Climate/Terrain: Any desert
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Intelligence: Average (9-12)
Treasure:
Alignment: CE
No. Appearing: 1
Armour Class:
HD8: AC 3 [17]
HD9-10: AC 0 [20]
HD11-12: AC -2 [22]
Movement: 15" (burrow 1")
Hit Dice: 8-12
THAC0 [Attack Bonus]: 12–8 [+8 to +12]
No. of Attacks: 3 (2 claws and a bite, or by weapon)
Damage/Attack: 2-12/2-12, 3-18, or by weapon +6
Special Attacks: None (+2 to surprise rolls)
Special Defenses: Camouflage, Regeneration, immune to normal fire, heat, cold
Magic Resistance: None
Size: Large (10’)
XP Value:
HD 8 — 950 + 10/hp (average 1310 xp)
HD 9 — 1500 + 12/hp (average 1986 xp)
HD 10 — 1900 + 13/hp (average 2485 xp)
HD 11 — 2400 + 14/hp (average 3093 xp)
HD 12 — 3300 + 16/hp (average 4164 xp)
Sand trolls are about ogre to giant size (roughly 1’ tall per hit-die), and much more powerful than their relatively spindly limbs would suggest. They are usually a dull tan colour, but can modify the colour of their thick, knobbly hide from bleached bone to mottled rock brown, causing a -2 penalty to opponents’ surprise rolls. Their keen senses and cunning reduce their chances of being surprised to 1 in 10. Like normal trolls, sand trolls usually attack with two claws and a bite, but the use of (giant-size) weapons is not uncommon. Unlike normal trolls, sand trolls have the intelligence to formulate strategies and employ tactical wiles in pursuit of their prey — which is just about anything, even other trolls.
Sand trolls are solitary ambush predators, and highly territorial. They can burrow into sand or loose gravel and remain hidden there for days, if necessary. They can move beneath the surface of the sand, but only slowly, collapsing their tunnel behind them.
They regenerate most physical damage at 3hp per round, and are immune to normal fire, heat, and cold. They do not regenerate acid damage, damage from magical fire, or fire breath weapons.
In addition, they suffer damage from normal water that cannot be regenerated. Normal water inflicts 1d4 points of damage per vial, 2d4 points per flask, and 4d4 points per skin. A decanter of endless water aimed directly at a sand troll (successful attack roll required) causes 25 points of damage per round. Purified water (including normal and holy water) causes double damage. A potion of sweet water causes 6d6 points of damage and the troll must make a saving throw vs. poison or die.
Sand trolls will attempt to pollute any fresh water source they come upon by throwing in rotting corpses and faeces. They will weight down bodies so that their presence is not obvious.
NOTE: the damage per attack given is for an average-sized specimen of 10HD. Increase or lower it for bigger or smaller trolls according to your own taste — I find it easiest to just increase or reduce the damage die by one place per level, so a 8HD troll would use d3, 9HD use d4, 10HD use d6 (as shown in the statblock), 11HD use d8, and 12HD use a terrifying d10. Weapon attack damage is at +4 for an 8HD troll, increasing by +1 per HD to +8 for a 12HD troll.