Owlbear
Description and Characteristics
Feathers cover the thick, shaggy coat of its bear-like body, and the limpid pupils of its great round eyes stare furiously from its beaked owlish head. The owlbear’s reputation for ferocity, aggression, stubbornness, and sheer ill temper makes it one of the most feared predators of the wild. There is little, if anything, that a hungry owlbear fears, and these creatures are often hungry. Even monsters that outmatch an owlbear in size and strength avoid tangling with it, for this creature cares nothing about a foe’s superior strength as it attacks without provocation.Little is known about the origins of owlbears. Some believe that they were creatures Changed during the Cataclysm, while others suggest that they were a magical creation of Kelveren's during the War of the Mad.
Behavior and Intelligence
Owlbears hunt from around sunset to sunrise. They hoot or screech to declare their territory and to flush prey into their hunting grounds. Owlbears also screech as a way to attract a mate. When an owlbear successfully catchs its prey, it tends to partially consume part of it on the spot, before dragging the rest back to its lair to be stored. The scent of flesh that emanate from an owlbear's lair often attracted creatures and therefore, more prey.Although they are more intelligent than most animals, owlbears are difficult to tame. However, with enough time, food, and luck, an intelligent creature can train an owlbear to recognize it as a master, making it an unflinching guard or a fast and hardy mount. People of remote frontier settlements have even succeeded at racing owlbears, but spectators bet as often on which owlbear will attack its handler as they do on which will reach the finish line first.
