D&D 5E Tortle Monks?

[Argyle King]

How does a Tortle's natural armor interact with classes which modify armor calculation?

For example, the monk class says (when not wearing armor) "AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

The Tortle entry says you have a base AC of 17 and that Dex does not change this number.

Does your AC become 10 + Wis? 17 + Wis? Something else?

 

[QuentinGeorge]

How does a Tortle's natural armor interact with classes which modify armor calculation?

For example, the monk class says (when not wearing armor) "AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

The Tortle entry says you have a base AC of 17 and that Dex does not change this number.

Does your AC become 10 + Wis? 17 + Wis? Something else?

Just like Lizardfolk, you either use the Monk method of AC calculation or your race's. They do not stack. So if 10 + Wis + Dex is higher than 17, then use that. Otherwise it is 17.

 

[Argyle King]

I had thought that might be the case.

I had though the concept of a ninja turtle in D&D would be cool. It still could be, but most of their racial abilities seem redundant with the class.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I had thought that might be the case.

I had though the concept of a ninja turtle in D&D would be cool. It still could be, but most of their racial abilities seem redundant with the class.

I don't know, in fact tortles are probably a viable STR-based monk. (Removes the DEX dependency for having a decent AC)

 

[Argyle King]

I don't know, in fact tortles are probably a viable STR-based monk. (Removes the DEX dependency for having a decent AC)

I had thought about that.

Using a shield still gets you to AC 19 (which is really good).
Without a shield, picking up a fighting style (such as mariner) or taking the feat for an ac bump when using two weapons would still lead to a pretty strong character.

The main issue I see is that a lot of the benefits of taking the class don't benefit a tortle. I wouldn't mind losing some effectiveness in exchange for building an interesting character, but losing a significant chunk of the class's benefits is rough.

Unarmed Defense doesn't help.
Martial Arts still has some effect, but not as much because you already have natural weapons.
Unarmored Movement only works if you're not using a shield.
Deflect Missiles and Evasion still use Dex

I could possibly see Kensei being good with Agile Parry, and it would fit the theme of each turtle specializing in a particular weapon.

For a home game, I might ask the DM to exchange both Unarmed Defense and Deflect Missiles for a feat or a fighting style. I'd also consider choosing a different class and fluffing it as being a ninja.

 

[Oofta]

I had thought that might be the case.

I had though the concept of a ninja turtle in D&D would be cool. It still could be, but most of their racial abilities seem redundant with the class.

I think they'd be okay. As @QuentinGeorge says, it would be an interesting way to get around needing to be dex based for AC. I mean, I get that a wood elf monk would be mechanically superior in some ways* but if a tortle monk sounds fun I'd say go for it. The minor benefits you get from race don't really matter all that much outside of white room analysis.

I mean, I probably couldn't do it without doing the TMNT thing to the hilt which would probably get dice thrown at me. On the other hand, who doesn't need more dice?

*I tried one but it died almost immediately because all elves I play are cursed.

 

[Argyle King]

I think they'd be okay. As @QuentinGeorge says, it would be an interesting way to get around needing to be dex based for AC. I mean, I get that a wood elf monk would be mechanically superior in some ways* but if a tortle monk sounds fun I'd say go for it. The minor benefits you get from race don't really matter all that much outside of white room analysis.

I mean, I probably couldn't do it without doing the TMNT thing to the hilt which would probably get dice thrown at me. On the other hand, who doesn't need more dice?

*I tried one but it died almost immediately because all elves I play are cursed.

I'm still heavily considering it. The game I have been asked to join already has an animal theme going, with one of the players being a loxodon barbarian.

I don't mind not being optimized. If the DM allows it, I'd prefer to trade out some of the features I wouldn't use for possibly a feat or an extra skill or something.

I'm also considering a Tortle wizard (school of Chronurgy).

 

[jgsugden]

I had thought about that.

Using a shield still gets you to AC 19 (which is really good)...

You lose the benefits of Martial Arts and Unarmored Movement, in addition to Unarmored Defense, if you use a shield. So, if you wield a shield, your speed bonuses, bonus action attacks, enhanced damage dice for unarmed strikes and monk weapons, and ability to use dex to attack (which obviously is not likely to be much of a loss in a strength build) goes away.

 

[embee]

I have to ask...

Are you doing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortle build?

 

[Argyle King]

I have to ask...

Are you doing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortle build?

I was trying to, but it doesn't seem to work as well as I had hoped with the Monk class.

I could choose something else and just rp it as a martial artist. A few of the ranger options might work (see below)

You lose the benefits of Martial Arts and Unarmored Movement, in addition to Unarmored Defense, if you use a shield. So, if you wield a shield, your speed bonuses, bonus action attacks, enhanced damage dice for unarmed strikes and monk weapons, and ability to use dex to attack (which obviously is not likely to be much of a loss in a strength build) goes away.

That's true. I realized that some of those went away.

I was looking at picking up the mariner fighting style and later taking defensive duelist. However, feat selection is few and far between in 5E. So, I was looking at Ranger. You get a fighting style as part of the class, and some of the abilities used to sneak around through the woods and move could be fluffed as ninja skills. A Gloomstalker could be in a sewer. Some of the Hunter Enclave abilities could be refluffed differently also.

The Urchin and Urban Bounty Hunter backgrounds each seem like they might fit, for different reasons.