# All D&D trolls are male?



## avin (Dec 15, 2008)

Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male? 

I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...


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## Angel Tarragon (Dec 15, 2008)

avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?
> 
> I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...




If they are, they'ra all aesexual.


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## billd91 (Dec 15, 2008)

Who really wants to see troll boobies? Not me, I can tell you.


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## WhatGravitas (Dec 15, 2008)

Who needs sexual procreation if it can reproduce by budding?

Given the trollish regeneration capabilities, it would sort of fit that they just bud off new baby trolls.

Cheers, LT.


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## Fallen Seraph (Dec 15, 2008)

Neither, they reproduce through Fragmentation (form of asexual reproduction).


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## the Jester (Dec 15, 2008)

Trolls don't have obvious sexual characteristics, but they do have gender. In fact, according to 2nd edition lore, she-trolls are the leaders of troll groups. Heck, back in 2e, I had a female troll evoker as a BBEG (part of a BBE party, actually!).


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## el-remmen (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah, I have always run D&D trolls as matriarchal with one uber-strong female ruling a tribe of males.  So, while you most often encounter males, the females are the ones to be REALLY scared of.


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## avin (Dec 15, 2008)

el-remmen said:


> Yeah, I have always run D&D trolls as matriarchal with one uber-strong female ruling a tribe of males.  So, while you most often encounter males, the females are the ones to be REALLY scared of.




Good to know, troll mamas on the way on my games...

BTW, about troll boobs: World of Warcraft's female trolls are lovely


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## Delta (Dec 15, 2008)

I believe the "Orcs of Thar" Gazetteer had a nation of trolls (Trollhattan) ruled by a queen troll.


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## Mallus (Dec 15, 2008)

avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?
> 
> I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...



Thanks for making me spend a small part of my workday trying recall if there were illustrations of troll weenie in any edition of the Monster Manual.


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## mach1.9pants (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah it is amazing how many unintelligent DnD creatures just 'happen' to have a loin cloth or equivalent... not that I am complaining ***troll weenie shudder***
I guess (going onto a different topic) we often don't fight female things 'cos of our in build non-PC'ness (the other PC, no not computer, the _other_ PC!). OK to slaughter men but not the women. Or maybe it is just me!  Mostly this is the case, but not always..succubus etc.
I am sure I can remember an image of a female troll, dressed in armour but I just can't think where....


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## Dragonbait (Dec 15, 2008)

avin said:


> BTW, about troll boobs: World of Warcraft's female trolls are lovely



They were not always that way. In the Alpha tests they were much more accurate to their male counterparts. Players of both gender complained that their female troll (and tauren as the image shows) were just not cute/sexy enough so they changed them. Now they have a huge amount of sexual dimorphism:
http://www.theirisnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/figure8.jpg


Back on topic: I don't think D&D has ever had one speicific answer. I read 
in 2ed that they reproduce through budding (severed limb grows a mouth and eats till it grows into a new troll). I've seen adventures and settings where there are female trolls, or hags are female trolls (and or female ogres depending on the adventure). There are half-trolls who have ether come about through mating OR only by magical means, and so on. Every author has their own spin, and none seem to agree.


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## fba827 (Dec 15, 2008)

avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?
> 
> I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...




I can't say I ever even thought about looking ...

So I can't think of any female troll images either (nor could I identify male troll images, I just have "troll images of gender unspecified or explored" in my memory banks).

Unless you're referring to trolls, as in message board trolls, then that is a whole other story.


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## tomBitonti (Dec 15, 2008)

*Definitely Not! (Minor spoiler for D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth)*



avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?
> 
> I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...




EGG had a tribe of trolls in D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, that was led by a matriarch ... and it was the fiercest, strongest of the bunch.

(If I remember correctly)


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## dmccoy1693 (Dec 15, 2008)

Paizo's Classic Monsters Revisited gives details about Troll females.  Basickly, troll females live throw out the males from society as soon as they're old enough to take care of themselves.  Males are as such left to wander the countryside.


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## drothgery (Dec 15, 2008)

avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?
> 
> I can't remember a single female troll image at this moment...




