Dragon+: Q&A with Jeremy Crawford, 1/23/19
Why Role-playing Games Stack Exchange recommends it
Role-playing Games Stack Exchange answerers cite it as an official designer ruling that a troll's Regeneration trait overrides the Instant Death rule, settling a rules-as-written ambiguity.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2018 to 2019.
What it is
A live Dragon+ Q&A on the official Dungeons & Dragons channel in which D&D rules designer Jeremy Crawford answers questions from Twitch chat, hosted by Bart Carroll. It runs just under an hour and covers rules rulings for 5th edition.
What people said
Cites Carcer · 2018-09 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
The rules as written are ambiguous - and so it's up to the DM's ruling (and designer clarification has gone both ways) Unfortunately, it's not clear exactly how these rules interact. The troll has an ability which apparently specifies the only circumstances in which a troll dies, and these spells can cause creatures to die instantly; both are exceptions to the normal rules about how things can die, so the principle that "specific beats general" guides us in trying to resolve the conflict, but judging which of the two features is more specific seems subjective and ambiguous. If you interpret the spell's rules as being more specific than troll regeneration, the troll dies; and since it is dead
Cites Deltatheduck · 2018-09 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Regeneration protects the troll from instant death This is because of several properties of the second part of Regeneration : The troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate. First, Regeneration cannot be restricted to the start of the troll's turn, or the feature would not behave in the intended manner. If the "only dies" part were restricted to the start of the troll's turn, then it could still die by dropping to 0 hp during another creatures turn. Thus we must assume that Regeneration is protecting the troll at all times . Next, some clarification on the use of "only if" in logical statements [LINK] . P only if Q is the same as If P then Q Now look at th
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “Are Trolls immune to all instant death effects?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites V2Blast · 2019-02 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “How does the troll's Regeneration trait work?”
Jeremy Crawford confirms in the 1/29/19 Dragon+ episode (around 42 minutes in) [this video] that even the Instant Death rule (reduce it to 0 HP, with leftover damage equal to its max HP) won't kill it; the troll's Regeneration trait is more specific than the Instant Death rule.
Cites SamsyTheUnicorn · 2019-10 · Role-playing Games Stack Exchange · on “What can players do while waiting for a troll to regenerate?”
Players would remain in the turn order after a Troll is taken down to 0 hit points, it would be unfair to just skip their turns as they may take that time to heal themselves, use consumables, or generally buff up before whatever is coming next. If they haven't encountered Trolls before, they may just suspect you have some more creatures to come. When utilising a Troll in combat, keep in mind the following things: Trolls can only be killed by Fire or Acid, in the Regeneration trait it states "If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the troll's next turn." , and "The troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate." , w