The salt water troll and the fresh water troll first appeared in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons under the "marine troll (scrag)" heading in the adventure module The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982),[1] and reprinted in the original Monster Manual II (1983).[2]
The saltwater scrag and the freshwater scrag appeared in second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons under the "troll" heading in Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989),[3] and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).[4]
The scrag appeared as a variation of the troll in the Dungeons & Dragons third edition Monster Manual (2000).[5] The scrag is further detailed in Dragon #301 (November 2002), in The Ecology of the Troll.[6] The scrag appear as a variation of the troll in the 3.5 revision of the Monster Manual (2003).
Description[]
A scrag is a marine troll, a gilled form of the common troll. A scrag is found in a large body of water, as it needs considerable room to hunt. The coloration of a scrag runs from blue-green to olive, and its forelimbs are shorter and weaker than ordinary trolls. The freshwater scrag is smaller than a normal troll and has heavy scales and less formidable claws, but its enlarged lower jaw bears many small, very sharp fangs. The saltwater scrag is found in seas and oceans, and is at least as large as an ordinary troll. A saltwater scrag has thick and heavily scaled skin, and some of them are intelligent enough to further protect themselves with armor made of shells and sharkskin or similar substances. A saltwater scrag's forelimbs are shorter and weaker than those of an ordinary troll, but it has developed a huge maw and numerous fangs. A scrag regenerates as a troll does, but only when in immersed in water of its natural element.