Hmm... we had an NPC female troll whose (neutral on the Good and Evil axis) tribe was inadvertently wiped out by our party (who knew their were non-evil trolls?); she ended up briefly the cleric's cohort (until the rest of the PCs got too annoyed with finding ways around the problems she presented in town).


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## frankthedm (Dec 15, 2008)

IMHO the Chainmail female ogre trooper make a better troll than ogre.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4334/cm88361pk5.jpg
img90.imageshack.us/img90/4334/cm88361pk5.jpg


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## Garnfellow (Dec 15, 2008)

I never liked the 2e matriarchal spin on trolls, nor was I a big fan of the 3e take -- just green regenerating giants -- I like my trolls asexual and fairly alien; bestial creatures with no culture or society. 

In fact, if I were to rewrite them for 3.x I'd make them Large aberrations that advance by HD


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## RefinedBean (Dec 15, 2008)

There was some mod I played that had a BBEGirl troll...Gates of Firestorm Peak, I think.

She may have had two heads and psychic powers, but I distinctly remember her having some chesticles, definitely.

EDIT:  Actually, it may have been something with The Night Below.  My memory's a bit lax.


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## Angel Tarragon (Dec 15, 2008)

tomBitonti said:


> EGG had a tribe of trolls in D1, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, that was led by a matriarch ... and it was the fiercest, strongest of the bunch.
> 
> (If I remember correctly)






drothgery said:


> Hmm... we had an NPC female troll whose (neutral on the Good and Evil axis) tribe was inadvertently wiped out by our party (who knew their were non-evil trolls?); she ended up briefly the cleric's cohort (until the rest of the PCs got too annoyed with finding ways around the problems she presented in town).




Just remembered, this is how Pathfinder does it as well. The matriarchs pretty much run the clan.


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## Dragonbait (Dec 15, 2008)

dmccoy1693 said:


> Paizo's Classic Monsters Revisited gives details about Troll females. Basickly, troll females live throw out the males from society as soon as they're old enough to take care of themselves. Males are as such left to wander the countryside.




that's hyena society, too.


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## Herremann the Wise (Dec 15, 2008)

In my game, the troll mating dynamic is a little different - with the rare female being a larger more defensive but less violent being. During "troll-mating" season, the male trolls will dump their trollpats in open and highly obvious places so as to better catch the prevailing breeze, all in the hope of attracting the wandering female. Bloodshed between the randy males is prodigious as each attempts to disturb or overlay their opponent's mating "gift". During such times, my PCs are much warier of trolls figuring it better to leave them alone.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise


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## freyar (Dec 15, 2008)

RefinedBean said:


> There was some mod I played that had a BBEGirl troll...Gates of Firestorm Peak, I think.
> 
> She may have had two heads and psychic powers, but I distinctly remember her having some chesticles, definitely.
> 
> EDIT:  Actually, it may have been something with The Night Below.  My memory's a bit lax.



Gates of Firestorm Peak has "troll mutates" (mutant trolls) including a matriarch with two heads and psionic abilities, so that's probably what you're thinking of.

3.5 versions of those are in the CC: troll mutate and troll mutate matriarch.


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## howandwhy99 (Dec 15, 2008)

In our OD&D game the females are gnoll-troll hybrid casters.  I don't know if this is from some publication or not, but Diaglo would know.  These might even be non-troll or just troll-like creatures that are females for one or both races.  Not sure on that either.  

Also, an idea that just struck me is Trolls may not have any females or males at all and I'm just misunderstanding our game's few encounters with trolls so far.  It may be possible trolls are asexual, yeast budding, ambulatory fungi with regenerative properties.  That would mean we're spore spreading for these creatures with our troll-gut stomach sack of neverending elastic rope/magic item we found.  Which is disturbing in whole new ways from the disturbing nature of the item to begin with.


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## Wicht (Dec 16, 2008)

I seem to recall an older Dungeon magazine that had a picture of a female troll on the cover.  The adventure inside was a 2ed 'humanoid' adventure.  I'm too lazy to go look through my magazines at the moment, but I do seem to recall it.


