The Flying Tortoise
This document features the creature known as The Flying Tortoise and the magic item the Winged Shell made out of the creatures shell.
The Flying Tortoise
In the far of Jungle of Karinesh, the floor is riddled with hungry predators, for whom lunch is whatever passes them by. Therefore, many species have developed wings an other such adaptations to escape from the hell below. The Flying Tortoise is no exception to this rule, having sprouted large, white, feathery wings from its shell.
Fierce Predators. In order to eat, flying tortoises have developed a method of hunting that requires staying on the deadly ground for as little time as possible. They first stalk their pray from the sky, waiting for a clearing and their chance to strike. Then, once the opportunity presents itself, they drop from the sky, landing on top of their prey, crushing it to death. The pray is then picked up in their claws to be consumed throughout their journey.
Sky High Communities. In order to stay away from the horrors below, flying tortoise spend much of their life in the sky, and are capable of flying for days on end, only stopping to sleep in the highest of tree canopies and land on their prey below. This means that flying tortoises perform most of their daily routine in the sky, including everything from eating to mating, an extreme that very few other creatures from the region partake in.
Hard Shells. Flying Tortoises prize their shell heavily, taking great pride in keeping it clean by flying through clouds. When mating, females will often look for the male with the shiniest shell as it shows care and devotion.
Clan Based Society. Flying tortoises live in structured clans with designated leaders, hunters and food carriers.
Winged Shell
Armour (shell) , rare (requires attunement)
This item appears to be a large shell with 2 large white wings sprouting from it.
While wearing this armor, your AC is 16, you have disadvantage on Stealth checks and a -3 modifier to all Dexterity checks and saving throws. Additionally, you gain a flying speed of 30 feet.
Item Background. Sometimes, a traveler from far away will bring back a large shell with wings. These are the shells of flying tortoises. They are very tricky to obtain, requiring an adventurer to travel to the incredibly dangerous Jungle of Karinesh. Once there, the adventurer would likely have to kill or find a corpse of a flying tortoise, another tricky task due to the incredibly protective nature of flying tortoises over their shells. This makes these shells quite rare, as all attempts to capture and farm the creatures has failed so far.
Flying Tortoise
Medium beast, unaligned
- Armor Class 16
- Hit Points 180 (40d8)
- Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 15 (+2) 5 (-3) 18 (+4) 8 (-2) 14 (+2) 7 (-2)
- Skills Intimidation +2
- Damage Resistances. piercing and slashing from non-magical attacks
- Condition Immunities. prone
- Senses passive Perception 12
- Languages -
- Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 51 (6d12+12) piercing damage.
Drop. The flying tortoise drops from the sky, landing on a creature below. If the flying tortoise is flying, it can picks a target directly below it to perform the attack on. It then drops from the sky, falling directly on top of the target. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity save or take 5 (2d4) bludgeoning damage per 5 ft. fallen. The flying tortoise takes half of this damage.
Withdraw. The flying tortoise withdraws into its shell. While in there, it gains a +5 to its AC, automatically fails all perception and dexterity checks, has its speed reduced to 0 and can't attack until it takes a bonus action to come back out.
Behind the Homebrew
This is the second piece of homebrew I've released publicly. It was created for the second ever DnD Behind The Screen Discord server Dungeon Jam event with the prompt 'death from above'. My entry for to the last jam actually won, although I don't think this entry will do as well. This is due to the prompt being much looser, which I found tricky. I feel that the magic item doesn't really fit the prompt, although I can't think of anything else to do instead. I have decided, however, that all of the homebrew I create in these jams will become part of the setting I'm working on (currently unnamed), so that's a nice extra goal.
Feedback? Let me know at Bongo50#7538 on Discord or u/bongo50 on Reddit.