Owlbears

Basic Information

Anatomy

Owlbears are monstrous beasts with the bodies of bears covered in thick shaggy coats of both bristly fur and feathers, ranging 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 yellow to 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'd had run-ins with them and live often described bestial insanity in its eyes. A little larger and heavier than females, a fully grown male specimen 2.4 meters high and weighed 590 to 680 kilograms, 5.1‑centimeter claws, and darker coats than females.

Genetics and Reproduction

In mating season, owlbear females entered estrus while males become hormonal and produced 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.

Growth Rate & Stages

Young owlbears are called chicks or cubs. 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 are as carnivorous as adults, so adults bring them fresh meat. The mothers rears and trains the cubs in hunting until they are about two years old, when they are able to hunt on their own. Mated owlbears usually separat 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.

Ecology and Habitats

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 dared 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 have a territory of 2.6 to 5.2 square kilometers, and will of course fiercely defend it against trespassers. They claw at certain trees, leaving vertical grooves, to both mark territory and sharpen claws.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Owlbears are entirely carnivorous. They typically prey on animals like rabbits, bears, snakes and other reptiles, but also prey on Clawmarkers. Some claim owlbears especially enjoy the taste of Light Elves. When an owlbear successfully catchs its prey, it tends to consume part of it on the spot, before dragging the rest back to its lair to be stored, 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 swallowthese 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 emanat from an owlbear's lair often attract 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 their thick tongues and their thick coats protect them from angry bees. A jar of honey is effective bait for owlbear hunters.

Behaviour

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 moved—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 them being hybrids of the diurnal bear and the nocturnal owl. Normally, owlbears will 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 hibernat through the cold season and are most active in summer.
Owlbears communicat 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.

Additional Information

Domestication

Owlbears are impossible to domesticate and very difficult to tame, but they can be charmed or trained to a degree, through food (raw meat is preferred), patience, 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 methodias 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 gold coins 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 wwill 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 cam protect a master to a point, by attacking those who attacked 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. 
Light Elven treetop communities can sometimes encourage owlbears to lay under their homes, so that they serve as a defense at night. The White Orcs might employ them as war beasts and Firbolgs and Giants will have them as pets. In some frontier lands, owlbears might be trained for racing, with bets made on both which will win and which would savage its handler. Some gladiatorial arenas can keep starved owlbears for especially savage opponents. Some bandit groups and raiders even lure Owlbears to border regions to assault human settlements.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

An owlbear egg can be sold for 200 to 2,000 gold coins and a hatchling or young owlbear can be sold for 500 to 3,000–5,000 gold coins in civilized places where the market exist for them. Wizards are the main buyers, for use as guardian creatures. Owlbear eggs are among the exotic goods transported in royal-scale caravans.
An owlbear pelt will go for 5 gold coins and 20 gold coins if properly trimmed. An owlbear fur cape or jacket is worth 200 gold coins and a coat, robe, or blanket was worth 400 gold coins. 
Owlbear leather is a quality material used in the crafting of armor and in reinforcing weapons. Owlbear bone is sturdy and durable; it is used in the pommels of longswords. Owlbear feathers are made for quality spell components.
Owlbear musk is extracted from hormonal males in mating season. It is so potent that one whiff was enough to free a creature of enchantments that dazed, stunned, or dominated the mind. A typical pouch contain enough for three uses, weighs 450 grams, and is valued at 500 gold coins. Centaurs are especially skilled in trapping these Owlbears and quickly extracting the musk glands.
Among other savage predatory beasts and monsters, Owlbears are a common target of hunters. Nobles enjoy hunting them and young Reptilians will try to build a reputation by taking one down.
Owlbears are favored as hunting trophies, with stuffed Owlbears, owlbear-fur rugs and blankets, and mounted heads displayed in some estates, halls, and villas. Owlbear pelts adorn the walls and floors of the Main Hall of the Monster Hunter Guild and in some of the outpost from the Guild of Righteous Thieves.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

An owlbear naturally has a bear's keen sense of scent that it can use to track prey as well as an owl's sharp eyesight for finding prey in the dark, with specimens even reported to possess low-light vision, infravision, or darkvision. They also have acute hearing able to locate a sound with pinpoint accuracy. As a result, it is nigh impossible to sneak past an owlbear, let alone sneak up on one, and they are not hampered by complete darkness or against invisible foes. Their nictitating membranes also protect their sensitive eyes from blinding lights.
Despite their unnatural origins, owlbears posses no supernatural powers, though their calls are magical in nature. Different subspecies of owlbear have different calls, and these can have different magical effects.

Lifespan

20 years

Average Height

2.4 meters

Average Weight

590​ to ​680 kilograms

Geographic Distribution

• Moonforest