Wizard Dolphin
CR6
Alignment: Varies
Home Plane: Prime; Elemental Plane of Water
Sailors, fishermen and undersea dwellers all know that dolphins aren’t simple-minded beasts. They’re highly intelligent animals, with sophisticated ways of communicating and surviving. But it seems that some dolphins turned out to be even smarter than cutters might have thought. The recently discovered wizard dolphins have somehow attained the ability to wield arcane magic.
It seems that it all started when a large pod of normal dolphins was swallowed by a vortex to the Elemental Water. Normally, cetaceans who have suffered such a fate don’t live for long—since there’s no surface in the Superocean, they can’t take a breath and eventually drown. Or, if they’re lucky, they might become confined to some suitable air pocket. But these particular dolphins managed something that’s never seen before—they learned to cast water breathing upon themselves. Perhaps some kindly marid exerted magical influence upon them, or maybe they managed to tumble into magic-use by themselves, but however it managed it, the pod now has the ability to survive in the Bottomless Deep. And, perhaps even more impressively, they’ve taught others of their kind to do the same. The pod grew and split, and soon one group became a population and then—a whole new species.
COMBAT: Wizard dolphins primarily feed on small fish, but can cooperate tactically to take on even large monsters. They still primarily use their jaws, and headbuts like their non-magical relatives do. However, adult wizard dolphins have recently started to learn some combat spells. Aside from utilities like water breathing, they can cast magic missile, mage armour and even crashing wave.
HABITAT/SOCIETY: Wizard dolphins retain their usual social structure. They live in large pods led by the eldest and most experienced females. These aquatic matriarchs take care of younger members, and retain the cultural memories of spells, language and history of the pod. Wizard dolphin pods are loosely structured, and can merge or disband on a whim. Young males often leave their pods in small groups to find other mates—those dolphins tend to be aggressive, and attack other sea animals seemingly just for the fun if it.
While wizard dolphins don’t appear to be anything but animals, they are actually sapient and quite intelligent. Gillfolk, tritons and cephalopoid races can sometimes establish communication with them by using magic. Dolphins don’t exactly produce any goods, so they are of little economical importance, but with a bit of bartering they can be employed as scouts or even couriers. They don’t allow anyone to use them as mounts though—so don’t get any ideas. Strangely, wizard dolphins treat sea elves with suspicion and distrust, believing them to abuse their less magical brethren. They are hostile to sahuagin and most other evil aquatic races.
ECOLOGY: Like normal dolphins, wizard dolphins eat fish, molluscs and other seafood. They have been known to take down large sharks through cooperation and magical assistance.
Source: Margarita. Canonwatch: This creature is homebrew
