Owlbear

An owlbear is a large magical beast that looks like a cross between an owl and a bear. Notoriously aggressive and ferocious, they are among the most feared predators in the wilderness.

Description

Owlbears are monstrous beasts with the bodies of bears covered in thick shaggy coats of both bristly fur and feathers, randing in coloration from yellowish brown to a brownish black. Fur is predominant on their bodies, while feathers become more common at their heads, and they have thick hides. Their heads are avian, like those of owls, with large round eyes with limpid pupils and rimmed in red. Their beaks are hooked or serrated and have a dull ivory hue. Their claws are fleshy and, being avian, can be counted as talons. Their terrible screeches are known to split the night and echo across the land as a warning to others. Those who've had a run-in with them and live often describe bestial insanity in its eyes. A little larger and heavier than females, a fully grown male specimen stands around 8 feet high and weighs 1,300 to 1,500 pounds, has 2-inch claws, and darker coats than females.
Other traits are less obvious but still significant. An owlbear can rotate its forearms as a human can, granting it greater strength and agility than a regular bear, giving it a wider range of attack, and enabling it to 'hug' and grapple prey. Moreover, while it has forward-facing eyes like both bears and owls; it can also rotate its head up to 270 degrees, owing to it having fourteen neckbones, and it can whip its head around with shocking speed. They have a transparent third eyelid to guard against dust, dirt, and bright light. Unusually, an owlbear's ears are asymmetric, with one somewhat higher than the other, letting it exactly locate the origin of any sound. Finally, owlbears have the same long tongues as bears, so it can lap up liquids the same way. They are often surrounded by a pungent stink.

Behavior

Little more intelligent than most animals, with more cunning than an owl, these creatures are incredibly aggressive and obstinate and are famous for their ferocity and foul temper. They will go so far as to attack almost anything that moves—anything larger than a mouse and anything they think they can kill—on sight and without any provocation. They hunt so heavily because of their insatiable appetites, more than that of a giant owl and a bear combined. A hungry owlbear fears nothing, not even superior strength and size or any other discouragement or obstacle or impediment, and with little instinct for self-preservation, they will fight to the death. Only one that has already fed well is disinclined to attack a superior foe or risk its life. However, an owlbear's ferocity is also its key weakness—they can be easily lured into a trap or tricked into charging off a cliff, if available.
Owlbears can be either diurnal or nocturnal, according to the habits of the local prey. This arose from the hybrids of the diurnal bear and the nocturnal owl. Normally, owlbears wake at midday, hunt daytime prey through afternoon and nocturnal prey through the evening, and go to sleep around midnight. Nocturnal owlbears from around sunset to the darkest hours before sunrise. Owlbears hibernate through the cold season and are most active in summer.
Owlbears communicate via hooting and screeching, at high volume and with a range of pitches and durations. They hoot or screech to signal their territory and to drive prey into their hunting grounds. Owlbears also screech as a way to attract a mate.
Owlbears are entirely carnivorous. They typically prey on animals like rabbits, bears, snakes, and other reptiles, but also on trolls. Some claim owlbears especially enjoy the taste of elves. When an owlbear successfully catches its prey, it tends to consume part of it on the spot before dragging the rest back to its lair to be stores, with parts of the carcass stashed amongst or hanging on rocks, bushes, and trees. An owlbear will also scavenge a carcass. Owlbears tear their prey into chunks and swallow these whole as owls do. Moreover, in the stomach, the flesh is digested, while bones, fur, feathers, and insect shells are churned into pellets and regurgitated; these tend to indicate an owlbear lair is close by. The scent of flesh that emanates from an owlbear's lair often attracts scavengers and, therefore, more prey, though it acts as a warning to other creatures. The sole exception to their carnivorous diet is a liking for honey, which they inherited from regular bears. They can lap it up with thick tongues and their coats protect them from angry bees. A jar of honey is effective bait for owlbear hunters.

Abilities

An owlbear fights with both its beak and its claws. They will try to slash and grab prey with one or both of their claws, crush it in a bear-hug, and bite it and rend it in twain. While in a bear-hug, an owlbear often can not use its claws, and so favors biting with its beak and using its brute strength to crush its victim. In a fight, they simply target whatever is closest.
If wounded in a fight, they are known to screech so loudly it can stun nearby creatures, which the owlbear will then seize advantage of. Even at the point of death, an owlbear will fight as vigorously as it would when healthy.

