INFOSPHERE TROLLS

Haunting the servers and nodes of the Pact Words, the cunning infosphere troll is a vile creature of brutish cruelty. Though less physically impressive than their technically challenged kin, they share the touchstone violent nature of most trolls. The infosphere troll focuses its innate temper into assaults on decency, antagonizing foes through deeply intense personal taunts, often to the point of provoking a vicious response.

Many infosphere trolls have channeled their talents into a lucrative career, organizing into covert cells to run smear campaigns against their assigned targets. Their seemingly supernatural empathic abilities lend them a cruel empathy, allowing them to infer exactly what to say to maximize emotional damage to their marks. But don’t confuse this understanding of the emotions of others as true empathy - infosphere trolls experience no remorse, only glee, in delivering their callous words. 

Cunning enough to realize that their verbal attacks often provoke their targets to track them down, infosphere trolls have been known to form loose gangs of a variety of types of troll, seeking shelter and protection from their larger brethren. When they sense an attack coming, infosphere trolls have been known to stage ambushes against their victims, taking the choicest gear for themselves to sell on the black market. Still others, considered a more devious sub-type, work with unscrupulous attorneys to provoke their victims to the point where they post a “clear and present danger” to the trolls, then sue their agitated victims for exorbitant amounts of credits, all the while defending their antagonizing rhetoric as “just a joke” or “free speech.”

Infosphere Troll

CR 5

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XP 1,600

Giant envoy

CE Large humanoid (giant)

Init +2; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +16

DEFENSE

HP 65 RP 4

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EAC 17; KAC 18

Fort +4; Ref +6; Will +8

Defensive abilities regeneration 5 (acid or fire)

OFFENSE

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Speed 30 ft.

Melee advanced sword cane +12 (1d4+5 P; critical bleed 1d4)

Ranged sheet lightning pistol +10 (1d6+5 E)

STATISTICS

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Str +0; Dex +2; Con +0; Int +3; Wis +0; Cha +5

Skills Bluff +16, Computers +16, Culture +11, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Perception +16, Sense Motive +16, Stealth +11

Languages Common

Other abilities envoy improvisations (get ‘em, quick dispiriting taunt)

Gear business stationwear, advanced sword cane, sheet lightning pistol, tier 2 software Imp, datapad

SPECIAL ABILITIES

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Infosphere Taunting (Ex) Infosphere trolls are gifted antagonists and provocateurs, and often use their computer skills to find out what insults will most upset an intended target and bully them well before meeting face-to-face. If a creature has a presence on local infospheres (professional contacts, vid channels, social media accounts, etc.), an infosphere troll can use the intimidate skill to attempt to demoralize a creature through those social media accounts. If the infosphere troll succeeds, the creature is not demoralized; instead, an infosphere troll can reference the previous insult to a creature within 60 feet as a swift action. The foe is off-target and takes a –2 penalty to all skill checks for 1 round, or until it makes an attack against you, forces you to attempt a saving throw, or damages you (whichever comes first). Once an infosphere troll has used infosphere taunts on a foe, that foe is immune to this ability for 24 hours. This is a language-dependent ability.