Massive aquatic creatures up to 200 feet long, occasionally mistaken for rocky outcroppings or small islands

Dragon turtles are so large, up to 200 feet long, that they are occasionally mistaken for rocky outcroppings or even small islands. Though they are not true dragons, they do advance through the same sort of age categories as the true dragons do; however, each age category changes the dragon turtle's Hit Dice by 5. Due to their massive size, dragon turtles are immune to virtually all poisons.

Dragon turtles are mighty creatures whose inherent magic is intimately linked with the oceans of the Material Plane. The dragon turtle presented in the Monster Manual is a typical adult, at least a century old and boasting a valuable hoard. You can use the stat blocks in this section for older or younger dragon turtles. In addition, chapter 5 includes lair actions and regional effects that can be used for adult or ancient dragon turtles. An ancient dragon turtle is a mythic creature akin to a greatwyrm, combining the power of multiple echoes from across the worlds of the Material Plane. Such a creature can be as large as an island—and indeed, legends suggest that many unwitting sailors wrecked at sea have mistaken slumbering dragon turtles for solid ground.

Ancient dragon turtles might sleep for years or decades while floating along the surface of the ocean, enjoying the warmth of the sun and letting vegetation take root on their shells. An angry ancient dragon turtle is terrible to behold, radiating heat from the shell to boil the surrounding water—and any creatures in it. And even if an enemy wears down the dragon turtle's defenses, magical storms manifest to shield the dragon turtle and strike at foes.

Creating a Dragon Turtle

Use the Dragon Turtle Personality Traits and Dragon Turtle Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive dragon turtle characters, and use the Dragon Turtle Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manualdoesn't explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply those rules to these aquatic dragons.)

Dragon Turtle Adventures

The Dragon Turtle Adventure Hooks table offers suggestions for stories and adventures involving dragon turtles.

Connected Creatures

Dragon turtles are stolid and slow to anger. This temperament, combined with their disinterest in moral quandaries, allows them to get along with—or at least abide—most creatures they encounter. They frequently enter symbiotic relationships with other sea creatures that can bring them food or treasure, and they sometimes agree to work for creatures who ply them with generous sums of wealth.

Dragon Turtle Lairs

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.

Dragon Turtle Lair Features

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.

As an example, map 5.14 depicts a topaz dragon's lair in a seaside cavern, but it could be reimagined as a grotto in the side of a coral reef rising from a shelf on the ocean floor, with the following features:

This long-tailed aquatic beast resembles a massive snapping turtle with draconic features.

Dragon turtles are among the most fearsome creatures of the oceans. As large and voracious as the oldest of its land-based dragon kin, a dragon turtle strikes with its deadly jaws, steaming breath, and crushing tail.

A dragon turtle's rough shell is the same dark green color as the deep water where this monster dwells. Silver highlights lining the shell resemble light dancing on open water, and a surfacing dragon turtle is sometimes mistaken for the reflection of the sun or moon on the waves.

Dragons of the Deep

Like true dragons, dragon turtles collect treasure, first by sinking ships and then by sifting through the wreckage for coins and other precious items. A dragon turtle swallows treasure for transport, then regurgitates it when it reaches its lair.

Dragon turtles dwell in caves hidden in coral reefs or beneath the seafloor, or along rugged stretches of coastline. If a choice cave is already inhabited, a dragon turtle attacks its current residents in an attempt to take over.

Mercenary Monsters

A dragon turtle is smart enough to be bribed, and pirates sailing seas patrolled by these creatures quickly learn to offer them treasure in exchange for safe passage. Clever sahuagin sometimes ally with dragon turtles, enticing them with treasure to use their blistering breath weapons in sahuagin raids against ships and coastal settlements.

Elemental Might

Dragon turtles sometimes find their way through sunken planar rifts to the Elemental Plane of Water. Those monstrous specimens can often be found in the service of marids, which strap magnificent coral thrones to the backs of dragon turtles and ride them as mounts.

Dragon Turtle

Ancient Ruler of Undersea Realms

Dragon turtles are mighty creatures with shells large enough to be mistaken for islands and jaws capable of snapping ships like twigs. While some of these aquatic dragons contentedly slumber in the depths, others jealously guard vast territories with their scalding breath and lay claim to anything that sinks into the depths or sails on the waves. Occasionally these dragons agree to aid pirates, aquatic peoples, or oceanic religions in return for contributions to their sunken treasure hoards.

