Urschell

The Urschell bears a slight resemblance to the Bullywug except for the fact that where the Bullywug resembles a giant two-legged toad, the Urschell is more like an upright walking turtle. They are green-skinned with small heads, and around their torso is a single shell with colored signs on the front. Its legs and arms extend from the inner part of the shell as the head too, earning them the nickname "Turtle-men". The Urschells speak the own language and roughly 60 % of them speak common too.

COMBAT
The Urschells normally prefer to talk before they do battle, but the long-standing feud with their archenemies, the Bullywugs, against whom they are competing about territory, has learned them the ways of war. The Urschells favorite tactic is to lie in wait in the swamp, then ambushing their foes giving them a -3 to surprise. Their favorite weapons are the trident, quaterstaff and spear, in which they are very skilled in the use.
Their most preferred weapon is the scimitar, which gives great status among the Urschells, and is usually the trademark of elite warriors.
An Urschell will almost pay anything for such a weapon. The Urschells also possess an unique defense mode, when necessary, they can pull their arms, legs and head into their body shell, thereby getting an AC of 0 against missile attacks and a +4 to saving throws against area of effect spells like Fireball, Lightning Bolt etc. and Breath Weapons. While in this state they are immobile and are not able to defend themselves.

HABITAT/SOCIETY
Urschells live in tight families where the one best fitted take care of the young "Schells", as they are called. The best hunter in the family teaches them the way to hunt, the best fisher they way of fishing etc. The families turn together with other families, and form a tribe where the wisest and strongest member among the families is the leader. Females and males are rated equal, though the leader mostly seems to be a male, like most of the fighters, but a female often functions as the spiritual leader of the tribe as Shaman. A normal Urschell tribe consists of about 40-50 members, where roughly 70 % is male, the rest females or young. For every 10 Urschells encountered, there will be a group leader of 3+4 hit dices, and for every 20 there will also be a sub-chief of 4+4 hit dices. Each tribe also has a chieftain of 6+6 hit dice, +2 to damage and a female shaman at 4-5th level and one apprentice of 1st level. Urschells possess few valuables, using whatever coin they get to the benefit of the tribe. Magical weapon will rarely appear amongst them (5 %), but it will then be used by the best suited member of the tribe to the best of his/her ability.
The Urschells mix well with other intelligent and good-aligned creatures of the swamp and beyond, but will fight off any approach to their territory by any creature, including humans, with evil intentions.

ECOLOGY
The Urschells, unlike the Bullywugs, seems to fit tightly into the ecosystem, they hunt and fish only to keep themselves and their families fed.
That's one of the reasons of the enmity with the Bullywugs, they see their way of living as a threat against nature. The shells of the Urschells can be sold for as much as 200 GP each but doing so will bring the wrath of every Urschell and their friends and allies in the area.