Candleback Tortoise
Beast · no Crown (Meridian)
T2d6Minor
Enormous cart-sized tortoises with shells that blaze with warm golden light, surrounded by a permanent halo of healing radiance that benefits all creatures -- including predators drawn to the glow.
Tier 2 · Role Minor · Pool Vigor 2 (+2 overflow) · AC 14 · ATK +4 · Save DC 13 · Dmg 2 (flat)
| Stat | Score | Mod | Die |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | 20 | - | - |
| Mind | 6 | - | - |
| Sense | 16 | - | - |
| Heart | 18 | - | - |
| Cunning | 12 | - | - |
| Fate | 16 | - | - |
A Minor has no attribute mechanics: the scores describe the creature, they do not roll.
Passives
Living Lighthouse
Its shell blazes like a bonfire in a 40 ft radius and cannot be dimmed while it lives. A creature that ends its turn in the light regains 1 Vigor, friend or foe. Immune to fire damage.
Maneuvers
Shell Block
Withdraws into its shell, gaining +3 AC until the start of its next turn.
Reactions
Shell Flare
When struck in melee, the shell flashes blinding-bright. The attacker makes a Sense save (DC 13) or is dazed for 1 round.
Tactics
GM tactics
Candleback tortoises are gentle herbivores that fight only when provoked. Their healing aura attracts a menagerie of wildlife, making encounters with them complicated by the surrounding creatures. They bite only in self-defense and retreat into their shells.
Running it
Rules
- Vigor equal to Tier, with an overflow of the same size behind it: 2, then 2 more. Neither half regenerates.
- A hit deals a flat 2, no roll. A crit (natural 20 only) rolls d6 and never lands below 2.
- Crits on a natural 20 only.
- Minor: no stat modifiers or dice in play; its scores describe the creature, they do not roll.
- At 0 Vigor it breaks and flees, out of the fight but alive; Fanatics fight on into the overflow instead.
- Total damage reaching 4 kills it outright, and a single blow of 4 or more kills it on the spot.
- Vigor damage is simply damage against a Minor: its whole pool is Vigor.
- Group morale: when its group loses half its number, fled or dead, the rest check morale.
- NPCs never take wounds.