Ecology

Living in temperate climes and forested areas, owlbears establish their lairs in tangled woods, in near-surface caves, and within large hollow trees and stumps, and in ruined structures. These lairs soon become littered with broken bones and gizzards, and the treasures of its victims, for those who dare look. Their favored hunting grounds are often dense wooded areas that they are familiar with and that prey can not escape through. A mated pair has a territory of 1 to 2 square miles, and will of course fiercely defend it against trespassers. They claw at certain trees, leaving vertical grooves, to both mark territory and sharpen claws.
In mating season, owlbear females enter estrus while males become hormonal and produce musk. Although warm-blooded mammalian creatures, owlbears lay eggs. Almost spherical, they lay as many as six eggs in each clutch and several days apart. Young owlbears are called chicks or cubs, and some hunters have been noted referring to them as chubs. Adult owlbears dwell together as mated pairs, and have up to six chicks at a time, which they keep in their lairs while they go hunting. Despite this, owlbear chicks are still relatively dangerous. Owlbear mothers do not produce milk and cubs areas carnivorous as adults, so adults bring them fresh meat. The mothers rear and train the cubs in hunting until they are about two years old, when they are able to hunt on their own. Mated owlbears usually separate when the young are old enough to hunt, but if prey is readily available, a family can stay together for longer periods. Once old enough, cubs leave to establish their own territory. They live on average up to 20 years.
When out hunting, as they always are, owlbears can be encountered alone, in mated pairs, or in packs of up to five or even eight.
Although a beast of unnatural origin, the owlbear is a fully formed species that occupies the same niche as other predators. A few creatures do prey on owlbears, with the aratha, or 'killer beetle', favoring owlbear meat.
In some parts of Cetandar, where the local owlbears hunting their prey to extreme scarcity and they were blocked in by nearby humanoids, the owlbears learn to farm insects for food after a large majority of then had been depleted. One pack of owlbears came across a pit holding a felled, rotting oak tree infested by giant harvester termites, which they threw rocks at, picked out with sticks, and ate, finding that they were edible and tasty albeit not very filling. They returned a month later, finding thousands of termite larvae. The owlbears threw in additional decayed branches and damp leaves, watched the termites eat the wood, and then ate them by the pawful. Over some weeks of this, the owlbears learned how to grow and maintain the termite colony by managing the wood supply and therefore effectively grow their own food. They did, however, have to kill the fire-spitting soldier termites the moment they hatch.
In time, these owlbears even established new termite colonies by digging pits and stocking them with wood and adult harvester termites. Other packs acquired the skill and before long the whole owlbear population of this region was farming termites. The owlbears favored crushing adult termites, eating their soft insides, and throwing the shells. As a coincidental side effect of this practice, horses are strongly attracted to the scent of decaying termite shells mixed with owlbear saliva. The owlbears took to hiding and waiting for horses to arrive, before pushing them into a termite pit and then devouring them, and any riders they happen to have. These new food sources arrested their decline and their numbers were steady again before long.
Pyrolisks are also drawn to the termite pits, but even owlbears will abandon a pit if a pyrolisk turns up, rather than be incinerated, however begrudgingly. The pyrolisks use the pits as their nests and their hatchlings feed on the termite larvae.

Subspecies

The following subspecies and variations are known to exist throughout Elaris:

• Arctic owlbears, a white-coated cross between arctic owls and polar bears found in polar regions.
• Giant owlbears, a rare solitary breed that is exceedingly dangerous. They are believe to be products of magical experimentation on the owlbears.
• Skeletal owlbears, or similar undead owlbears, are used as guardians.
• Sunmaw owlbears, a strange type of fey-affected owlbear that can emit a bright blinding light from their beaks.
• The Russet Owlbeast is a horrifying hybrid of owlbear and rust monster created by a mysterious mage of Cetandar.
• Umbral owlbears are known to live on the Plane of Shadow, and have strange, shadowy powers.
• Winged owlbears are a breed of owlbears that have the wings of a giant owl, being able to fly for short amounts of time. Due to the density of their bodies, they cannot fly for large distances.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Trade

An owlbear egg can be sold for 200 to 2,000 gp and a hatchling or young owlbear can be sold for 500 to upwards of 5,000 gp in civilized places where the market exists for them. Wizards are the main buyers, for use as guardian creatures. Owlbear eggs are among the exotic goods transported in royal-scale caravans crossing the sea or through Botar and into Lungao.
An owlbear pelt will go for 5 gp, or 20gp if properly trimmed. An owlbear fur ape or jacket is worth 200 gp and a coat, robe, or blanket is worth 400 gp.

