Homebrew Dolphinoid Species Details

The Dolphinoids. They’re both smart and athletic. It’s fun to watch them come up with all of their crazy games…as long as they don’t expect me to play them!

—Cassandra Von Leviathan, Priestess of Ben Hadar

Dolphinoids are frequently seen in shallow-to mid depth waters, building cities in the shallows and on beaches where they play to their hearts content. Usually friendly, they use their great intelligence to create new games and toys. 

Dolphinoid Biology

Dolphinoids are a race of human-like dolphin-like mammals. Nobody is quite sure of where they originated from. 

They have a mostly human appearance, but are on average a few inches taller than the average human and slightly more robust. They have a fin located atop their head or on their back; if the fin is on their head, they usually hide it with their hair, making it look like a hairstyle. They have black eyes with white pupils. Their skin color is either marble-white, Pearl, pink, brown, grey, blue, or black. They have a muscular tail roughly the same size as their body. Dolphinoids don't breathe through a blowhole, but through their mouth. Their tail color and fin are often different colors than the skin of the Dolphinoid. 

Dolphinoids use echolocation to sense objects under or above water. They can also see in the dark, in shades of gray. They can hold their breath for twenty minutes and dive to depths of 1,000 feet.Dolphinoids can breathe out of the water, but prefer to keep their skin moist. Dry skin is intensely uncomfortable for Dolphinoids and can result to them developing rashes. They usually need to dip in water every 24 hours or go through a mud bath. To stay underwater longer, they often employ or become wizards to create magical items that enable them to breathe underwater en masse, such as setting up runes in an underwater city. 

Dolphinoids are obligate carnivores, and much of their society centers around finding food. Dolphin tribes that discover agriculture farm vast forests of seaweed and kelp to feed farms of fish, clams, oysters, and crabs. 

Intelligent. 

Dolphinoids are highly intelligent, playful creatures. Because of their intellect, they become bored easily and try to find ways to pass the time (other than working). They are also exceptionally curious, wanting to interact with other races. 

Dolphinoids are socially intelligent as well as intellectually intelligent. They can usually tell an evil creature from a good one. However, a Dolphinoid may get swayed into becoming evil from a persuasive enough argument, social rejection (Dolphinoids are highly social)  or otherwise becoming disenfranchised.

Dolphinoids often spend their time studying to satisfy their immense curiosity or playing elaborate games to satisfy their desire for physical activity. 

A few of their games as are follows:

 Hoop Rings:  

The Dolphinoids create a series of magical rings in a pre-determined order that boost speed. The Dolphinoids go through a race course, using the hoops to boost their speed while maneuvering. 

Basketball:

Dolphinoids play both regular basketball and a 3D version where they play underwater. The underwater version allows full use of movement within a giant cube, which is filled with obstacles. 

Society

Dolphinoids are highly social, tactile creatures. They like to interact with others physically, by touching them on the shoulders or with their tails. 

Despite being highly social, Dolphinoids don’t have much of an hierarchy. Most Dolphinoid pods aren’t closely related to one another; members flow in and out and join other pods. This is also true in cities. Dolphinoids are often filled with a wanderlust and move in and out of cities freely. Dolphinoids live with their parents until adulthood, then split with them, rarely returning to visit family. The exception is Dolphinoids who stand to inherit a fortune, such as children of merchants, or political families, such as children of a king of a city state. 

Dolphinoids are quick to make friends, but are also quick to leave and make new friends. Dolphinoid usually get  attached to a place or location that they don’t want to leave in their twenties or thirties after years of traveling and seeing where they want to fit in. Dolphinoids make a lot of friends because it helps them later down the line. Dolphinoid families aren’t that close, so it pays to have plenty of friends. Dolphinoids value their freedom over their lives, but are smart enough to know that surrendering to an enemy and becoming prisoners means a chance to escape later. 

