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If you watched the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer, you likely spotted the iconic owlbear, a monster that’s been part of D&D since its earliest editions. It’s a curious creature that mashes together—you guessed it—a bear with an owl. Though ferocious, these monstrosities can occasionally be trained. They also present Dungeon Masters with interesting opportunities for encounters.
Here’s a look at the owlbear, from their established lore to how to use them in combat. We even discuss whether druids should be allowed to Wild Shape into them.
Owlbear Lore in D&D
The origins of the owlbear are shrouded in mystery. Long-lived elves claim that owlbears have called the Feywild home for ages, while other folk believe owlbears are the result of a wizard’s curious experiments. No one truly knows what is truth and what is myth.
The original concept for the owlbear was created by Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D. He was inspired by a plastic toy when he created the creature for the game. Today, owlbears are a staple in D&D and can typically be found in forests. They make their homes in ruins or caves. Visit an owlbear in their lair and you may find your bones padding their bed! These vicious carnivores will hunt just about anything.
Although they spend most of their lives alone, owlbears can be found traveling in mated pairs. Once their young hatch (yes, I said hatch!) and are able to care for themselves, however, the pairs will disband.
Owlbear Variants
Fifth edition D&D has a few variants of the owlbear. The snowy owlbear was introduced in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden while the adventure Infernal Machine Rebuild, written for Extra Life, introduced the skeletal owlbear and the two-headed owlbear. Finally, appearing in the Dead in Thay adventure from Tales From the Yawning Portal is the reduced-threat owlbear.
Using an Owlbear in Your Campaign
If you’re a Dungeon Master and want to roleplay through an owlbear encounter, you’re going to need to think like an owlbear.
Owlbears are aggressive, territorial, and direct. They’re likely to attack the first target they spot with their keen senses and only switch targets if someone hits them hard enough to make them mad. An owlbear will likely run if badly wounded. Corner them or threaten their young, though, and you can expect them to fight to the death.
Magically charmed or trained owlbears, of course, may behave less bestially. A standard owlbear has two attacks, one with their beak and another with a claw. These deal piercing and slashing damage, respectively. Their Keen Sight and Smell trait give them advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks requiring either of these senses. That makes it difficult to sneak up on an owlbear—or get past one unnoticed.
Training an Owlbear
Savage companions, owlbears have been trained as mounts, guards, and even bred for competition such as racing.
According to Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, owlbears learn best by watching their trainers. Want your owlbear to leap through a burning ring? You first! In order to account for their poor disposition, the book recommends that the trainer provide the owlbear with a treat. Muffins and cupcakes can help quiet the creature’s naturally upset digestion.
Can a Druid Turn Into an Owlbear? Yes, With DM Permission!
The trailer for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves shows off a druid using Wild Shape to turn into an owlbear. A strict application of fifth edition D&D rules, however, would prevent your standard druid from being able to Wild Shape into an owlbear. This is because an owlbear is categorized as a monstrosity—not a beast—and is therefore not a valid option for the class feature.
However, allowing a player to Wild Shape into an owlbear is a totally acceptable judgment call. The owlbear’s stat block isn’t overly better than that of beasts at the same challenge rating. Even then, you may opt to use the stats for the reduced-threat owlbear for the purposes of Wild Shape. So, if a player gets inspired by the movie trailer and asks if they can build an owlbear-focused druid, there’s probably nothing wrong with allowing it.
Michael J. Karr (@mikeyjkarr) is an elvish wizard trapped in the body of a human screenwriter. When they aren’t trying to will magic into existence, they’re busy creating stories through movie magic. You can often find them traversing the planes with their friends, but barring a very complicated spell of summoning, social media should work just fine.
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