Troll 5e: Regeneration, Severed Limbs and How to Kill One

A troll is a CR 5 Large Giant with AC 15, 84 hit points in the 2014 rules (94 in 2024), three melee attacks a turn, and the trait every player learns the hard way: Regeneration. It heals 10 hit points at the start of each turn (15 in 2024), and it dies only if it starts its turn at 0 hit points with Regeneration switched off, which takes acid or fire damage. Without fire or acid, a troll at 0 hit points simply gets back up. The 2024 rules add Loathsome Limbs: heavy slashing damage cuts off an arm or leg, which then crawls around and fights on its own as a Troll Limb.

Table of Contents

• •Troll Stat Block (2014)
• •The 2024 Troll and the Troll Limb
• •How Regeneration Works, Exactly
• •How Trolls Fight
• •Running a Troll Encounter
• •How Players Beat Trolls
• •Troll Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Troll Stat Block (2014)

This is the 2014 troll from SRD 5.1.

The attacks are ordinary for a CR 5 brute: a bite for 7 and two claws for 11, all at +7 with 5-foot reach. The defenses are not. AC 15 and 84 hit points are modest for CR 5. Regeneration is what earns the rating: it means the party's damage has to outpace 10 healing every round, and finish the job with the right damage type.

Keen Smell gives it Advantage on Perception checks that rely on smell. A party hiding downwind in a forest is fine. A party hiding in the troll's cave, sweating in chain mail, is not.

The 2024 Troll and the Troll Limb

The 2024 troll (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the CR and XP but hits harder, reaches farther, heals faster and comes apart in pieces.

Loathsome Limbs, step by step. The trigger is checked at the end of every turn, including the players' turns:

1. •The troll must be Bloodied at the end of that turn. For the 94 HP troll, that's 47 hit points or fewer.
2. •It must have taken 15 or more Slashing damage during that one turn. Damage from different characters' turns doesn't add up.
3. •If both are true, one limb falls off into the troll's space and becomes a Troll Limb, which acts right after the troll's turn in the initiative order. This can happen up to four times a day.
4. •The troll gains 1 Exhaustion level for each missing limb. In 2024 rules, each level is −2 to every D20 Test (attack rolls, saves, ability checks) and −5 feet of Speed.
5. •It grows the limbs back the next time it regains hit points, which is usually the start of its next turn, when Regeneration fires. That ends the penalty.

A level 5 fighter with a greatsword (2d6 + 4 per hit) who lands both attacks averages 22 slashing damage, enough to trigger it on a Bloodied troll. A rogue's rapier never will: it deals piercing damage.

The Troll Limb is a Small Giant with AC 13, 14 hit points, a 20-foot speed and a +6 Rend for 9 (2d4 + 4). It has its own Regeneration (5 HP per turn), and it only dies if it starts its turn at 0 hit points without regenerating. That means a severed limb also needs fire or acid to kill. Leave it for 24 hours and its Troll Spawn trait rolls a d12: on a 12 it becomes a whole new troll, otherwise it withers.

The 2014 Monster Manual had an optional "loathsome limbs" variant, but it isn't in SRD 5.1. Under the 2014 SRD rules, a troll keeps all its limbs.

How Regeneration Works, Exactly

Both editions use the same three-part rule, with different numbers:

• •Healing. At the start of each of its turns, the troll regains 10 hit points (2014) or 15 (2024).
• •Shutting it off. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, Regeneration doesn't work on its next turn. Any amount counts. A torch deals 1 fire damage on a hit in both editions, and 1 is enough.
• •Death. The troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

Normally a monster dies the moment it hits 0 hit points. The troll's trait overrides that. Drop it to 0 with swords and it lies there until the start of its turn, then regains 10 or 15 hit points and stands up. To kill it, you need two things before its next turn starts: it's at 0 hit points, and it took acid or fire damage since its last turn. The order doesn't matter. A fire bolt early in the round followed by a sword blow that drops it to 0 works. So does dropping it to 0 and then stabbing the body with a torch.

Here is what Regeneration does to the clock. Say a level 5 party deals 40 damage a round to a 2024 troll:

Forty damage a round only nets 25. Without fire or acid, the fight never ends.

How Trolls Fight

Regeneration lets a troll play aggressive and careless about its own hit points, at least until someone lights a torch.

Damage per round. Against AC 16, a +7 attack hits on a 9 or higher, 60% of the time. The 2014 troll averages about 17 damage a round; the 2024 troll averages about 20 from three Rends. Each Troll Limb on the field adds about 5 more (+6 to hit, 55%, 9 damage).

Close the gap with Charge. The 2024 troll walks 30 feet, uses its bonus action to Charge 15 more feet straight at a target, then attacks with 10-foot reach. It can hit a character who started 55 feet away. Archers who think they're safe at 40 feet aren't.

Focus the fire-bearer. A troll with Intelligence 7 still knows what fire is. Once it sees a torch, a flask or a wizard throwing flames, that character becomes its only target. Three Rends at the party's only fire source is the troll's best play, and the players will understand exactly why it's happening.

Ignore the damage, mostly. A troll doesn't need to retreat when hurt, because next turn it's 15 healthier. The moment it takes fire or acid, though, it should change its mind. A troll that has been burned and is under about 30 hit points runs, and with Regeneration it'll be back to full in a few rounds if the party lets it go.

Let the limbs do the dirty work (2024). A severed limb acts right after the troll and goes for whoever is weakest or already down. A limb attacking an unconscious character within 5 feet makes its hits automatic critical hits under the Unconscious condition, which means two failed death saves per hit. Use that sparingly, and only after the party has had a warning.