Dolphinoids have difficulty finding a stable job; most that are employed are employed as either farmers, teachers, diplomats or adventurers. They enjoy jobs that require flexibility, creativity, and freedom of movement. They tend to get more stable careers around their mid thirties, by which time they’ve usually settled down a bit. Their cities function, but they often require other races to take up jobs they don’t have the patience for. Underwater, merfolk tend to occupy these jobs. Triton are rare, as they usually inhabit deeper depths, but when they arrive, they’re typically employed as soldiers. Water genasis are more rare than even Tritons, but when they arrive, they can fill a variety of jobs. Sea elves often work in dolphinoid cities. Sometimes, Dolphinoids adopt or create their own magical races to aid them, such as adopting the Krakken-Kin’s Asteroidan (starfish race) army as their own after causing a revolution. 

Dolphinoids often take up wizardry or become psionic masters. Despite having a low tolerance for boring tasks,  they find magic to be fascinating and useful for both breathing underwater and creating their games. Their brand of magic tends to emphasize buffs and Thunder damage. Their psionic abilities are gained not through study, but meditation.

Dolphinoids can breathe out of the water, but prefer to keep their skin moist. Dry skin is intensely uncomfortable for Dolphinoids and can result to them developing rashes. They usually need to dip in water every 24 hours or go through a mud bath, as mentioned in the Biology section. They also have a religious reason to stay near the sea or ocean instead of moving inland. Their mother goddess, Seawave, is said to be embracing and protecting them when they are near the ocean. They don’t have the benefit of her protection inland. 

Dolphinoid societies are usually based in shallow to mid depth oceanic and sea waters, or on the land on coastlines, not in deep oceanic waters, due to their need to breathe.

Dolphinoids see the Elemental Plane of Water as a sacred plane, like Mt Olympus to the Greeks. They usually cannot live there due to how little land there is, and because the water is so deep. However, advanced magical dolphinoid societies have managed this feat, either building their civilization atop huge dragon turtles or in reefs, or other areas. They use runes to strain oxygen out of the water to make the area breathable, or create bubble cities. These societies are highly regarded, sites for pilgrimage and worship and learning.

Dolphinoids are able to hold a society together through connections forged through their religion, arts and entertainment, and sports and athleticism, which bind them together. Dolphinoids gather in societies that believe the same things as them, or cities with the best standards of living when they decide to settle down. When they settle down, they might emulate the lifestyle of one of their gods, such as a worshipper of Gumbie living on the fringes of society and hunting aberrations, or a worshipper of Goldnose serving as a merchant.

Goldnose’s guilds, BlipBlup’s artistic communities, Gumbie’s warriors, Flipper’s athletic organizations, and more serve as glue for the unfocused and unhierarchical dolphinoid society.

Temples serve as gathering places for Dolphinoids, who make permanent connections there. 

Dolphinoids are often ruled by a weak monarchy. Monarchs rarely have the most power in Dolphinoid societies. Religious organizations and merchants have far more say, but use monarchs as their figureheads to present a unified front.

Kingdoms often put considerable effort into presenting a unified form of the dolphinoid religion, because religion serves as a unifying factor for the dolphinoid people. This takes the form of the arts, economy, and other things working to promote their version of the pantheon and events.

Monarchs are usually elected either by the people or by a coalition of economic and religious leaders, and can’t form a dynasty. Democracies have formed before, but aren’t common, because democracies aren’t common in DnD society. It would make them too different from their neighbors.

Dolphinoids live in three basic city types:
>Underwater “bubble” cities with humidity to keep their skin moist, but are otherwise filled with air instead of water
>In the ocean itself, but they have runes placed around the city to extract more oxygen and allow them to breathe*
>Huge coastal cities on the land, but they swim in the ocean or bathe frequently to maintain moist skin

*Runic cities usually work by creating magic runes that key in to a Dolphinoid’s unique traits and strain oxygen out of the water and pass it to them. The process is automatic and doesn’t require work on the part of the dolphinoid breathing the air. This lets them stay underwater without surfacing, but lets other aquatic life enter their underwater cities without it feeling like they’re also on the surface. 