Crafting and Medicine

Owlbear leather is a quality material used in the crafting of armor and in reinforcing weapons. Owlbear bone is sturdy and durable; it is often used in the pommels of swords or similar weapons.
Owlbear feathers are often used for spell components.
Owlbear musk is extracted from hormonal males in mating season. It is so potent that one whiff is enough to free a creature of enchantments that daze, stun, or dominate the mind. A typical pouch contains enough for three uses, weighs 1 pounds, and is valued at 500 gp. Centaurs are especially skilled in trapping these owlbears and quickly extracting the musk glands.

Training

Owlbears are impossible to domesticate and very difficult to tame, but they can be charmed or trained to a degree, through food, parience, and, above all, good luck. While magic might briefly make an owlbear docile and receptive to training, it forgets everything it learned when the spell expires. But the most common training method is pain, particularly to have an owlbear serve as a mount. Although widely regarded by good folk as cruel for owlbear and trainer alike, repeated heavy beatings are used to discourage the owlbear from attacking its trainer and later a rider. This method is the one most often shown to work, but no matter how light or how heavy, how little or how often the beatings, these owlbears hold deep hatred for their trainers and riders and turn on them at the first sign of weakness. Professional trainers demand 2,000 gp to rear or train one owlbear. A rare few individuals are 'owlbear whisperers', who can somehow placate an owlbear and even persuade it to follow them as a companion or guardian, at least so long as it is fed.
Whatever method is used, an owlbear can learn to know and obey a master and serve as a guardian or mount. One raised from a chick can become quite loyal to a trainer, but to anyone else they will remain surly at best. Owlbears do not need to be trained to attack, as they do that regardless, and they are considered not much good for other tasks, which they perform quite begrudgingly. If ordered not to attack, they can well ignore their master and attack anyway. They can protect a master to a point, by attacking those who attack their masters, and they can be trained to make even louder, thunderous shrieks that can bowl enemies over or distinct alert noises when fighting non-owlbears.
Trained owlbears are typically used as free-ranging guardians in enclosed or strategic areas, which they see as their territory. They tirelessly chase after all trespassers and fresh meat will be thrown to them as needed. Owlbear guardians are described akin to 'keep out' signs but not as subtle. Owlbears found in ruins or dungeons have most likely been placed there as guardians. Some tribes of orcs—especially plains and mountain orcs—keep owlbears as tribal guardians.
Owlbear mounts are ridden only by the brave, the foolish, or both. As such owlbears have often been beaten, they will struggle agaisnt their riders when they see them seriously injured or weakened in battle, try to throw the rider out of the saddle, and then savage them with thought for any foe. Only a highly skilled rider can keep control of an owlbear.
Elven treetop communities—and especially wild elves—sometimes encourage owlbears to lair under their homes, so that they serve as a defense at night. Hobgoblins might employ them as war beasts and hill giants and frost giants will have them as pets. In some fronteir lands, owlbears might be trained for racing, with bets made on both which will win and which will savage its handler. Some gladitorial arenas keep starved owlbears for especially savage opponents.

Hunting and Trophies

Among other savage predatory beasts and monsters, owlbears are a common target for hunters. Some nobles enjoy hunting them.
Owlbears are favored as hunting trophies, with stugged owlbears, owlbear-fur rugs and blankets, and mounted heads displayed in some estates, halls, and villas.

Culinary

Although owlbears do not produce milk, owlbear milk is reputed to be smooth and sweet. Many adventurers seeking a quick paycheck have died seeking out this milk.

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Table of Contents

Custom System

5th Edition

4th Edition

3.5th Edition

AD&D 2e

CLIMATE/TERRAIN

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FREQUENCY

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ORGANIZATION

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ACTIVITY CYCLE

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DIET

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INTELLIGENCE

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TREASURE

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ALIGNMENT

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NO. APPEARING

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ARMOR CLASS

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MOVEMENT

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HIT DICE

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THAC0

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NO. OF ATTACKS

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DAMAGE/ATTACK

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SPECIAL ATTACKS

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SPECIAL DEFENSES

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MAGIC RESISTANCE

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SIZE

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MORALE

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XP VALUE

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Pathfinder 2e