Shaman

Shamans are creatures that appear during the events of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Shamans are first encountered near The Sea and Sunken Ship; here they act as shopkeepers, selling Mario and his party items and weapons. Shamans also appear in the Belome Temple once again as merchants. Mario battles these creatures in both Nimbus Land and Bowser's Keep. These magical beings are very weak to physical attacks, while having a strong magical defense.

It is impossible to tell if Shamans are human or of some other form of life, but they do walk bipedally, and are able to speak to Mario. However, many other non-human creatures in Mario's world can do this as well. The "Shamans" in the Paper Mario series have noticeable hair as well, whereas in Super Mario RPG, they all look the same.

Paper Mario Shamans
Merlon and his family, appearing in Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, greatly resemble Shamans. Interestingly, Merlon and his family appear in each Paper Mario game, but have different appearances and differences in personality. Wonky reveals in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door that they may be a part of a sort of clan that names their members after their purposes, explaining their sporadic appearances in different lands.
 * Merlon
 * Merlee
 * Merluvlee
 * Merlow
 * In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door all the Paper Mario Shamans but Merlow returned.
 * In Super Paper Mario they are refered to as the Tribe of Ancients