Black troll

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A black troll, T, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. It is the strongest type of troll that can be encountered in those variants, and like all other trolls can revive from its corpse.

A black troll has a weapon attack, a claw attack and a bite attack. In SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, black trolls hit as a +3 weapon.

Tame black trolls may turn traitor.

Generation

Randomly generated two-headed trolls are always generated hostile. Black trolls only randomly generate in Gehennom, though they are also a valid form for normal polymorph.

Black trolls may appear among the hostile T that generate in throne rooms, as well the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]

Black trolls can generate among the random T that are part of the second quest monster class for Barbarians and make up 6175 of the monsters that randomly generate on the Barbarian quest, though a black troll's level and difficulty makes them very rare.

Grund's Stronghold has a 15 chance of generating a black troll at level creation.

A black troll has a 12 chance of being generated with a ranseur, partisan, glaive, or spetum, with an equal probability of each polearm.[2]

Origin

A troll is a being that appears in Norse mythology and later Scandinavian folklore. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rock, mountains, or caves, living together in small family units, and were rarely helpful to human beings - the Old Norse nouns troll and trǫll are variously used to mean "fiend", "demon", "werewolf", and "jötunn". The trolls of NetHack are derived from Dungeons & Dragons, whose portrayal of them is partly inspired by Poul Anderson novel Three Hearts and Three Lions.

Issue #141 of Dragon magazine features an entry for the black troll, which is described as a troll that dwells in the Abyss and is believed to be a descendant of normal trolls that were changed by demonic forces. A black troll naturally has black hide, green eyes and red horns - unlike most trolls, they are smooth-skinned and oddly humanlike in appearance. In addition to the troll's standard abilities, such as clawing and biting attacks and regenerative powers, black trolls are capable of spell-like abilities such as pyrotechnics, telekinesis and dispel magic; they can even use chain lightning and gate in other trolls and dretch demons. Black trolls have an immunity to electric attacks and take half-damage from cold and poison gas.

References