Dungeons & Delvers: Owlbear

Owlbears are an iconic Dungeons & Dragons monster. They're possibly created by a wizard, likely bored, because the end result is that they're essentially just a slightly stronger brown bear with an owl's head.

While thinking of ways to re-imagine various monsters for Dungeons & Delvers (such as myconids, the mimic, and grimlock), I thought about if there was a way to tweak the owlbear and make it more interesting.

My conclusion: add wings.

Not so it can fly, though I suppose you can do that if you want, but just so it can climb up a tree or cliff, and and then dive bomb hapless creatures and adventurers. The wings also allow it to jump higher and further.

Not much of a tweak, but something. Certainly another reason for your players to watch the trees while traveling through a forest.

Here's a stat block:

OWLBEAR
Level 6 Large Beast
XP 192
Speed 40 feet; climbing 20 feet

ABILITY SCORES
STR +5 DEX +1 WIS +1
CON +3 INT -3 CHA -2

SKILLS
Athletics +6, Perception +6

DEFENSE
AC 12 DR 1 (thick hide)
Fort +5 Ref +2 Will +1
WP 42 VP 12 Total 54

OFFENSE

• Multiattack: The owlbear makes a beak and claws attack.
• Beak: +7 to hit; 1d8+7 piercing damage (armor piercing 1)
• Claws: +7 to hit; 2d8+7 slashing damage (armor piercing 1)

SPECIAL

• Glide: Though the owlbear cannot fly it can glide, moving 10 feet for every 5 feet it descends. So long as an owlbear can extend its wings it doesn't suffer falling damage, and when it jumps it gains a +1 bonus. If an owlbear descends upon a creature, treat it as a claws attack: if the owlbear hits it inflicts an additional 1d8 damage, and the target is knocked prone and restrained by the owlbear (escape DC 17). Each round the target remains pinned by the owlbear, it can inflict automatic beak damage.

TREASURE
Owlbear hide (6d6 sp)

And here's a sketch:

Announcements

You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.

Our latest Dungeon World class, The Apothecary, is now available.

Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!

Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, check it out!

By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).