Before these cities were developed, dolphinoids lived underwater or on coasts, but in tribal structures and frequented either the surface or water for oxygen and moisture. Coastal cities came first, then runic cities, then underwater bubble cities. 

Each environment lends itself to different pets. Tribal dolphinoids utilize trained fish, usually eels or cleaner fish or octopi. Coastal cities had trained otters, smaller seals, turtles, frogs, seabirds, and crabs as pets. In tropical areas, monkeys were common pets. The most common pets in runic cities are crustaceans, eels, or cleaner fish.Eels have a temperament similar to dogs, making them ideal pets. Dolphinoids in runic cities or tribal societies breed eels the same way humans breed dogs, for a variety of jobs. Underwater snails are common pets in runic societies. They also use more gentle sharks, such as nurse sharks, as pets.  In bubble cities, air breathing crustaceans are the most common pets, namely, crabs or shrimp. They also have elaborate aquariums where bioluminescent jellyfish provide light. Bubble Cities often have land animals that require humidity or moist skin, such as frogs as pets as well. Turtles are fairly common pets. 

Dolphinoids often create magical pets as well. Things such as eel hounds that can go on land and water are common.  

Dolphinoids and Centralized Authority:

Dolphinoids usually live in monarchies where the monarchs are basically figureheads for religious and economic groups, such as temples and guilds. This usually takes place in larger societies such as an empire or a kingdom.

It is possible for a Dolphinoid society to wield centralized authority, however. This usually happens in two contexts:
>A Tribal leader can usually maintain a bloodline and dynasty through their authority.
>An economic leader or a religious leader founds their own city-state, usually with their own sect or interpretation of the pantheon. To be recognized as such, they need their own version of the Aquanomicon, a truly time consuming process. However, it gives them legitimacy.
>Worshippers of Goldnose have the perfect blend of economic and religious authority and legitimacy to found long-lasting dynasties, but this usually fizzles out the moment they expand too far and interests groups from across the empire or kingdom amass.

Some city-states refuse expansion and instead create a confederacy of city states so that the dynastic rulers can have the protection of a kingdom or empire, but without the instability of actually expanding. However, collaborating with other leaders of equal status often leads to clashes of egos and bitter disputes. 

Languages:

Dolphinoids generally know Aquan, common, and Dolphinoid. The Dolphinoid language consists of clicks, whistles, and other dolphin-like noises. Dolphinoids are usually the only race that can speak dolphinoid or understand it, mainly because of how different it is to other languages. Making it more complicated is that there are different dialects. Dolphinoids can understand most dialects, but it makes it difficult for non-dolphinoids. 

As a result, the Dolphinoid language acts as a sort of secret language they only use in their cities, or to talk without other races knowing what they’re saying. Dolphinoids usually use Aquan or common when talking to other races. 

It is not uncommon for Dolphinoids to also know the Primordial language, the same way English speakers branch off to learn Latin. Primordial is the predecessor language to Aquan. Dolphinoids who know Primordial can understand bits and pieces of Terran, Auran, and Ignan, but not fluently speak it or write it.

Dolphinoid rangers, clerics, fighters, and paladins often learn Deep Speech, infernal, or abyssal to better know what their enemies are saying and intercept communications.

Finally, Dolphinoid societies who  live near sea elven communities often learn elven. 

Religion and Origin

Dolphinoids worship a variety of gods, from whom they think they are made in the image of. They believe that their creator deity, Delphus, and his eternal pod made dolphins to play and learn about the world. Scholars who state otherwise are usually scorned by Dolphinoid society. 

Scholars of other races often believe that Dolphinoids are a race of creatures made in underwater experiments by wizards; fusing humans and dolphins together. Others think that they simply evolved to naturally appear as they do. 

Dolphinoids worship their deities through studying and sports; they also often throw grand festivals. Dolphinoid religion is usually a private affair, everybody worships in their own ways. However, there are temples dedicated to their deities, and they often festivals and celebrations. 

