Owlbear

An owlbear was a large magical or fey beast that looked like a cross between an owl and a bear. Notoriously aggressive and ferocious, they were among the most predators in the wilderness. "Once the wolves and owlbears catch your scent, they'll follow you. If you can't keep ahead of them, they'll eat you. Slowly, if it's an owlbear that catches you. They like cruel sport with their food."

- Florin Falconhand

Description
Owlbears were 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. Their heads were avian, like those of owls, with large round eyes with limpid pupils and rimmed in red. Their beaks were hooked or serrated and had a dull ivory hue. Being avian, their claws could be counted as talons. Their terrible screeches were known to split the night and echo across the land as a warning to others. Those who'd had run-ins with them and lived often described bestial insanity in its eyes. A fully grown male specimen stood high and weighed.

Behavior
Little more intelligent than most animals, with more cunning than an owl, these creatures were incredibly aggressive and obstinate and were famous for their ferocity and foul temper. They would go so far as to attack almost anything that moved—anything larger than a mouse and anything they thought they could kill—without any provocation. A hungry owlbear feared nothing, not even superior strength and size or any other discouragement, and with little instinct for self-preservation, they would fight to the death. They hunted so heavily because of their insatiable appetites, more than that of a giant owl and a bear combined.

Owlbears could be either diurnal or nocturnal, according to the habits of the local prey. Nocturnal owlbears hunted from around sunset to the darkest hours before sunrise. They hooted or screeched to signal their territory and to drive prey into their hunting grounds. Owlbears also screeched as a way to attract a mate. When an owlbear successfully caught its prey, it tended 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. The scent of flesh that emanated from an owlbear's lair often attracted scavengers and, therefore, more prey, though it acted as a warning to other creatures.

Abilities
An owlbear naturally had a keen sense of scent that it could use it to track prey as well as sharp eyesight for finding prey in the dark.

Despite their unnatural origins, owlbears possessed no supernatural powers, though their calls were magical in nature. Different subspecies of owlbear had different calls, and these could have different magical effects.

Combat
An owlbear fought with both its beak and its claws. They would try to slash and grab prey with one or both their claws and bite it and rend it in twain. They simply targeted whatever was closest.

If wounded in a fight, they were known to screech so loudly it stunned nearby creatures, which the owlbear would then seize advantage of.

Ecology
Living in temperate climes and forested areas, owlbears established their lairs in tangled woods, in near-surface caves, and within large hollow trees and ruined structures. These lairs soon became littered with broken bones and gizzards. Their favored hunting grounds were often dense wooded areas that they were familiar with and that prey could not escape through.

Adult owlbears dwelled together as mated pairs, and had up to six young, which they kept in their lairs while they went hunting. Despite this, young owlbears were significantly dangerous themselves. Mated owlbears usually separated when the young were old enough to hunt, but if prey was readily available, a family could stay together for longer periods. When out hunting, as they always were, owlbears could be encountered alone, in mated pairs, or in packs of up to eight.

Although a beast of unnatural origin, the owlbear was a fully formed species that occupied the same role as other predators.

Cormanthor
The owlbears of the Starwood area of the Cormanthor forest quickly ate through their food supply of wolves, rabbits, and snakes. As food became scarce, their population began to decrease, until they came across a supply of harvester termites and found that they were edible. They quickly learned how to maintain their own termite colonies by managing their wood supplies, and therefore effectively grew their own food.

As a side effect of this practice, horses were drawn to the scent of the termite shells mixed with owlbear saliva, and the owlbears took to hiding and waiting for horses to arrive, before pushing them into a termite pit and then devouring them. Pyrolisks were also drawn to the scent, but owlbears would abandon a pit if a pyrolisk turned up, rather than risk being incinerated.

Usage
Owlbear leather was a quality material used in the crafting of armor and in reinforcing weapons.

Owlbears were impossible to domesticate and very difficult to tame, but they could be charmed or trained to a degree,   through food, patience, and, above all, good luck. It could know and obey a master and serve as a guardian or mount. They could protect a master to a point, by attacking those who attacked their masters, and they made even louder, thunderous shrieks that could bowl enemies over. Professional trainers demanded 2,000 gp to rear or train one owlbear. A young owlbear could be sold for 3,000 gp in civilized places where the market existed for them. Trained owlbears were typically used as free-ranging guardians in strategic areas, which they saw as their territory. They tirelessly chased after all trespassers.

Elven treetop communities could sometimes encouraged owlbears to lair under their homes, so that they served as a defense at night. Hobgoblins might employ them as war beasts and hill giants and frost giants would have them as pets. In some frontier lands, owlbears might be trained for racing, with bets made on both which would win and which would savage its handler. Some gladiatorial areas could keep starved owlbears for especially savage opponents.

Magic
An appropriately trained druid circa 1479 DR could adopt the semblance of an owlbear, as they could many other creatures, though this had no real effect. Prior to that, after the, a druid could not wildshape into an owlbear, it being a magical beast rather than thing of nature. Incarnum-using totemists could bind an owlbear avatar to their arms to gain their grappling power.

History
How the owlbear came to be was a long-running argument among scholars. The mostly widely held theory was of course that the first owlbear was the product of a demented mage crossing a bear and a giant owl. Some accounts rejected this notion, but still could not explain them. The oldest elves recalled that owlbears had been around for many millennia and a few fey claimed owlbears had always been found in the Feywild. If this was correct, owlbears had originated as Feywild predators before somehow finding their way into the material world in ancient times. In fact, on Toril, at least, owlbears were brought into being by one of the creator races, most likely the aearee.

During the Silver Age of Netheril, Netherese human colonists led by the Terraseer eradicated the 3,000-strong population of owlbears of the Savage Frontier so they could not trouble their caravans, in the so-called Caravan War in. They established the Old Owl Well outpost there and named it for the owlbears.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Under Illefarn • Dungeon #14, "Masqueraider" • Dungeon #28, "The Pipes of Doom" • The Sword of the Dales • The Twilight Tomb • Fang, Beak, and Claw • Lost Mine of Phandelver • Princes of the Apocalypse • Storm King's Thunder
 * Comics
 * Neverwinter Tales
 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds • Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Neverwinter • Lords of Waterdeep • Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms • Baldur's Gate III
 * Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
 * Gamebooks
 * Spawn of Dragonspear
 * To Catch a Thief
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards •
 * Board Games
 * Lords of Waterdeep • Battle for Faerûn • Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * A Fool's Errand &bull; When the Lights Went Out in Candlekeep
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * A Fool's Errand &bull; When the Lights Went Out in Candlekeep