[4][5] They appear as tall, thin, ungainly humanoids of low intelligence, with long noses and rubbery, greenish skin.

[9] The troll was one of the first monsters introduced in the earliest edition of the game, in the Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974), where they are described as "thin and rubbery", and "loathsome" creatures which have the ability to regenerate.

[10] The troll appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977),[11] where they are described as "horrid carnivores" that fear nothing and are able to regenerate damage taken.

[12] The module The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982)[13] introduced the marine troll, also known as the "scrag", which was later reprinted in Monster Manual II (1983).

[23] The snow troll first appeared in Dungeon #43 (September 1993), and was later reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994).

The average troll stands nine feet high and weighs roughly 500 pounds, though females tend to be a bit larger than males.

Trolls are infamous for their regenerative abilities, able to recover from the most grievous of wounds or regenerate entire limbs given time.

[35] Role-playing game author Graeme Davis considered Dungeons & Dragons a major factor in current perceptions that "giants and trolls are regarded as very different creatures", while the names were used interchangeably in Norse mythology.

The troll is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Classic Monsters Revisited (2008), on pages 58–63.