Dolphinoid deities: 

Delphus=Creator deity, god of kings, sovereignty, fatherhood, justice, and wisdom (Neutral good)

Flipper=A goddess of athleticism, health, and sports (Chaotic good)

Goldnose=God of merchants, wealth, cunning, trickery, contracts, prosperity, opportunity and luck, gambling (unofficial) (Chaotic neutral) 

Seawave=Goddess of the ocean, love, and motherhood (Chaotic Neutral)

Gumbie=God of war and hunting, psychopomp (escorts souls to the afterlife. The souls would sink there anyway, but he protects their descent from fiends or aberrations) (Neutral good)

Shelly=Formerly a minor goddess, now a major goddess. A second generation deity. She is the goddess of agriculture and farming, both plants and meat. She is also commonly depicted as a goddess of good health and youth. (Neutral good) 

Bauble=Goddess of magic (Neutral)

Exhol=Goddess of psionics, wisdom and peace (Lawful good)

BlipBlup=God of entertainment and the arts; theater, rock carvings, any material form of art or spiritual form of art. (Neutral)

Abyss=God of Death (Neutral)

Minor gods:

Periplanus=God of wanderers and travelers, adventure, choices, risks, safety when traveling, hospitality towards strangers, and planar travel. (Chaotic neutral)

Tinker= God of innovation, discovery, and inventions (Neutral good) 

 

“I came upon the ocean, and joined in union with her. She told me that her name was Seawave, and that she would bear children that would become gods of a new people. 

So, Bauble and Exhol were born, and together they created the first Dolphinoids, giving them the magic and intelligence they needed to survive.

Next, Goldnose and Gumbie were born. They gave the dolphinoids the cunning and strength needed to survive in the ocean, the knowledge to form alliances and alternatively, wage war on their enemies. Gumbie taught the dolphinoids how to gather food and survive in the ocean. He taught proper stewardship of the environment, and when and where to hunt. 

The final two were Flipper and BlipBlup, patrons of the physical and material arts, who gave purpose to the Dolphinoids. And with these six children, the Eternal Pod was completed, and the Dolphinoids thrived in the oceans.”

—Delphus, Aquanomicon

 

 

These are not the only dolphinoid deities, simply the ones that are the most important and part of the Eternal Pod. Bauble, Exhol, Goldnose, Gumbie, Flipper, and BlipBlup have fathered and mothered many minor deities and demigods over the millennia, usually with primordial water elementals or mortal dolphinoids. One such demigod is Echo the blind warrior, a demigod son of Gumbie who defeated a major sahuagin invasion. One of the relevant “minor” gods was Shelly, goddess of underwater agriculture, and a daughter of Exhol and a primordial water elemental. 

The legend goes that Gumbie was the primary deity regarding the gathering of food, as he was not only the god of war, but also of hunting and stewardship of the environment. A demigod, Shelly, accompanied her uncle Gumbie on a hunting expedition and saw that oysters and clams were easy prey. She took them home and domesticated them, then introduced the concept of agriculture and farming to the Dolphinoids, introducing a revolution. She supplanted her brooding uncle and became the primary goddess of food, agriculture, and bounty. Gumbie remained the Lord of war and the hunt, however. 

Shelly does not feature in the original story of how Delphus fathered the eternal pod, and has her own chapter in the Aquanomicon. However, many sects believe she is one of the eternal pod’s originan members, creating a schism between heretics and true believers. 

Minor Deities:

An example of a minor deity is Periplanus, the god of wanderers and travelers. He often is depicted as holding a doorway between the material plane and elemental plane of water. 

Periplanus, although a minor god, has a crucial role in society. He is the god of wanderers and travelers, adventure, choices, risks, safety when traveling, hospitality towards strangers, and planar travel. 

His personality is one of complete and total wanderlust. Legends say he was Gumbie’s son with a mortal dolphinoid, and he left home at a young age, going on many, many adventures. He gained wisdom and cultural understanding on his travels, and gradually ascended to godhood. He often represents change and introspection. His symbols are the mirror, door, bridge, portals, and waves.  