Running a Troll Encounter

A troll is 1,800 XP, the same as a hill giant. With the 2024 XP budgets for four characters:

Severed Troll Limbs are 100 XP each, but they appear during the fight, so don't spend budget on them. Count them as the troll's own damage output.

The 2014 DMG guidelines rate one troll as Easy for four level 5 characters (1,800 XP against a 2,000 Medium threshold). Our encounter calculator shows the same. That rating assumes the party can kill it. A party with no fire, no acid and no way to get them is not in an Easy fight; it's in a fight it can only escape.

Before running a troll, check the character sheets:

• •Does anyone have a fire or acid damage source? Fire Bolt, Produce Flame, Burning Hands, Acid Splash, alchemist's fire, a lit torch, a flame tongue sword.
• •If not, tell them. A traveler's warning, a burned troll corpse on the road, a hunter who sells oil and torches. Trolls are a test of preparation, not a trap.
• •Level 4 parties can handle one troll if they have fire. Its 1,800 XP is a High encounter for four level 4 characters (1,800 of the 2,000 High budget), and 20 damage a round will drop someone.

How Players Beat Trolls

The troll has no resistances, no immunities and no saving throw proficiencies. Its saves: Strength +4, Dexterity +1, Constitution +5, Intelligence −2, Wisdom −1, Charisma −2.

• •Fire and acid are the whole answer. Fireball deals 8d6 (28 on average) and the troll fails a DC 15 Dexterity save 65% of the time. Even a successful save still deals 14 fire damage, which shuts off Regeneration. Burning Hands works the same way. Acid Arrow deals acid damage on a hit and more at the end of the troll's next turn, which shuts off Regeneration for the turn after that as well.
• •Keep it burning. Alchemist's fire sets the troll burning in both editions: 1d4 fire damage at the start of each of its turns until it puts the fire out. Each tick shuts off the next turn's Regeneration. An Intelligence 7 troll mid-fight is unlikely to stop and roll on the ground.
• •Pick your damage type in 2024. Slashing damage can sever limbs. That's good if you have fire to finish the limbs, since each limb gives the troll Exhaustion (−2 to its attacks per missing limb). It's bad if you don't, because every limb is another unkillable regenerating enemy. Without fire, switch to bludgeoning or piercing.
• •Finish it on the same turn. The ideal sequence is a martial character dropping it to 0 and a caster or anyone with a torch adding fire before the troll's turn. Plan initiative around that.
• •Don't count on Hold Person. Hold Person targets Humanoids, and trolls are Giants. Banishment works on a failed Charisma save (−2), but if the troll is native to your plane it only disappears for up to a minute. Use that minute to set up the fire.
• •Find a way to deal with the body. A troll at 0 hit points without fire is a countdown. If the party has no fire at all, they can at least run: by the time it gets up, they're 60 feet down the road. In 2024, a severed limb left behind for a day has a 1 in 12 chance of becoming a new troll.

Trolls and ogres make an easy pairing in one encounter, but they want different answers: an ogre needs damage, a troll needs the right damage.

Troll Encounter Ideas

The swamp ferry. A troll lives under the planks of a flooded ferry landing. It drags victims under the black water, where torches go out and anything underwater has resistance to fire damage. The rule says Regeneration stops when the troll takes fire damage, and halved fire still counts, but a torch's 1 fire damage halved rounds down to 0. The party has to bait it onto dry ground.

The arm in the jar. A traveling alchemist sells "troll's-hand tonic" made from a 2024 Troll Limb he cut off yesterday and sealed in a barrel of brine. Troll Spawn gives a limb one roll after 24 hours: a 12 on a d12 makes it a new troll, anything else and it withers. He thinks the brine keeps it fresh. The party is buying tonic from his wagon when the 24 hours run out.

The burned troll. The party finds a troll that's been hit with fire so many times its hide is charcoal black, chained in a mine as a guard. The mine boss keeps a brazier lit next to it as a threat. It hates the boss more than it hates the party, and it understands Giant if anyone speaks it. Freeing it is a terrible idea that the players will want to try.

A troll that escapes at 0 hit points is the kind of recurring villain the party will grumble about for months. Loreify can record your sessions and track the monsters and NPCs so the grudge survives the gaps between games.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a troll in 5e?

A troll is CR 5 and worth 1,800 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. A 2024 Troll Limb is CR 1/2 (100 XP).

How do you kill a troll in 5e?

Reduce it to 0 hit points and deal acid or fire damage to it before its next turn starts, in either order. The troll only dies if it starts its turn at 0 hit points and its Regeneration doesn't work, and acid or fire damage turns Regeneration off for that turn.

How much does a troll regenerate?

A 2014 troll regains 10 hit points at the start of each of its turns. A 2024 troll regains 15. A 2024 Troll Limb regains 5. Acid or fire damage stops it for one turn.

How does Loathsome Limbs work in the 2024 rules?

If the troll ends any turn Bloodied (47 HP or less) after taking 15 or more slashing damage during that turn, a limb falls off and becomes a Troll Limb that acts after the troll. The troll gets 1 Exhaustion level per missing limb until it regains hit points and regrows them. It can happen up to four times a day.

Does a troll die at 0 hit points?

Not by itself. A troll at 0 hit points regains hit points at the start of its turn and gets back up, unless it took acid or fire damage since its last turn.

Is a troll a giant in 5e?

Yes. Trolls are Large Giants in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, so spells that only target Humanoids, like Hold Person, don't work on them.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.