Monsters: Owlbear

This monster has appeared in every D&D edition. There is no definitive answer their history. They are a great threat for many levels. They are the single best amalgam monster that exists in the fantasy role playing world. Their name invokes head scratching in normal people and fear in lower level characters. We all know them. I love them.

Well the original design wasn't spectacular.....

Owlbears!

Why are they so awesome?


First they are a big brute critter. They can be a threat for quite some time. They can run as a single creature encounter. They can appear in a pair to be more of a threat. They aren’t too difficult for characters to hit, and at the same time they have a good hit point pool.

They are super easy to run. An owlbear appears and applies claws and beak to party. Rinse and repeat until it or they are dead. There aren’t any real tactics to use. Their motivations are simple: food, intruder, threat to nest and…that is about it.


They have a great look. I mean how silly and at the same time cool is a giant bear with an owl head? Very! Plus they reproduce by laying eggs. Another bit of silliness but at the same time fun. I mean intact owlbear eggs can be worth quite a bit of gold to the right person.

They have an unknown history. They were magically created, on purpose, by the wizard Thessalar. They are feywild creatures that have always been around. They were an accidental magical creation. Who knows how they popped into existence or where they come from.


They are a multi-game and pop culture monster. You know they are cool and iconic when many RPGs and video games have their own version of owlbears.

They can be thrown out in forest, hill, mountains, caves, and the artic and anywhere that isn’t under water. For me that helps make a monster great. The ability to be tossed out almost everywhere and making sense it would be in that environment.

There is only one problem I have with the owlbear in 5^th edition (and part of 4^th as well) they pulled the extra attack and bear hug from their abilities. The owlbear used to have a claw, claw and bite attack. If both claws hit then it would hug the player and tear them apart with their beak. In 4^th edition it was both claws hit it was a free bite attack, but no hug to break. Now in 5^th edition, they pulled the extra attack away. It has a single claw and a bite. The extra claw is now gone as well as the horrible deathly hug. I’m not sure why the change but it does make these guys a bit less of a threat. Now there isn’t any rule that a DM can’t add an extra attack or a bear hug to the owlbear’s attack routine. Hell I tossed out a “dire” version of an owlbear a few games back. It had more life and did more damage per attack.

I am curious why they pulled the extra attack from these guys this edition. Did it make them too powerful? Was the bear hug just too unfair? Did they forget how cool that extra ability was? It definitely makes these guys a little less threatening now. However, some creative DM-ing can rectify that issue. I mean why not toss a grapple on the owlbear or throw in a second claw attack. There is nothing saying you cannot do that in your game.

Even with a bit of pared down damage I am and will probably always be a fan of the owlbear. They are another iconic monster that isn’t over the top crazy looking and can be made to be a good threat for several levels.

Well next time I’ll delve into a bunch of ultra-goody goodies, the Deva.