Tortle

Tortles are reptilian-looking humanoids with large shells on their backs capable of containing their entire bodies. They have leathery skins varying between olive-green to blue-green hues. The dorsal portion of their shells is usually darker than their skins, while the ventral portion is lighter, usually with yellowish tones. Tortles rarely wear any clothing, favoring instead belts and harnesses to carry their belongings. They have little tolerance for cold, and usually migrate away from temperate areas when winter approaches. Although generally poor swimmers, tortles are capable of floating on water and can hold their breath for over an hour. Their high buoyancy grants them the ability to cross swamps, mud, and quicksand with little difficulty.

Life of a Tortle

A Tortle hatches from a thick-shelled egg and spends the first few weeks of life crawling on all fours. Its parents, old and near death, spend what little time they have left telling stories to their offspring. Within a year, the young Tortle becomes an orphan, though not before it learns to speak and to survive on its own. A Young Tortle and its siblings inherit whatever tools, weapons, and gifts their parents left behind. Each young Tortle is expected to fend for itself. It leaves the place of its birth and finds its own corner of the wilderness in which to hunt, catch fish, and get by. With each passing year, a Tortle hones its survival skills, It forms friendships with its neighbors. At some point, a Tortle feels an almost overwhelming urge to venture far away from home and see more of the world. It gathers up its possessions and heads into the wilderness, returning months or years later with stories of its exploits and new skills. When a Tortle nears the end of its life, it seeks out a mate and procreates. Tortles lay their eggs (numbering as few as one or as many as a dozen in a fortified compound enclosed by stone walls that are easily defensible. If no such compound exists, they build one. The parents spend the remainder of their lives guarding the compound, defending their offspring, and sharing a lifetime of knowledge before they die.

Tortle Traits

Your Tortle character has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age: Young Tortles crawl for a few weeks after birth before learning to walk on two legs. They reach adulthood by the age of 15 and live an average of 50 years but can live up to 350 years old.
Alignment: Tortles tend to lead orderly, ritualistic lives. They develop customs and routines, becoming more set in their ways as they age. Most are lawful good. A few can be selfish and greedy, tending more toward evil, but it’s unusual for a Tortle to shuck off order in favor of chaos.
Size: Tortle adults stand 5 to 6 feet tall and average 450 pounds. Their shells account for roughly one-third of their weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your base swim speed is 20
Turtle Snapper and Claws: Your beak and claws are natural weapons, after hitting an enemy with a melee attack you may make a bonus action unarmed strike. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Hold Breath: You can hold your breath for up to 1 hour at a time. Tortles aren’t natural swimmers, but they can remain underwater for some time before needing to come up for air.
Natural Armor: Due to your shell and the shape of your body, you are ill-suited to wearing armor. Your shell provides ample protection, however; it gives you a base AC of 17 (your Dexterity modifier doesn’t affect this number). You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you can apply the shield’s bonus as normal.
Shell Defense: You can withdraw into your shell as an action. Until you emerge, you gain a +4 bonus to AC, and you have advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. While in your shell, you are prone however you do not grant advantage for being prone, your speed is 0 and can’t increase, you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, you can’t take reactions, and the only action you can take is a bonus action to emerge from your shell.
Survival Instinct: You gain proficiency in the Survival skill. Tortles have finely honed survival instincts.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Aquan and Common.

Tortle Sub-Races

Razorback

Razorback Tribes can be found in swamps and marshland areas. They are the most aggressive of all the Tortle kinds and the most untrusting. Their shells are covered in sharp ridges and barbs and are often decorated in paints.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.
Razorback: When you are struck by a creature within 5 feet of your, you can use your reaction to cause that creature to take 1d4 piercing damage from the barbs on your shell.

Desert

Desert Tribes can be found in the desert, but also in other arid or mountainous areas. These tortles can be described as almost apathetic, not caring much for the affairs of other races. But by saying this, this doesn't make them unfriendly or rude. Their shells are like hard round domes. Smooth and polished by the sands picked up by the winds.
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Nomadic Nature: Due to your acclimation to the desert heat you have become an expert in survival. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for the Survival skill.
Shell Master: A Desert Tortle can use their sturdy shell to negate damaging blows. When you make a Dexterity saving throw, you can, as a reaction, add your Constitution modifier to the roll. You can do this a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier before you must complete a long rest to regain all expended uses.

Softshell

Softshell Tribes can be found near the coast, or by riversides. These tortles are the most friendly of all three types and the most willing to help. Their shells are flat and fleshy, they do not offer much protection, but make the tortles especially agile.
Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Softshell: A Softshell Tortles loses their Natural Armor and Retreat into Shell traits. Instead, your Armor Class is equal to 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
Tortle Agility: Your base walking speed increases to 30 feet. In addition, your swimming speed increases to 35 feet.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Male: Aranck, Arre-Catte, Beshiltheeni, Dustu, Gad, Kanuna, Lanu, Mahkah, Nastas, Taheton, Grok Female: Abetzi, Anna, Doya, Ehawee, Kuwanyamtiaw, Macawi, Mituna, Talulah, Sikya, Sokow
Family Names: Anthu, Chilan, Dzuwa, Galu, Lanpansi, Mwala, Mwezi, Nyanja, Tengo, Thanthwe

Courtship Ideals

The urge to procreate doesn't kick in until the end of a Tortle's life, however, once they have found a mate, their bound is not easily broken. Tortles are strickly monogamous and will defend their mate with their life.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Tortles have a heart of adventure. They have a saying: "We wear our homes on our backs." The shells they carry around provide all the shelter they require. Consequently, Tortles don't feel the need to root themselves in one place for too long. A Tortle settlement is primarily used as kind of moot, where Tortles can socialize with one another, share useful information, and trade with strangers in the safety of greater numbers. Tortles don't regard these settlements as places worth defending with their lives, and will abandon a settlement when it no longer serves their needs.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Tortles do not have their own pantheon of gods, but some of them do worship the gods of other races. It is not uncommon for a Tortle to hear a story, myth, or legend of another area god and decide to worship them. Many Tortles believe that night and day watch over them and other creatures. The moon is the eye of the night that watches over them in darkness, and the sun is the equally vigilant eye of day. Tortles feel most at peace when one or both of these "eyes" are looking down on them. They become more nervous and uneasy when neither orb is visible in the sky. Tortles tend to be most uncomfortable underground, where neither the sun nor the moon is visible to them. Blessed are the days when both the sun and moon are visible in the sky at the same time. Tortles often choose such days to leave their homes and begin a wilderness expedition or perform some other task they know to be dangerous.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Most Tortles like to see how other creatures live and discover new customs and new ways of doing things, and while they do spend a considerable portion of their lives in isolation, tortles are social creatures that like to form meaningful friendships. They haven't inbred animus toward people of other races. In fact, a Tortle will often seek out friendships with non-tortles to learn new customers and new points of view.