If a troll was starving, could he cut off his arm and eat it, knowing that a new one will grow in its place?

Yes.

But, it would not have enough calories to be life sustaining, but it would give him another day or two of energy.

My guess for a full meal would be both legs and and both arms. However, that leads to other problems.

Yes.

But, it would not have enough calories to be life sustaining, but it would give him another day or two of energy.

My guess for a full meal would be both legs and an both arms. However, that leads to other problems.

DM: "As you leave the forest and step out onto the open plain, you hear a loud grunt and THUNK. You quickly spot what appears to be a large limbless troll doing "the inchworm" towards you as fast as it can.

PCs: WTF?!

I put him on a stick and create a ventriloquist act.

I put him on a stick and create a vantrilquist act.

LOL! I've seen that act, only with a jalapeno instead of Stumpy the Troll.

Because of the trolls regenaration they are not required to eat anything to survive, only their supernatural hunger causes them to attack and eat adventures so the question is moot.

A better question would be, older dragons can cast create item and permanacy so why are they always pissed off when adventures come in and steal gold when they can create 5 cubic feet of gold per day.

A better question would be, older dragons can cast create item and permanacy so why are they always pissed off when adventures come in and steal gold when they can create 5 cubic feet of gold per day.

It's the principle of the thing.

A better question would be, older dragons can cast create item and permanacy so why are they always pissed off when adventures come in and steal gold when they can create 5 cubic feet of gold per day.

I don't have my books in front of me, but lorewise, someone(s) wrote that a dragon's success in the afterlife was at least partially dependant on both the quality and quantity of their hoard.

Also, if you had just baked a batch of perfect chocolate-chip cookies, and you turned your back for a second, wouldn't you be royally p*ssed off to see that roaches and ants had swarmed out to feast on it? :)

Edit: Gah, Ninja-ed! (45 minutes earlier and more succinctly too)

Because of the trolls regenaration they are not required to eat anything to survive, only their supernatural hunger causes them to attack and eat adventures so the question is moot.

A better question would be, older dragons can cast create item and permanacy so why are they always pissed off when adventures come in and steal gold when they can create 5 cubic feet of gold per day.

Because what a dragon has is never enough. And for a puny adventurer to come along and think that he or she can just take some because they they think that I have too much gold in my hoard, just makes me so angry. Now I got to go find some adventurers to attack I'm so mad, thanks! ;-)

One question I was pondering last week. Are animal companions sustained by a supernatural link? Eg. a tiger companion must require a lot of meat to keep going, but what about a T-Rex companion??? You can just imagine a high level group attempting to wander into the City of Greyhawk, Korvosa, Waterdeep, etc and the city guards look goggle-eyed as the druid walks up with his tyrannosaurus companion. The sergeant looking nervous as he says: “Ummm… you’re not bringing that thing in here. Public safety, you know.”

Because of the trolls regenaration they are not required to eat anything to survive...

The SRD disagrees with you.

Regeneration does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation.

Bold emphasis mine.

Xabulba wrote:

Because of the trolls regenaration they are not required to eat anything to survive...

The SRD disagrees with you.

SRD entry for regeneration wrote:

Regeneration does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation.

Bold emphasis mine.

The SRD does say that but dosn't it sound kind of dumb. Regeneration is the almost instant repair of damaged tissue. Starvation and thirst cause system wide damage to tissue resulting in death so if you have regeneration your body will repair that damage before you die therefor you can't die because of Starvation and thirst.

Well, if we are obeying the laws of physics (which, admittedly, D&D does not), a troll can't make something out of nothing. Perhaps it needs nourishment to survive and to provide energy and matter with which to regenerate. However, that notion undercuts my initial suggestion at the top of the thread, since eating one's own limbs would be more of a zero-sum exercise and would offer no real benefit.