire at-will between us, so we weren't in nearly as much of a predicament as the OP. But I'm happy you were able to resolve the issue your own way.
#14

jonathan_sicari

Dec 07, 2011 7:21:42
hm, wouldn't inflicting enough damage to take the troll to negative bloodied work?
#15

pluisjen

Dec 07, 2011 7:22:35
I think that rule only applies to players. For monsters the rule is that they die at 0, unless a Trait says otherwise.
#16

ciaran

Dec 07, 2011 8:55:49
So we have 5 person party for this module. I created 4 of the 5 characters because the 3 people playing these characters are still semi new to DND. My issue is that I overlooked a small fact and thats how trolls work in DND. I was unaware that they would not die unless killed by fire or acid. We have no fire weapons in the group and only 1 fire daily power.

Is there someway we can kill these for now without that. Maybe some enchant or something we could put on our exisiting weapons to get us by until we can afford something better to kill them.

Do you think the DM needs to find an inventive way to kill them maybe by lighting them on fire with a torch if they are unconcious?  


Torches should inflict fire damage.  That's the traditional way to kill trolls in D&D.



My party members laugh every time I pull a torch out of my bag, thanks to the advent of sunrods. Had em when I was 11, have em now too. My 11 year old, level 14 warforged keeps them too.
#17

ciaran

Dec 07, 2011 8:58:05
Oh, and as far as the module goes, my group ran it too. At some point every character had aquired some way of inflicting at will fire damage,. I favored Wall of Fire.
#18

LordOfWeasels

Dec 09, 2011 9:44:46
hm, wouldn't inflicting enough damage to take the troll to negative bloodied work?



Nope.  The trolls "die" at 0, then they have a trait that says they don't die.

You don't track negative HP for monsters, and monsters have no "die at neg Bloodied" rule.
#19

LordOfWeasels

Dec 09, 2011 9:49:18
don't they give you a firelongsword in the adventure somewhere?  I could have sworn they did...



Nope.  The adventure immediately before contains a +2 Flaming Weapon, and Trollhaunt contains a Mordant Weapon +3 that converts all damage to Acid.

Additionally:  improvised weapon "torch", a Wizard using Prestidigitation to "light a campfire" out of a downed troll, updating the RAW trolls to the new version of Troll Healing (since the original trolls, as your DM says, COULD NOT be killed while down.  They had to be dropped by a fire/acid attack, nothing else would work.  This was considered an ERROR and was changed in all newer Trolls).  Retraining do an at-will fire attack.  Buying a Flaming Weapon out of petty cash.  Alchemical items that do Fire/Acid.  Acid whetstones - add Ongoing 2 Acid Save Ends to every hit!
#20

droma

Dec 12, 2011 2:29:21
Best option is convince the DM to use the Errata for trolls so you can burn them while they are 'dead'. Alternatively at some point get access to one of the many ways of dealing at will fire damage.

I know my group was playing this adventure before the troll errata came out(or we weren't aware of it) and for a long time our solution was whenever something dropped to 0 the wizard would then ready to use scorching burst as soon as one of the trolls revived.