Dragon Turtle

Surfacing, a dragon turtle is easily mistaken for sunlight or moonlight on the water. Its rough shell is deep-water green patterned with silver like rippling light, while legs, tail and head are a lighter, gold-flecked green, and its golden crest spines are webbed in dark green. Shells reach 30 feet across and adults exceed 40 feet from snout to tail. They have their own sophisticated language and live in both fresh and salt water.

Fierce and territorial, a dragon turtle attacks intruders and anything that looks like food, usually (90%) leading with claws and bite. Its shell is superb armor, though it rarely needs it once it gets its jaws into a victim.

Ships that enter its waters uninvited face its favorite trick. It sinks deep, waits below, then rises under the hull to flip it with its sheer mass: 95% for craft under 20 feet, 50% for 20 to 60 feet, 20% for anything longer. Vessels that stay upright are still damaged.

If bite and capsizing are not enough, it belches scalding steam in a 60 by 40 by 40 foot cloud, three times per day like a true dragon, dealing 20d6 (20-120), halved by a save vs. breath weapon.

Utterly solitary, dragon turtles lair in remote sea caves or hidden caverns reached only underwater. These lairs are hard to find but brim with treasure taken from wrecked ships, which the turtle defends to the death. A territory can cover 50 square miles of water; others of its kind are welcome only at mating time, and same-sex turtles fight to the death, keeping numbers low. Seasoned sailors respect these domains and often pay generous tribute for safe, fast passage.

These voracious carnivores eat nearly anything, people and other dragon turtles included, though they prefer large fish and often wait in bottom weeds and muck for them. When fish are scarce, they have breathed on flocks of seabirds feeding near the surface. They compete with locathah, mermen and other intelligent water races for lair sites, and all their neighbors consider them treacherous and selfish.

Shields and armor made from the shell gain +1 to their defensive value, and thanks to its resistance to the turtle's own breath they get +4 on item saves against fire or steam.