Troll, Desert

Family: Troll

Large giant, neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (studded leather)
Hit Points 92 (8d10 +48)
Speed 25 ft., burrow 10 ft (soft earth and sand only)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	10 (+0)	22 (+6)	8 (-1)	10 (+0)	7 (-2)

Saving Throws Con +9
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +2, Survival +3
Damage Resistances nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
Damage Immunities poison
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Giant
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Keen Smell. Desert trolls have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
• Regeneration. The desert troll regains 5 hit points at the start of its turn. If the desert troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the desert troll’s next turn. The desert troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and cannot regenerate.
• Sanguinary Healing. The desert troll uses blood and fluid siphoned from living creatures to boost its ability to heal. The desert troll heals damage equal to half of any damage it inflicts upon a living target with its bite attack, rounding down.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. on any turn where it does not vent its gizzard, the desert troll makes two attacks; one with its bite and one with its claw.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) piercing damage.
• Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (3d4 +3) slashing damage.
• Vent Gizzard (Recharge 6). The desert troll coughs up a cloud of stored salts and acids from its gizzard chain in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (3d8) acid damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful save. If this saving throw is failed on a natural 1, the target is also blinded for 1d4 turns.
• Thrown Stone. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 60/180 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage.

TACTICS

• Ambush Round-Desert trolls like to bury themselves in shallow pits of sand, burrowing quickly behind their prey and attacking any who are grouped together, focusing their Vent Gizzard action on catching as many of them as possible in the area of effect.
• Crippled Round-Desert trolls are insidious, bloodthirsty combatants. If they are badly injured or have suffered regeneration-stealing damage, they will target opponents with their bite attack to siphon some of their fluids to heal. Incapacitated targets, animal companions, and mounts are easy choices.
• Retreat Round-If forced to retreat, they will spend a round quickly burrowing into the loose sand or soil to a depth where attacks cannot reach them. They are subject to the need for air but can regenerate while buried in this fashion
• Incapacitated Round-If a desert troll is incapacitated, it will do its best to “play dead” for a round or two while waiting for an opportunity to crawl or burrow to safety.

ABOUT

Desert trolls’ are dense and heavy, filled with thick, tarlike ichor sluggishly trapped in stony, withered guts. Their skin is dry, stretched, and flakes off in papery wisps as they move around, constantly regenerating new layers to replace the old. Desert trolls are so dry and husk-like that, when they are not moving, they are oftentimes mistaken for mummified remains or burlap scraps-until they spring into action!

Desert trolls are an offshoot of common trolls that evolved from those who were severely wounded and left in the driest of environments. Their natural regeneration, coupled with rapid dehydration and immersion in salts and sands, resulted in an emaciated, leathery, mummy-like creature with an endless thirst for juicy living prey. Desert trolls have developed insanely sharp claws and double the normal of flesh-slicing fangs in their snarling maws.

Desert trolls regenerate using their surroundings’ raw sand and dust combined with their own foul secretions to knit wounds closed. Desert trolls are also adapted to use the blood and fluids siphoned from other creatures to jump-start their own regenerative abilities.

d6	Desert Troll Treasure
1	2d6 x 5 sp scattered in the sands beneath where the desert troll nests
2	1d4 pieces of inedible jewelry that have passed through the desert troll; each are worth 1d6 x 1d10 gp
3	The desert troll vomits up the last contents of its gizzard; concentrated salt acid crystals that can be ground down to become 1d3 uses of universal solvent or 2d4 vials of acid (2d4 damage).
4	Make three rolls on Individual Treasure: Challenge 5-10 (Dmg, pg. 136).
5	As #4, but this desert troll also adorned itself with a sack of trophies. 1d2+1 rolls on Magic Item Table B (Dmg, pg. 144).
6	As #4, but this desert troll also thought of itself as king/queen of all desert trolls because it wore an ioun stone (random type) on a circlet around its head (but did not know how to activate its ability).