Talk:Tortons (3.5e Race)

Natural Armor

In my mind, a race with a turtle shell should have some natural armor to represent this and it fits in LA+1, how much should this race have? GaaaaaH 05:31, 8 October 2008 (MDT)

Perhaps you could just take away the level adjustment, it looks decently balanced as is. --Leviathan 00:20, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

Thanks to everyone who edited this. It looks a bit better now.--Hatman 00:39, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

We had a nice discussion over it in the Tavern. I made some updates and adjustments. For starters, I took out the LA1, trimmed out the Intelligence and Wisdom adjustments to make the race more accessible, boosted the Swim bonus to +8 (as is standard for races with swim speeds) and then finished it off with a round of formatting. Looks nice now and hopefully should attract some players. --Ganteka 00:43, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

I thought +2 Con/Wis, -2 Dex/Int was a relatively unique modifier combo with a decent spread of viable/good class options. My only issue with the race (besides the punitive LA +1 before the edit) is the lame 1/day speak with turtles ability (which seems even worse than the rock gnome's equivalent). Again, I'd prefer to go the forest gnome route and just give them "turtlespeak" as a free language. Finfreeze 01:43, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

Yeah, I like the full stat adjustments, so I reinstated the "classic" version and put the "new" version as a variant. As for the "Turtlespeak", I just forgot to mention that during the conversation, but added that one in too. While likely not to be all that useful, the turtlespeak is fine flavor for the race. --Ganteka 02:05, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

I dont really remember all the ideas I had in the beginning for them. My notes arent exactly in front of me. I feel like there was a reason I didnt add an natural armor thing, but I cant be sure. I know for a fact that I need to do more of the flavor stuff. I made this race during a class last year during school... so many ideas forgotten.--Hatman 02:13, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

I bet if you sat down for a half hour and did some research on turtles, that you would come up with some good stuff for descriptive flavor text. Stop by the Tavern again, I'd be glad to help out with coming up with ideas (and I'm sure a few other folks would help as well). --Ganteka 10:33, 8 May 2009 (MDT)

I looked at my notes this morning and the lack of natural armor was an oversight. My notes say they have +2 natural armor, would this make the +1 level adjustment justified?--Hatman 21:13, 11 May 2009 (MDT)

Do you actually want it to have Level Adjustment for some reason? Yeah, the +2 natural armor boosts it out of range of LA0 but not quite to LA+1. Even with what its got at the moment +1 natural armor is a bit much for LA 0. The race is probably best without it, though, you could add in a "gains +1 natural armor at such n'such HD and another every such n'such HD after that to a maximum of such n'such level." That would probably work the best. Though yeah, keep it limited. --Ganteka 21:34, 11 May 2009 (MDT)

There is a contradiction in the nat armor racial trait description. It says "another 1 every 5 after to a maximum of +5" but then it lists examples that exceed +5. --Mamageek 31 Jul 2015

Darkvision

Turtles and tortoises have excellent night vision so I think it would be missing a trick for Tortons not to share this ability so put I went ahead and put Darkvision under racial traits. As well as being good flavour I feel this also helps make Tortons a more appetizing race. Also, any exploring in deep or subterranean waters that a Torton character may wish to do would be futile, or very difficult, if they could not see.

Also, fluff-wise I can imagine the night and the moon being a significant feature in Torton culture, what with the Moon governing the tides and the constellations allowing for navigation across the oceans. Wizardfella (talk) 16:17, 16 February 2013 (MST)

Favored Class

I changed the favored class of the Torton from Druid to Shaman. I'd argue the Druid reflects better the path of magical being who leaves the hussle and bussle of normal society to embrace the wild and progressively become more animalistic whereas a Shaman, a tribal leader or elder of sorts, seems to better reflect the magic users of a civilised animal people. I would also speculate that the long lives of the Tortons would be a big factor in their culture and so a reverence for elders and spiritual connection with ancestors would also make them more suited to a more shamanistic style of magic. You can imagine decisions in Torton societies being left to the very lengthy deliberation of the oldest and wisest, perhaps drawing spiritual energy from the tides and the currents as a druid might from trees. The "Journey" element of the shaman provides a neat starting point for Torton players, a young Torton off on a Journey of discovery to gain wisdom that will be valuable for the future generations of his tribe.

Furthermore, the naturally friendly inclination of the Tortons suggests their magic would encompass a good deal of healing in addition to channelling the power of nature, which again, aptly captured in the shaman as effectively a druid/cleric hybrid. Finally the slow, patient and wise attitude one would expect of a Turtle person would be well reflected in the monk like aspects of the shaman. One can imagine large amounts of time being dedicated to meditation and basic training in ancient turtle fighting arts that rely not on moving quickly but just enough at the right time and in the right direction, you can just picture a bunch of them on a beach doing something that looks like particularly slow tai chi. Wizardfella (talk) 16:23, 16 February 2013 (MST)