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## Fifth Element (Dec 16, 2008)

Doesn't the OP's question answer itself? If all trolls are male, then none of them are, because 'male' only makes sense if it's opposed to 'female'.


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## Delta (Dec 16, 2008)

Fifth Element said:


> Doesn't the OP's question answer itself? If all trolls are male, then none of them are, because 'male' only makes sense if it's opposed to 'female'.




Hypothetically, the female could appear as a different type of monster (hags being a good prospect).

For example: All dryads are female, are satyrs are male, procreation occuring between the two types. (Per the very old Dragon "Sex in D&D" article).


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## Fifth Element (Dec 16, 2008)

Delta said:


> Hypothetically, the female could appear as a different type of monster (hags being a good prospect).
> 
> For example: All dryads are female, are satyrs are male, procreation occuring between the two types. (Per the very old Dragon "Sex in D&D" article).



Yes, that's true. Sexual dimorphism so extreme that the sexes are called different things is possible. My brain was locked in "monster name = species" mode.


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## GAAAHHH (Dec 16, 2008)

Like many animals, male and female trolls may look similar.  Those who don't know what to look for may not be able to spot the differences.


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## chronoplasm (Dec 16, 2008)

GAAAHHH said:


> Like many animals, male and female trolls may look similar. Those who don't know what to look for may not be able to spot the differences.




Yeah, like with snakes where there isn't a dangly bit; you have to stick something in a hole to tell the difference? ...Or something like that?


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## Baron Opal (Dec 16, 2008)

avin said:


> Just struck me: all D&D trolls are male?




Yes, and all hags are female.

And, they both like swamps.

Hag claws do a lot of damage, but trolls regenerate.

Wise folk stay out of the swamps at the full of the moon, when those haunting calls echo out into the fog...


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## Thanael (Dec 16, 2008)

Wicht said:


> I seem to recall an older Dungeon magazine that had a picture of a female troll on the cover.  The adventure inside was a 2ed 'humanoid' adventure.  I'm too lazy to go look through my magazines at the moment, but I do seem to recall it.




The humanoid adventure is in #22 but on the cover there are only ogres. (incl one female ogre) Issues 37 and 56 feature trolls on the cover but no females.

D&D trolls != Tolkien Trolls == D&D Ogres


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## Ydars (Dec 16, 2008)

I like what they did with trolls in Beowulf and Grendel; a recent film from Scandinavia/Canada. 

There the troll seemed to reproduce by mating with human females who would then give birth to a troll baby that was always male. This gives lots of great plot hooks for trolls carrying off women etc.

Although the scandinavian idea of the troll is different to the D&D version, I like it much better. D&D trolls have always looked really odd to me.


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## Thanael (Dec 16, 2008)

BTW the troll is further detailed in Dragon #301 (November 2002), in The Ecology of the Troll. And I do seem to recall that there are female trolls mentioned in there.


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## Thanael (Dec 16, 2008)

Ydars said:


> I like what they did with trolls in Beowulf and Grendel; a recent film from Scandinavia/Canada.
> 
> There the troll seemed to reproduce by mating with human females who would then give birth to a troll baby that was always male. This gives lots of great plot hooks for trolls carrying off women etc.
> 
> Although the scandinavian idea of the troll is different to the D&D version, I like it much better. D&D trolls have always looked really odd to me.




That origin sounds similar to how hags reproduce in D&D. 

BTW D&D trolls  were inspired by Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and fairy tale trolls.



> While there are lots of references to trolls in Norse mythology and related folk tales, I took my inspiration from the fairy tale of The Great Ugly Troll, the one what lived under the bridge, had a nose as long as a poker and eyes as big as saucers. Then, drawing from Poul Anderson's troll in Three Hearts and Three Lions, the D&D troll was born, just after ogre and before the various giants.Gary Gygax, February 2, 2004, EN World Q&A VI



from D&D Monster Origins T-U


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## GrumpyOldMan (Dec 16, 2008)

The correct term for a female troll is a trollop.

Isn’t it?


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## Aeolius (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanael said:


> That origin sounds similar to how hags reproduce in D&D.




