Gargantuan dragon, neutral

Armor Class: 20

Hit Points: 341

Speed: 20 ft , swim: 40 ft

STR

25 +7

DEX

10 +0

CON

20 +5

INT

10 +0

WIS

12 +1

CHA

12 +1

Saving Throws: DEX +6, CON +11, WIS +7

Damage Resistances: Fire

Senses: Darkvision 120ft., Passive Perception 11

Languages: Aquan, Draconic

Challenge Rating: 17 ( 18000 XP)

Proficiency Bonus: +6

Actions

Multiattack. The dragon turtle makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws. It can make one tail attack in place of its two claw attacks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (3d12 + 7) piercing damage.   Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d8 + 7) slashing damage.   Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (3d12 + 7) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet away from the dragon turtle and knocked prone.   Steam Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon turtle exhales scalding steam in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 52 (15d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Being underwater doesn't grant resistance against this damage.

Lair Actions

As they are presented in the Monster Manual, dragon turtles don’t have access to lair actions while in their lairs. At your discretion, you can give an adult or ancient dragon turtle access to lair actions, increasing its challenge rating by 1. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon turtle can take one of the following lair actions; the dragon turtle can’t take the same lair action two rounds in a row:

• Blasting Current. A strong water current moves through the dragon turtle’s lair. Each creature within 30 feet of the dragon turtle must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be moved 30 feet in a direction of the dragon turtle’s choice. On a success, the creature is moved 10 feet instead.
• Entangling Kelp. Strands of spectral kelp reach out to ensnare creatures in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point in the lair that the dragon turtle can see. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be restrained until the end of its next turn.
• Steam Eruption. Steam erupts in a 15-foot cone from a point on the ground the dragon turtle can see within 120 feet of it. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Being underwater doesn’t grant creatures resistance to this damage.

Dragon turtles make their lairs in underwater caves and coral reefs. Most such lairs are situated deep beneath the waves near the ocean’s floor, though some dragon turtles prefer coastal lairs with easier access to settlements they can trade with—or prey upon. Particularly reclusive dragon turtles seek lairs in even more remote locales, including deep-sea trenches or underwater volcanoes.

Dragon turtles are largely unconcerned with the design of their lairs and seldom work to improve them. A dragon turtle’s primary concern when selecting a lair is ensuring that the site is large enough to accommodate the creature’s prodigious size as the centuries wear on. After that, proximity to shipping lanes and freedom from irksome neighbors take precedence.

The underwater caves inhabited by dragon turtles are structurally similar to the seaside caverns where bronze and topaz dragons lair. When constructing a dragon turtle’s lair, you can simply take a coastal map and translate it to an underwater environment or use the map as-is if the dragon turtle is content to lair near the surface.

• Shelf Floor. The sandy beaches represent the ocean floor at a depth of 100 feet, which is coated in a soft layer of fine sediment. The water around the lair is clear but dimly lit. The water’s edge on the map represents the lip of the shelf, which descends to a dark plain twelve hundred feet below.
• Coral Reef. The rocky cliff side depicts the contours of a coral reef that rises 80 feet above the shelf. The exterior face of the reef is covered with stinging corals.
• Reef Hollow. The dragon turtle’s lair lies in a hollow in the reef’s interior that was bored out by a giant sea worm the dragon turtle killed. The original entrance at the level of the shelf floor ascends through a weed-choked tube that opens into the main chamber. Here, the dragon turtle nests in a recessed shelf along the back wall, where the creature can gaze down at the hoard scattered across the chamber floor. Although the lair is mostly flooded with seawater, a layer of breathable air is trapped in the top 3 feet of the main chamber.
• Coral Shelf. A secondary entrance grants access to a coral shelf 40 feet above the shelf floor and illuminates the lair for a few hours each day with a shaft of dim sunlight.

Regional Effects

The region containing a dragon turtle’s lair can be transformed by its presence, creating one or more of the following effects:

• Diverting Currents. Underwater currents push unwanted visitors away from the lair. While swimming in these currents, each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain), even if a creature has a swimming speed.
• Elemental Portals. Crevasses on the ocean floor within 1 mile of the dragon turtle’s lair form two-way portals to the Elemental Plane of Water, allowing creatures of elemental water into the world to dwell nearby.
• Hot Water. Geothermal vents heat the water within 6 miles of the dragon turtle’s lair to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Suggested Environments

Coastal, Underwater