Because he is so important, outside scholars debate why he isn’t considered a major deity. The true reason is that his mythology and adventures are extremely muddied from sheer volume of sources, and theology and debates are fierce. He also isn’t considered a “home god”, but is a god people pray to when traveling or making choices. 

Another minor deity in the Dolphinoid Pantheon is Tinker, a demigod grandson of Bauble and Goldnose who later ascended to godhood upon designing the first magical runes that allowed for the creation of permanent underwater settlements instead of dolphinoid tribes.

Tinker is depicted as an absentminded deity who is always working on some new project. Most of his projects are passion projects, but he’s known to create inventions merely for fame and wealth. His domains are discovery, invention, and innovation. 

He is usually depicted as a renaissance man, tinkering with alchemy, machines, magic, and runes. Although he is a grandchild of both Bauble and Goldnose, it was on different sides of the family.

Godly Personalities:

The Eternal Pod hosts gods with different personalities and ways of interacting. Delphus, lord of the pod, favors wisdom and peaceful solutions to problems. His wife, Seawave, can be as temperamental and unpredictable as the ocean itself. She can go from being peaceful to raging and wrathful in moments, and when Delphus or herself is displeased, she can lash out, wiping out settlements. Dolphinoids appease Seawave first, then Delphus in ceremonies. Seawave is often depicted as a primordial water elemental who later became a goddess through association with Delphus. 

Bauble and Exhol are twin goddesses, born at the same time. Bauble is the more playful of the two, although she can be quite serious as needed. She emphasizes that magic is important and should be taken seriously, but it can also be used for entertainment. Exhol is the opposite, seemingly always serious, emphasizing that psionics are not to be toyed with or misused. She despises the use of psionics in warfare unless it’s absolutely needed, and favors peace. She is Delphus’s favored child. 

Goldnose is a charismatic god, with domains in commerce and trickery. Although he doesn’t necessarily endorse unethical business practices, he does emphasize cunning in contracts and other deals. He is known for his extreme charisma. He favors peace over war due to war being bad for business. Goldnose clerics ideally oppose war, but only if dolphinoids are involved. They’re fine with selling weapons to two other armies or more. He firmly supports fair trade between dolphinoids and allies, but supports economic ruination of enemies during wartime and is known for his trickery and pranks regarding his allies, and a more hostile form of trickery towards enemies. He is also known for his extremely good luck and willingness to seize opportunities. Many consider him a patron god of gamblers, although it isn’t officially listed among his domains.

 

Gumbie is depicted as a silent, brooding warrior. He taught the first Dolphinoids how to hunt and survive in the wilderness, and how to responsibly care for and survive in the environment. He dislikes war, but when war is inevitable, he endorses it to the fullest extent, saying that enemies must reap what they’ve sown. Gumbie is not a bloodthirsty war god, although enemy cultures may depict him as one. Gumbie is often depicted as hunting Eldritch abominations, evil elementals, oozes, fiends, and other malevolent, unnatural entities who threaten society. It is said that facing these horrible entities is what makes him so silent. He is a protective god who escorts souls to the afterlife to prevent them from being seized by enemies of the gods. Worshippers of Gumbie often are soldiers (fighters), rangers (reflecting his environmental stewardship and hatred of unnatural evil monsters), or paladins.

Flipper and BlipBlup are cheerful deities who enjoy bringing culture and fun to the Dolphinoids. It is said that they bring the Dolphinoids their reason to thrive instead of just existing. They are the two most popular deities, worshipped every day instead of just by specialized factions or on temple days or ceremonies. Flipper is often portrayed as an athletic, youthful deity who is very competitive and prone to action. BlipBlup is more sensitive and contemplative, often lost in his own thoughts. 