That depends on which hag ecology you choose to follow. While later ecologies explored the option of hags making other hags from human stock in mysterious rituals, others detailed how a hag was born of a human mother and appeared human until she matured.

I still subscribe to the ecology as presented in "Ecology of the Greenhag" by Nigel Findley in DRAGON #125. A night hag gives birth to a greenhag by a human or elven father, while a greenhag gives birth to an annis by her union with either an ogre or hill giant father. The annis gives birth to a blue-skinned female of the father's race.

Granted, I modified the above-mentioned information a bit, including adding unique hags by a greenhag's union with scrags (aquatic troll), wasteland trolls, ice trolls, and forest trolls. Which sort of brings us back on topic.  

The PCs in my game are currently heading to a region where a captive shellycoat (aquatic greenhag) is being held captive by two tribes, one merrow (ogre) and one scrag. The shellycoat/merrow producing sea hags while the shellycoat/scrag union produces a shoal hag. I may throw in some half-scrag merrow and half-merrow scrag for good measure.


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## Evilhalfling (Dec 16, 2008)

Since 65-82% of D&D players are male and Human males tend to be more aggressive, most of those instigating conflict on the internet are likely to be male. 



(Maggoth Castle 2ed also had a tribe of Trolls led by a matriarch, in a pocket of dead magic)


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## avin (Dec 16, 2008)

Posted the Matriarch Witch Troll idea over Wotc's miniature forum and had some interesting feedback:



			
				Peter Lee said:
			
		

> Some good suggestions here. (I especially like the female troll witch idea.)




DDM RPG wishlist - Wizards Community


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## Fifth Element (Dec 16, 2008)

Ydars said:


> I like what they did with trolls in Beowulf and Grendel; a recent film from Scandinavia/Canada.
> 
> There the troll seemed to reproduce by mating with human females who would then give birth to a troll baby that was always male.



...and then they put him in a cheap-looking muscle suit so people will know he's a troll.

Good movie in a lot of ways, but man that was a cheap-looking troll.


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## frankthedm (Dec 16, 2008)

Fifth Element said:


> > Originally Posted by *Delta*
> >
> >
> > _Hypothetically, the female could appear as a different type of monster (hags being a good prospect).
> ...



I'm a fan of minotaurs being an all male race capable of mating with bovine animals or humaniods. Whether the individual minotaur has feet or hooves depends on the mother.


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## DandD (Dec 16, 2008)

Ydars said:


> I like what they did with trolls in Beowulf and Grendel; a recent film from Scandinavia/Canada.
> 
> There the troll seemed to reproduce by mating with human females who would then give birth to a troll baby that was always male. This gives lots of great plot hooks for trolls carrying off women etc.
> 
> Although the scandinavian idea of the troll is different to the D&D version, I like it much better. D&D trolls have always looked really odd to me.



That happens in the Berserk Manga as well... only that the little troll-babys burst out from the stomach of the woman like the little xenomorphs from alien, haha...

Also, demon-energy infused babys burst out from captive midlandian women plunged into apostle-juice, ewwwww...

I wonder what Miura thinks about child-birth...


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## Ace (Dec 16, 2008)

In one campaign I had all Trolls being male and females being hags.

Another thing I played with is that trolls are basically mutants who were exposed to tarrasque blood.


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## Richards (Dec 21, 2008)

There was an adventure in _Dungeon_ back in the 2E days - I think it was called "Rage" - that dealt with a troll mother and her troll sons.  I remember my players' PCs having to retreat two different times before finally finishing them off the third time.

Also, while it's admittedly not D&D, I remember back when Walt Simonson was both writing and illustrating the _Mighty Thor_ comic book, in one issue he had Thor taking on a Troll Mother, who was significantly more powerful than the numerous (male) trolls Thor had fought before.

Johnathan


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## Delta (Dec 21, 2008)

Richards said:


> Also, while it's admittedly not D&D, I remember back when Walt Simonson was both writing and illustrating the _Mighty Thor_ comic book, in one issue he had Thor taking on a Troll Mother, who was significantly more powerful than the numerous (male) trolls Thor had fought before.




Best. Comic. Ever.


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