Delphinoids in GURPS

Delphinoids are small fast and agile whales of the surface waters. They come in three main groups - dolphins, monodontids, and porpoises. Delphinoids are predatory, snatching fish and squid with sharp conical teeth. They all have a bump on their forehead called a melon - this is an organ that produces focused beams of sonar that the delphinoids use to find their prey. Since delphinoids are air breathers, they have no need to smell underater and consequently their olfactory senses have nearly vanished. Their eyesight is reasonably sharp. They fight by biting, ramming, hitting with their tail flukes, and body slamming (often by using a breach to gain speed and smash down on ther opponent from above). When sleeping, they keep half of their brain awake so they can rise to the surface to breathe.

The dolphins and porpoises are commonly encountered by seafarers. They often use the bow wave of ships to travel long distances with minimal effort. Dolphins are also known to occasionally cooperate with fishermen to drive fish into their nets - this helps the dolphins because with the fish up against the net they have fewer options to run and are easier to catch. On the other hand, in some places dolphins and porpoises are actively hunted by man, either for food or to reduce competition for fish.

Game Statistics

choose a species:
Species Male Female (optional)
enter weight (kg)
Captive? T?HR?
Bottlenose dolphin

Common dolphin

Orca

Spinner dolphin

Harbor porpoise

Dall's porpoise

Beluga

Narwhal

The radio button entries in the table above give typical sizes of the delphinid species of the selected sex. If you want a larger or smaller specimen, enter the weight in kg manually.

The Captive checkbox is for animals that have been kept in captivity all their lives, without the ability to hone their skills like their wild relatives. It would be appropriate for dolphins or porpoises kept in an aquarium.

Marking the T? checkbox will give you the stats in template form with all costs listed, otherwise you get a stat sheet as for a character.

Marking the HR? checkbox will print the information using all my house rules. Otherwise, the stats will be as compatable with plain vanilla GURPS as possible (although several custom advantages and disadvantages will be present, see my Traits page).

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