Owlbear

The owlbear and its origin is a subject of much debate among scholars, druids, and wizards. However, all due agree that at some point in the far past, a deranged wizard created the original creatures through a crossing of an owl with a bear. The reasons why range from experiments pertaining to the nature of life, to complete madness. A smaller few even indicate it was originally a curse.
No matter the original purpose that created the beasts, the creatures continued to thrive and have established themselves in many woodlands across all the lands. There they play a key – yet dangerous – role in each region’s natural ecosystem.
Owlbears are renowned for their bloodthirsty nature, short tempers, aggression, and savagery. They tend to attack anything not an owlbear on sight, slaughtering anything living in their way. Scholars that have encountered owlbears noted that all have red-rimmed eyes that roll wildly when they close in for an attack. Some consider this a sign of madness, or a pathological need to fight and kill. However, some scholars simply state that this is how the beast protects its eyes from its prey thrashing about.
An owlbear generally inhabits desolate areas of the wilderness; their disheveled lairs being built within dense primeval undergrowth or dark, shallow caves. They are equally at home hunting at night or day; it all depends on the most readily available prey near their lairs.
Adult owlbear mates live in pairs and hunt in small groups. They often leave their young behind in their dens while they search for prey. A typical owlbear lair contains 1d6 juveniles, which can fetch a price of up to 3,000 gp apiece in many city markets.
It is considered impossible to fully domesticate owlbears due to their aggressive natures. However, they can still be used as guardians if they are contained in a given area where they are allowed to roam ‘free’. This allows the owlbear to consider the area they guard as ‘territory’. Professional animal trainers charge up to 2,000 gp to rear or train an owlbear into a serviceable guardian that can obey simple commands (DC 23 for a juvenile creature; DC 30 for a fully grown adult).
A full-grown male can stand as tall as 8 feet and weighs up to 1,500 pounds.