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Tortles

Lately I have been using (wasting?) my time listing the PC races of Mystara from the various sources. I have then been hunting down the 5E Rules for them and compiling them.
This relaxes me, it gives me a project to focus on.
Several I have found already, but I realized I should be posting them as blog entries, not as pages… So here I go.


Tortles

This is the life I tell you. No worries, no fretting. Just fishing all day and lounging around in the sun. This is how a tortle is meant to live, leave all the running around to the other races. Here we live in peace and harmony with all other things. Just fishing and sunning. That’s the life. Of course, if you feel obliged to take up arms and go live a short, brutal life before some orc pries open your shell and eats you, that’s up to you. I won’t stop you, who knows, maybe the change of scenery might do you some good. Because if I catch you with my niece again, I’m gonna throw you in the ocean.
-Flash Yellowbeard, concerned uncle.

Tortles are a stoic and calm race, content to live in their shoreline villages fishing. With natural heavy armor and nothing of real value, most other races are content to leave them alone.

Slow and Ponderous
Tortles have little in the way in variety; they have coloration ranging from brown to green but are hard to tell apart except for their shells. Each tortle shell is a unique pattern on the back, and the Tortles will occasionally paint them for decoration. The average tortle stands 6′ tall, weighing in at almost 700lbs or more.

Bound by Tradition
Tortles, above all else, value their peace and quiet. Most Tortles live alone, fishing and keeping their huts tidy. They are not known for being craftsmen or warriors. Tortles farm communally, coming together as a group in times of need. While tortles are known as kind and caring creatures, they are not the most friendly. Rarely will you find a tortle going to trade with other races, and rarely will you find one living inside a city. Only in times of great peril or severe weather will the tortles leave their villages. A trail of tortles on their wagons is considered a bad omen.

Coastal Creatures
Tortles are found almost exclusively on the shores of the mainland and the islands in the Sea of Dread. They build fishing villages where they can also maintain their farms. They don’t build up fortifications but rely on their natural armor. They tend to have peaceful relations with their neighbors. Because of their austere lifestyles they have little actual wealth, and their natural defenses usually dissuade any attackers.

Natural Guardian
For some tortles living solitary lives until they die isn’t enough. Once in a long while, a tortle will put down his hoe and fishing pole, pick up a weapon and go and make the world a better place.


Tortle Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Age. Tortles reach maturity around 50 years old. They are a very long-lived race, sometimes reaching up to 1,000 years old.
Alignment. Almost all tortles are lawful in alignment.
Size. Tortles are usually 6′ tall; you weigh on average 700lbs. You are a medium creature.
Speed. Your base speed is 25 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Tortle.
Natural Armor. You have a shell that hardens as you grow older. Your armor class equals 14+ Constitution bonus. You can use a shield and still gain the benefit, but you gain no benefit from wearing armor. Due to your ponderous size, you never add your Dexterity modifier to your armor class.
Personal Shelter. As a bonus action, you can withdraw into your shell. Until you emerge, your AC is +2, and you have advantage to all saving throws. While in your shell, your speed is 0 and can’t be increased, you are Blind, you can’t take reactions, and the only action you can take is a bonus action to emerge from your shell.
Increased Lung Capacity. You can hold your breath for 2 hours.
Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.


Thank you to Mr. Welch for the Tortle Writeup for 5th Ed

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