Owlbears 5e
Guide by Sam West, @CrierKobold
Alongside the dragons and beholders that define Dungeons & Dragons are Owlbears; a modern chimera taking the size and strength of a bear with the perception and hunter’s instinct owls are known for.
Mechanically, they aren’t anything special; for the most part, they take regular beast traits and pair them with a lethal low-tier multi-attack alongside dropping the beast tag for monstrosity.
Running an Owlbear
Owlbears are brown bears tuned up; they drop the beast tag, making druids deeply sad, up their damage on both attacks, get a bit of extra padding in the hit point and armor class departments, and have sixty-foot Darkvision. In exchange, they lack a climb speed, but most encounters with Owlbears are going to look similar to encounters with regular large beasts in the low tiers.
Player Levels
Single owlbears can be taken down fairly consistently by diverse four or more player groups that are 3rd level or higher. Effects like Entangle and Hideous Laughter can neuter them, as can fears and other methods of imposing disadvantage on attacks it makes. They will heavily tax low-level groups’ resources.
As a single threat, if characters survive their multi-attack, they probably can take it down successfully. This attack pattern dishes out an average of twenty-four damage a round on two hits with a +7 to hit. 3rd level characters tend to average around 20 hit points, making these terrifying to face down, as they’ll usually drop a non-tank character instantly.
5th-level characters have a dramatic jump up in damage that will make quick work of these things, as their low AC and moderate hit point pool leaves them vulnerable to extra attack and bursts of damage.
Multiples put out buckets of damage that cause major issues for mid-tier teams, especially with the chunky amount of hit points they come with. Groups of two to three owlbears can challenge some mid-tier parties should they manage to get on top of the group and focus one target at a time. Encounters at night when the players lack the tools to see can lead to spikes in the owlbear’s lethality should you want to up the challenge they provide against groups that struggle in the dark.
Defining Gameplay to Work With
If your objective is to make an encounter focused around one or more owlbears, its defining traits are straightforward: multi-attack makes them high-damage threats, and Darkvision places them as nocturnal predators.
These two elements make them particularly deadly in ambushes in caves or dark forests in the dead of night; beyond that, they’re going to tend to work best as set-piece monsters the party can gang up on, but still feel threatened by around levels three and four. Once these things have advantage on attack rolls, which they can get through darkness against creatures that lack Darkvision, things can spiral out of control as players start dropping to their damage output.
Mentality and Tactics
Whether an owlbear is a monstrous threat with no mercy or just local wildlife that acts like a typical bear, but with some owl flavor, will vary table to table. I tend to run them closer to wildlife and use caged and threatened ones as third-party forces in engagements against other parties.
They aren’t too smart and often are going to look like forces of nature rampaging and thrashing around when put in danger. I’d run them as territorial and defensive, sometimes curious entities the party can socially navigate with some solid Animal Handling checks.
As a Supplementary Monster
Druids as villains are underused in my opinion, and Owlbears fit beautifully with that archetype. Nature striking back against society can pit players in morally grey areas without great answers; owlbears don’t read or play like evil monsters hellbent on ending life but threatened wildlife that showcases the raw strength nature can put out.
Combating the Monster
Owlbears are about as straightforward an enemy as you can get. They’re a bucket of hit points with multi-attack and darkvision. You’re not going to find particularly complex gameplay here.
Methods of Engagement
Letting an owlbear get on top of your backline is how you lose to an owlbear. Spellcasters can hamstring these things with a well-placed save or die, and even mid-tier wizards, sorcerers, and bards can be smashed instantly should it arrive.
Beyond that, these are big sacks of hit points with multi-attack. These encounters are slap-fests; its turn is “attack attack”, and the players’ turns normally are “attack, attack, attack, attack” or “get away from the rampaging owlbear”.
The World Around It
Often owlbears are framed as the most dangerous of “game” animals hunters strive to take down. Given their raw strength, they are often apex predators in whatever environment they’re in should it be fairly mundane. The moment more complex magic starts to weave in, the further down the impact an owlbear will make.
Environments
The obvious environment for these things is woods and caves, just like your average bear. Tracking and hunting them, should they be a centerpiece to an encounter, likely will use signs of damage as breadcrumbs leading back to its den.
What can set your owlbears apart is leaning into their “owl” half; nesting and perception can mark these as better hunters than their non-owl counterparts. Consider incorporating nesting habits and higher vantage points birds of prey utilize to make your owlbears have a bit more pizzaz.
The following table can help you quickly create clues that point towards a furious owlbear monster that might need to be put down.
Signs of Nearby Owlbears
| d6 | Owlbear Sign |
|---|---|
| 1 | Massive claw marks shred the bases of trees near an owlbear nest |
| 2 | An owlbear stole bails of hay and parts of the barn that held it for its nest |
| 3 | Wide trodden trails wind up the hillside with felled trees opening up a view from above to survey the grounds below an owlbear’s cave |
| 4 | Bits of feathers line the remains of a mangled hunter’s corpse alongside snapped traps |
| 5 | A covered wagon’s canvas has been ripped apart and taken alongside bits of wheel and wood; the passengers were taken to feed the fledgling owlbears |
| 6 | The remains of a sideshow circus tent cover the nest of the owlbear which was once an attraction who now is the sole survivor of its escape |
Owlbear quest hooks are usually going to be surrounding its beast-like nature. The signs of them can double as plot hooks; stumbling into these signs can hint that players can track down the monster at large and address its presence. Sometimes killing it can be avoided should there be a way to get it away from society where it poses less of a threat to people and itself, but other times hunting and slaying it will be the only reasonable route to prevent future harm.
Associated Loot
Beasts and beast-like monstrosities can be hard to create loot for, as they don’t have much need for worldly possessions. Putting loose items of other adventurers or hunters slain by the beast can be a clean way to add reward to taking on these monsters.
Common and uncommon adventuring gear jumps to mind as the easiest to incorporate in this style. Otherwise, consider making their feathers, beak, claws, and other parts worth gold for resale, making them sensible targets of hunting that justify the risk.
Item Table
| d6 | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | A Bag of Holding containing the contents of an explorer’s pack and surveying tools |
| 2 | A +1 Crossbow and several bolts on the corpse of a hunter who tracked it down |
| 3 | A Driftglobe and pack of potions of varying rarities from a party’s Artificer |
| 4 | A wand that can allows the wielder to cast Speak with Animals at will |
| 5 | A Cloak of Elvenkind soaked in the blood of its owner |
| 6 | An efficient quiver and +1 shortbow from a scout caught off-guard |
Owlbear FAQs
Can Druids turn into Owlbears rules as written? No; Owlbears are monstrosities, and druids can only turn into beasts of varying CRs based on their level and subclass.
Are Owlbears affected by spells like Dominate Beast or Speak with Animals? Once again, the answer is no because of their type. I am a proponent of calling them both monstrosities and beasts to allow for these spells to hit what is clearly a beast hybrid, but outside of DM rulings, spells that only affect beats don’t affect owlbears.
Back to Basics with Owlbears
Hopefully this brief look into the iconic monster gives you some inspiration to generate low and mid-tier encounters that can showcase them in a meaningful and memorable fashion. Good luck!
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