Many dragon turtles live in secluded lairs or ruins deep underwater, and they might not be spotted by surface dwellers for generations. Like both their namesakes, dragon turtles can have exceptionally long lives. Some recall the wonders of ages past or remarkable individuals that passed through their realms long ago. Such dragon turtles might be convinced to share their tales or provide guidance through their territories in exchange for treasures they've never glimpsed on the ocean floor.

Dragon turtles are mighty creatures whose inherent magic is intimately linked with the oceans of the Material Plane. The dragon turtle presented in the Monster Manual is a typical adult, at least a century old and boasting a valuable hoard. You can use the stat blocks in this section for older or younger dragon turtles. In addition, chapter 5 includes lair actions and regional effects that can be used for adult or ancient dragon turtles. An ancient dragon turtle is a mythic creature akin to a greatwyrm, combining the power of multiple echoes from across the worlds of the Material Plane. Such a creature can be as large as an island—and indeed, legends suggest that many unwitting sailors wrecked at sea have mistaken slumbering dragon turtles for solid ground.

Ancient dragon turtles might sleep for years or decades while floating along the surface of the ocean, enjoying the warmth of the sun and letting vegetation take root on their shells. An angry ancient dragon turtle is terrible to behold, radiating heat from the shell to boil the surrounding water—and any creatures in it. And even if an enemy wears down the dragon turtle's defenses, magical storms manifest to shield the dragon turtle and strike at foes.

Creating a Dragon Turtle

Use the Dragon Turtle Personality Traits and Dragon Turtle Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive dragon turtle characters, and use the Dragon Turtle Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manualdoesn't explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply those rules to these aquatic dragons.)

Dragon Turtle Adventures

The Dragon Turtle Adventure Hooks table offers suggestions for stories and adventures involving dragon turtles.

Connected Creatures

Dragon turtles are stolid and slow to anger. This temperament, combined with their disinterest in moral quandaries, allows them to get along with—or at least abide—most creatures they encounter. They frequently enter symbiotic relationships with other sea creatures that can bring them food or treasure, and they sometimes agree to work for creatures who ply them with generous sums of wealth.

Dragon turtles are mighty creatures whose inherent magic is intimately linked with the oceans of the Material Plane. The dragon turtle presented in the Monster Manual is a typical adult, at least a century old and boasting a valuable hoard. You can use the stat blocks in this section for older or younger dragon turtles. In addition, chapter 5 includes lair actions and regional effects that can be used for adult or ancient dragon turtles. An ancient dragon turtle is a mythic creature akin to a greatwyrm, combining the power of multiple echoes from across the worlds of the Material Plane. Such a creature can be as large as an island—and indeed, legends suggest that many unwitting sailors wrecked at sea have mistaken slumbering dragon turtles for solid ground.

Ancient dragon turtles might sleep for years or decades while floating along the surface of the ocean, enjoying the warmth of the sun and letting vegetation take root on their shells. An angry ancient dragon turtle is terrible to behold, radiating heat from the shell to boil the surrounding water—and any creatures in it. And even if an enemy wears down the dragon turtle's defenses, magical storms manifest to shield the dragon turtle and strike at foes.

Creating a Dragon Turtle

Use the Dragon Turtle Personality Traits and Dragon Turtle Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive dragon turtle characters, and use the Dragon Turtle Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manualdoesn't explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply those rules to these aquatic dragons.)

Dragon Turtle Adventures

The Dragon Turtle Adventure Hooks table offers suggestions for stories and adventures involving dragon turtles.

Connected Creatures

Dragon turtles are stolid and slow to anger. This temperament, combined with their disinterest in moral quandaries, allows them to get along with—or at least abide—most creatures they encounter. They frequently enter symbiotic relationships with other sea creatures that can bring them food or treasure, and they sometimes agree to work for creatures who ply them with generous sums of wealth.

Massive aquatic creatures up to 200 feet long, occasionally mistaken for rocky outcroppings or small islands

Dragon turtles are not true dragons, but seem to be a blend of the same kind that produced the owlbear. They do resemble true dragons in that they have a breath weapon: a cloud of steam 60 ft long, 40 ft wide and 40 ft high. The steam does damage equal to the dragon turtle's remaining hp (save for half damage) to all within the cloud.