[The tortle is a monster that originated in Basic D&D before migrating over to AD&D in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium. In 5e, they first appeared in Tomb of Annihilation, then as a playable race in a PDF sold by WoTC, then in Mordenkainen’s. Tortles have gone back and forth as PC species vs. monster, but I’m more interested in them as monsters. Humanoids are allowed to have Hit Dice sometimes. I did want to put a spin on them, namely, making them a bit more like real tortoises. Tortles traditionally have shorter lifespans than humans and are semelparous, dying after they lay eggs. That’s weird, especially for an anthro tortoise, so I changed that. I also made them generally polysexual and promiscuous, in part because it fits with real tortoise behavior, and in part to drive a wedge between “lawful” and “boring”. D&D has long characterized lawful characters and cultures as stodgy and boring, presumably because lots of D&D players like to think of themselves as rebels. Which is funny, considering that the hobby is taking make-believe and adding more rules.]
Tortle CR 2 LG Humanoid This creature appears to be a humanoid tortoise, with a bulky shell and clawed hands. It has a steady, calm expression.
Tortles are peaceful wandering humanoids of turtle-like aspect. It is said that a tortle’s home is on their back, and most tortles travel throughout their lives. Those few settlements that tortles make are agricultural in nature, farming the land for a few years and then moving on to clear new land and allow the old to return to a natural state. A few tortles live and work here full time, and these communities serve as waystations for tortles to rest, socialize and raise children. Tortles can live for more than a hundred years easily, and have several clutches of young during that time. Parenting duties are shared by the entire community as a matter of course. Something that surprises many outsiders is that most tortles practice free love; they care little for monogamy, are frequently pansexual, and may pursue romantic relationships with members of other species.
Tortles rarely come into conflict with non-evil humanoids, as they are peaceful and patient creatures. They usually fight only to defend themselves, which they can do with their clawed hands or with weapons. If a tortle is sorely pressed, it will often withdraw into its shell and hope that its foe gives up, or to give reinforcements time to catch up to them. Tortles are decent swimmers, and may flee a losing fight by stepping into a nearby river and floating downstream to safety. When defending their community, they work together in units called warbales.
Tortles advance by character class, with paladin, cleric and monk common choices. Few tortles become evil, but even fewer become chaotic. They venerate a number of spirits of nature and order with honorifics instead of names; Mother Earth, Father Ocean, Sister Grain and Brother Shell. Treat this as worshiping a pantheon with access to the following domains: Earth, Law, Plant, Protection, and Water. Clerics of the tortle pantheon can access the Defense, Growth, Loyalty, Ocean and Solitudesubdomains
Tortle CR 2 XP 600 LG Medium humanoid (tortle) Init+0;Senseslow-light vision, Perception +5 Defense AC17, touch 10, flat-footed 17 (+7 natural) hp22 (4d8+4) Fort+3,Ref+1,Will+5 Defensive Abilities shell defense Offense Speed20 ft. Melee2 claws +5 (1d4+2) or spear +5 (1d8+3/x3) Rangedlight crossbow +3 (1d8/19-20) Statistics Str15,Dex10,Con13,Int11,Wis12,Cha10 Base Atk +3;CMB+5;CMD15 FeatsEndurance (B), Great Fortitude, Self Sufficient SkillsHeal +10, Perception +5, Survival +10, Swim +10; Racial Modifier +4 Swim LanguagesCommon, Tortle SQbuoyant, hold breath Ecology Environmentwarm land Organizationsolitary, bale (4-9), warbale (10-24 plus 1 leader of 3rd-5th level) or tribe (30-300 plus 1 leader of 3rd-5th level per 20 individuals and 50% noncombatants) Treasurestandard (spear, light crossbow, 20 bolts, other treasure) Special Abilities Buoyant (Ex) A tortle gains a +4 racial bonus to Swim checks, and can rise to the surface of a body of water without making a Swim check if it chooses to do so. Shell Defense (Ex) As a move action, a tortle can withdraw into its shell. When withdrawn, it gains a +6 natural armor bonus to its AC and a +6 racial bonus to CMD, but can only take purely mental actions or emerge from its shell as a move action. A tortle gains no benefit from wearing armor.
No one can know I got Fungi’s…player…(aka my friend Logan) for secret santa this year but I wanted to post this somewhere I had to make fanart of Fungi as one of my favorite memes
(I’m getting this printed with a risograph hence the wild colors)
I started playing DnD with my friends. I’m a noob, but I’m a noob that can draw, so of course I made character cards for our entire party. Because friendship.
For the cards, I took inspiration from different cultures for how I would stylize each one
for more info/dev commentary on Umran (because he’s my character) keep reading if you want I guess.
For Umran, my character, I wanted to do an asian inspired take on a Paladin. Not a monk, because I wanted him to still be armoured. So I took the idea of a religious warrior, and tried to make the base religion different from catholicism, and add a focus on spirituality. Which is why I made him a Kalashtar (Secret Identity background so I guess in game no one really knows he’s a Kalashtar or that Umran is technically not even his real name). Although his origins are a secret, it’s fairly obvious that he’s foreign so he doesn’t hide that he’s foreign and his design leans into that. In fact he takes advantage of how other’s perceive him a the “exotic foreigner” and hides his true identity in plain sight. Umran was really about putting different spins on a Paladin. Different base religion, more DPS leaning, not lawful, a rogue-ish-like personality, etc.
I am a big fan of the D&D group Critical Role. Here is how I imagine one of my favorite characters of theirs - the tortle Orly Skiffback. As a turtle fan, I have been itching to draw him and finally found time
IntroducingDr. Pasha Dutoit of the Pravda Hľadač Institute, Professor of Archaeology, Arcane Engineering, and Cartography and his faithful Steel Defender, Fluffy.
I did a guest spot for a friend’s campaign where I played this beefy li’l tortle battle smith artificer. He was my first time playing an artificer and it was so fun! Would definitely play him again someday :)
For anyone who has any interest in this style of drawing, I made a video when I was drawing Dungeons and Dragons’ most recent playable character race, the Tortle.
I’m also happy to try to answer any questions you might have?
This is a Lavaloa, a type of creature found in my D&D setting. They’re elementals from the Fountains of Creation, an area between the elemental planes of earth and fire.
Lavaloa are composed of molten metal ore, and range from 15 - 25 feet tall. They spend thousands of years practicing a ceremonial martial art called Ubo Lham. This art slowly pushes mineral impurities out to the surface of their bodies, until they eventually solidify into pure metal statues.
Some drawings related to our biweekly DND game - Danae decides to get a pet without asking anyone else first and Gror and Grok try to start their own armory to get rich quick
