Troll Woad

By Kevin Berry (ardrigh18@aol.com)

Level One Treasure

Description

Because Trolls already have the blue colour to their skins, the fearsome appearance of woad upon the body of a warrior is lost. To compensate for this the Trolls have created a woad of their own. Made from the same blue clay and other ingredients of regular woad, the only addition is the blood of the Troll who is to wear it. The addition of the blood imbues the woad with Glamour, making it more powerful. Their blue skins become adorned with a dark reddish colour, giving the Troll a more fearsome appearance.

Systems: The Troll must have enough regular woad to cover their bodies before attempting this, though they need not use the whole amount on their bodies to gain the benefits of the woad. When they have enough of the woad the Troll cuts herself and bleeds into the woad (the cut needs to be enough to cause Three to Four Health levels of damage.) In doing so the Troll also spends (2) points of Glamour and rolls her Glamour difficulty of (8). The number of successes adds to what can be accomplished with the woad.

The woad adds (2) to Strength, (1) to Dexterity and (2) to Stamina normally. It also negates wound penalties. The problem is that your Willpower difficulties increase by (1) and just about anything can set you into a berserk frenzy. The Troll Woad variant gives the successes on the Glamour roll to any of the following:

Damage rolls: One extra die per success.

Boosting physical attributes: One die per success.

Adding health levels: One per success

All intimidation rolls are at (-2) difficulty and when facing a Troll wearing Troll Woad an opponent must make a Willpower roll difficulty (8) at the beginning of the battle.