Natural Evocation - a Study on Purpose

Natural Evocation is a phenomenon found in many magical creatures on the Material Plane and other planes. It is the capability for a creature to spontaneously, and at will, evoke energy against another creature or against its environment. My studies have found that the Purpose of Natural Evocation in creatures on the Material Plane is to enhance the survival of the species, filling a gap where non-magical attributes may fail, or simply as a replacement for such.

To begin with we'll limit our scope to just the school of Evocation, there is the great study of innate magic across other schools of magic. There are many creatures that have innate magics which are not evocation, such as an umberhulk's ability to confuse (enchantment), a troll's ability to regenerate (conjuration), a stone-eye basilisk's ability to petrify (transmutation), a crag cat's innate ability to resist and reflect magic (abjuration) and a displacer beast's ability to fade (illusion). This study will focus specifically on Natural Evocation. We'll also limit our scope to limited-intelligence creatures; those such as Dragons with the ability to cast spells can cast far beyond just innate abilities and evocation, and this is a paper on Natural Evocation. Lastly we'll focus on creatures that predominately live on the Material Plane; there are many extraplanar creatures such as the phoenix which have Natural Evocation but have entirely different environments and thus the Purpose of these abilities differ from the more environmentally friendly Material Plane.

As stated above, Natural Evocation is the capability for a creature to spontaneously, and at will, evoke energy against another creature or it's environment. This does not include similar effects such as the Ankheg ability to spit acid (stomach acid), a snake's venom, a spider or ettercap's ability to shoot webbing, a lurker's camouflage or a stink beetle's ability to emit a stunning cloud of stench. All of these mimic magical effects but are entirely mundane, often with strict limits. If one of these creatures was slain then their mundane apparatus could continue to pose a danger, or be utilized.

The results of my investigations have shown that Natural Evocation is a feature developed in creatures which live in environments with ambient magic, instead of a mundane trait. These exceptional traits allow for greater survival and thus the creature is more likely to breed and produce more with the trait. This is also why the animals in question are resistant or immune to their own abilities. Abilities which harmed the user would have not allowed for further breeding. Below I'll go into details on several animals and monsters capable of Natural Evocation:

Winter Wolf - Ability: Resistance to cold, frost breath - Domain: Cold forests and plains; arctic regions of Kara-tur, Rashemen, Ashanath, The High Ice of Anauroch - Hunts: Travellers, ice toads, herbivorous animals - Survival Utility: Cold resistance makes it possible to hunt ice toads. Frost breath allows smaller packs to hunt larger prey by freezing it from afar, especially useful against travellers. - Summary: The winter wolf is as intelligent as a Worg so almost did not make the list. However there are no known cases of a winter wolf casting spells, and these traits are innate. The exceptional resistance to cold makes it possible to hunt the ice toads which would kill most other creatures. The frost breath helps their smaller packs to hunt larger prey, up to including yeti and bulettes. Ice Toad - Ability: Impervious to cold, frigid aura - Domain: Arctic and subarctic climates, marshes above ground, below the ground; The High Ice of Anauroch, arctic areas Hordelands, Great Glacier - Hunts: Arctic foxes, icejacks, caribou - Survival Utility: The frigid aura could freeze solid anyone within range, making them much harder to hunt by animals other than those resistant or immune - Summary: Similar intelligence to a winter wolf though mostly lacking in the same capacity of language, the ice toads main predator is the winter wolf. Outside of that they easily eat anything that they want by simply freezing it until it dies. Useful in both protection and hunting. Cryo Hydra - Ability: Frost Breath, regenerating heads - Domain: Umber Marshes in Aglarond; arctic plains of the Hordelands - Hunts: Anything and everything - Survival Utility: The ability to regenerate heads is of obvious survival use, however the ability for each new head to breath frost makes each head that much more of a danger. - Summary: Hydra in general have the ability to regenerate lost heads and get two more, although that isn't NE. It's the additional utility which allows them to breath ice from multiple directions until their prey is slowly frozen which makes the Natural Evocation dangerous and valuable. A regular hydra has only the teeth and mouth of the new head to attack with. Interestingly I could find no direct reference to resistance to cold, perhaps they can freeze their new heads by mistake. Notably the head regeneration is magical, unlike starfish which is natural. Darkmantle - Ability: Magical flight, aura of darkness, superior hearing - Domain: Underdark - Hunts: Travellers and other small prey (suffocation/crushing) - Survival Utility: The ability to blind creatures with darkvision and lights gives a distinct advantage - Summary: Many records suggest that the darkmantle is an evolved version of a piercer, which ambushes prey in an identical fashion. Darkmantle mostly live in the Underdark, a heavily magical place that is often entirely dark. The ability to create magical darkness means that even an ambush on experienced travellers can lead to a party suddenly being blind to what is going on, and their magical flight allows them to drop silently where wings would be heard. Deep Rothe - Ability: Dancing Lights - Domain: Underdark - Hunted By: Most creatures in the Underdark - Survival Utility: Dancing lights provide herd communication - Summary: Herds of animals on the surface often suffer from poor communication when predators appear in their midst, and the Underdark is far more dangerous. The ability to create dancing lights which are understood by the rest of the herd is an almost anti-prey ability. The lights would be quite visible in the Underdark, but that also means all members of the herd would see it and immediately coordinate. Fire Toad - Ability: Spit fireballs, Fire and heat resistance - Domain: Fire Marshes of High Moor, desert regions of the Hordelands, tropical regions of Kara-Tur - Hunts: Ankheg larvae, beetles, insects - Survival Utility: Mostly defense, fireballs are an excellent deterrent to intruders and hunters. It could be used to hunt as well, however their tongues were usually sufficient, much as their significantly smaller cousins. - Summary: The Fireball is many sorcerer's first spell, and many wizards wouldn't call themselves a wizard without it. The Fire Toad can do this at whim and potentially without limit, putting even some of the great artillery or mage to shame. This acts as an excellent deterrent to hunters, as a fireball to the face will stop anything from a cougar to a mountain orc.

As demonstrated above, each one of the six creatures, while native to the Material Plane, lives in an area of ambient magic (Hordelands, Anauroch, Kara-tur, Rashemen, Underdark, etc), which is what gave them the capability to evolve the Natural Evocation in the first place. Each of the creatures developed a tool which allowed it to hunt, or in the Deep Rothe's case, to survive, in their hostile environments. In most cases these abilities are the edge which allowed them to survive and thrive in their environment and eliminate competition. The strongest survived to reproduce and create more of their species with magic until they were often irretrievably different from where they began.

In conclusion, Natural Evocation, and innate magic in general, is a product of survival. While many creatures such as dragons, dryads, or drow develop both spellcasting while retaining Natural Evocation, even low-medium intelligence creatures can make effective use of the abilities. The winter wolf, ice toad, cryo hydra, and darkmantle all use their Natural Evocation to improve and guarantee a hunt for food. While all of the animals use their abilities to protect against harm, it is the deep rothe, fire toad and darkmantle which use their Natural Evocation to protect against harm. To leave readers with a final question: how much safer would we all be if all hin, or humans, or dwarves, or elves had Natural Evocation; would such only be used for war, or to protect against the hostile world around us.

Researched and Written by Minto T Fuzzypaw.