No matter which interpretation, Shelly is the youngest member of the Eternal Pod. The question is, was she the daughter of Exhol and a primordial elemental who earned her way into being a goddess, a daughter of Seawave and Delphus born much after the other Pod children? No matter the interpretation, Shelly is depicted as passionate, young, wise, and caring, with a strong maternal side. She often is depicted as having strong morals. Some sects question whether she’s actually a daughter of Exhol, or a daughter of Flipper or BlipBlup due to her association with healthiness and youth. Most sects believe she’s a daughter of Exhol, with the next highest percentage believing her to be a daughter of Flipper, then the next highest percentage being that she was born of BlipBlup, and the least common interpretation is that she was born as a goddess, not a demigodess that earned her godhood. 

Finally, Abyss is the Dolphinoid god of death. He is said to not be a Dolphinoid, much like Seawave wasn’t. Instead, when Dolphinoids die, their souls sink into the darkest depths of the ocean, where a Primordial water elemental, Abyss, decides if they should reincarnate, live forever as heroes, or be eternally punished. Their afterlife is said to be divided into several massive underground chambers where Abyss divided the dead dolphinoids as he sees fit. It is said that he, Delphus, and Gumbie are allies who oversee that Dolphinoids get the afterlife they deserve. 

It is taboo to speak about Abyss, not because he is evil, but because dolphinoids fear he may be listening and judging. He is regarded as a fair and impartial judge in the afterlife, and is depicted as a roiling formless mass, an unknowable Eldritch entity that they can never understand. Even the gods have difficulty with him. Dolphinoid burial practices include tossing the dead into oceanic trenches to be united with Abyss, where he can judge them. Dolphinoids usually have a graveyard of sorts, but their dead are not buried there. Important figures may receive differential treatment due to magical concerns. For example, if they wish to use the Speak With Dead Spell to speak with a deceased king, they need the body. In this case, a ritual may be performed to allow the soul to go to the afterlife without their body going into a trench. Abyss has clerics who live in the trench, but usually not at the bottom.

Draco Terrapinus:

Most accounts of the Dolphinoid Pantheon agree that they live a nomadic lifestyle, like many of the dolphinoids themselves. However, because they stick together and need a permanent location to display their wealth and power and to negotiate with elementals and other deities, they have found a sort of solution.

It is said that Goldnose met a Dragon Turtle named Draco Terrapinus and challenged him to a game of wits for a prize. Both entities agreed they’d name the prize afterward. The two entities competed for days, but Goldnose won, and his prize was that Draco Terrapinus would serve as the foundation for a glorious city of gods and demigods. Draco agreed that he had lost the wager, and Goldnose founded the city of the gods on his back.

Now, the gods built mighty strongholds atop this powerful draconic entity and travel thoughout the elemental plane of water. Draco Terrapinus was well compensated by the rest of the pantheon. 

Elementals, Dragons, and outsiders:

Due to their crucial role in dolphinoid mythology, water elementals are highly regarded as antagonists, protagonists, and powerful entities in their culture. Good aligned water elementals, primarily primordials, often serve as “celestials” in dolphinoid culture, whereas evil aligned water elementals are perceived as “fiends”. In a similar vein, most Dolphinoids perceive the sahuagin deities as fiends, and the merrows literally worship Demogorgon, a demon lord. Dolphinoids have a fascination with dragon turtles in their folklore as well, with their myths prominently featuring cities built atop them, or dolphinoids underestimating them and being destroyed. Aberrations are widely reviled and hunted by Dolphinoid rangers. 

The Aquanomicon:

The Aquanomicon is the founding religious text for the dolphinoid pantheon, comprising oral tales, legends, songs, theater plays, and accounts from demigods and mortal authors, a living text that differs throughout communities and sparks debate. 

Scholars don’t know where the original Aquanomicon is, debating that it may be somewhere in one of the palaces of the gods, lost in the elemental plane of water, or taken by Sahuagin enemies. 

There are many things that are common to each Aquanomicon, but each sect has tweaked their version ever so slightly. The lore regarding Shelly and Periplanus are examples of things that each sect tweaks, but the original story of the Eternal Pod is usually unchanged, as is the story of Delphus and Gumbie following the first mortal soul to the depths of the ocean after they died and making a deal with Abyss; he can keep the souls that fall into his domain, but must righteously judge them and place them in punishment, paradise, or reincarnate them. 

Aquatic Giants:

Because of their nature as dolphinoids (being based off of dolphins), dolphinoids often attribute religious significance to whales. Revered for their strength, intelligence, and vast size and often gentle nature, the dolphinoids maintain relations with the whales.

Dolphinoids, often maintain alliances with Sperm Whale pods and Humpback Whales. Sperm whales are known for their matrilineal pods and complex complex structures and ferocity, intelligence, and loyalty, but they don’t usually do things out of niceness, so their relationship with the dolphinoids are often transactional and they’re quite insular. Humpback whales are known for their altruism, empathy, and complex whale songs and strength, making them the solitary warrior poets of the ocean. Sperm whales are known for doing battle with Krakkens and giant squids-they form alliances with Tritons and dolphinoids to combat the Krakken menace. Clerics of Gumbie, god of war and hunting, associate with both, as do clerics of Seawave the ocean goddess, Exhol the psionics goddess, and Periplanus god of travel. Clerics of Blipblup, god of entertainment, record the humpback whale songs religiously.

Gray whales are notoriously friendly with dolphinoids, and the most likely of any whale to actually enter their underwater cities, often integrating and becoming fixtures of the area. Orcas are inconsistent, they can be aggressive predators or they can ally with a Dolphinoid city. Often, a dolphinoid is equally likely to battle an orca as they are to ally with it.

Belugas are one of the friendliest and smaller whales, and like the Gray Whales, often integrate into the Dolphinoid cities, playing sports and living peacefully alongside them. Bowhead whales are respected as elders, but are rarely seen, as they live under ice shelves. Their knowledge is highly revered, as they live for roughly 200 years.  

The blue whale, of course, is so huge they usually simply ignore dolphinoids completely.

Crucially, whales are too intelligent and close to the dolphinoids to simply be used as work animals-they’re contracted, not domesticated, and clerics or rangers or Druids commune with them directly-either speaking with the leader of the pod or a solitary whale.

Sectional disagreements:

Differences between Sects often result in bitter debate, but does not usually result in war. Gumbie’s depiction as a war god who only wants war as a last resort means that most sects won’t go to war to enforce their views.

Instead, sects might focus on gaining power through Goldnose’s ideals of commerce, gaining economic superiority to push their views, or using Flipper’s athletic domain. Dolphinoids often settle disputes with athletic contests, rather than fighting.

BlipBlup’s entertainment domain also offers Dolphinoids a way to spread their sect’s specific views. Through the use of art, they can influence other sects to view the world the same way as them.

Some sects are so minor that they may not be interested in resolving things at all, as they might fall under the wayside under direct scrutiny. Some sects are so similar that only one thing might be different.

Only the most warlike of sects will consider going to war to enforce their sect’s religious views on others.

Dolphinoid Names

Most Dolphinoid names are aquatic features or related to psionics, magic, echolocation, or physical features. Dolphinoids have little difference in names between boys or girls, and rarely have surnames because they don’t have especially strong family bonds. 

Dolphinoid names: Bubbles, Wave, Coral, Echo, Mind, Brain, Flipper, Finley, Waterflip

 

 

Dolphinoid Traits

Your Dolphinoid character has the following racial traits.

Tail-Slap

You have a tail-slap attack that does 1d6 bludgeoning damage plus your dexterity modifier. 

Ability Score Increase

Your dexterity score increases by 2 and your Intelligence or Charisma scores increase by 1.

Age

Dolphinoids reach maturity around age 15 and can live up to 70 years.

Size

Dolphinoids are slightly larger than humans, averaging about 5’9- 6’0 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed is 40 feet.

Semi-Amphibious

You can hold your breath for 20 minutes at a time.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Echolocation

You have a blindsight of 120 ft when actively using echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight when deafened. You can use your echolocation as a bonus action after your initial attack. 

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Dolphinoid and Aquan.