Owlbears

HD 5
AC as chain
claw/claw/bite for 1d6/1d6/1d10
Speed as human
Morale 10
# Appearing: 1
Special: If both claw attacks hit against a human-sized opponent, the owlbear has the option to knock its opponent to the ground and pin them.  Against a pinned opponent, all attacks automatically hit.  It usually reserves this ability for opponents who royally piss it off.

Owlbears are huge and highly territorial.  While PCs can sometimes placate them with food and an immediate retreat in the direction they came from, owlbears never retreat from combat once they've been injured.  They cannot growl or bark; instead they hiss, hoot, or screech.

They live in huge, branching burrows where they lay their eggs (1d3 rooms, including a pile of leaves for hibernating on).  Owlbears swallow their prey whole, and later regurgitate the indigestible parts.  These huge clotted pellets of hair, antlers, teeth, and bones are called owlbear pellets, and they can be as large as a man.  These pellets are a sure omen that you are in owlbear territory.



The origin of owlbears is not known, but it is generally agreed to be unnatural.  They seem to want to fly.  They stand at clifftops for hours, shifting nervously, and seem to take special pleasure in killing birds, whose corpses they abuse.  They seem to be predisposed to mental illness.

Witches shape the habits of owlbears, but never dominate them.  Their hoot is an ill omen.

Normal Encounters (d6)

1. Battering down a small tree in order to get at a bird's nest.  It is royally pissed off.  It has 3 silver arrowheads lodged in its neck, embedded in scars.
2. Territorial aggression display.  Absolutely terrifying.
3. Wounded man crying out from an owlbear burrow.  The owlbear broke both his legs, intending to save him for later.  If the party helps him, there is a 50% chance the owlbear returns at the worst time.  (Man's name is Osven.  His dead brother is also in the owlbear burrow.  They are both survivors of the nearest dungeon, and have some useful knowledge of the first floor.)
4. Two owlbears fighting over a mate.  They are relatively inattentive while doing so.  If the party assists one owlbear agains the other, they will learn that owlbears have no notion of gratitude.
5. Owlbear in a vulnerable position.  50% taking a shit.  50% hocking up an owlbear pellet full of hair and bones.  Owlbear pellet contains jewelry worth 100s.
6. Crashing through the underbrush, a herd of deer heralds the arrival of a hungry owlbear.  It wears a collar worth 200s that bears the name of a local warrior (who will be furious if he discovers his favorite pet has been slain).

Full Moon Encounters (d6)
Owlbears are known for unusual behavior during full moons.  They are bizarrely aggressive during this time, and attack all that they see without provocation.  (During full moons, they always attack, and are immune to pain and fear.)

1. Rubbing its head bloody against every tree that it comes across.  A path of bloody trees shows its path.
2. Galumphing through the trees, screeching wildly.  It is trying to catch and swallow the moon.
3. Walking on two legs like a man, mumbling incoherently what almost sounds words.  Then roll on the Normal Encounters table.
4. Placing dead birds skeletons in a meadow, arranging them in 'V' shapes as if they were migrating southward.  Interspersed with gnawing on the bones.
5. The party encounters a owlbear corpse, spread across several square yards.  The (much larger) owlbear that killed it is watching everything from behind a nearby tree.  It is injured from the combat (-1d6 HP).
6. Drops out of a fucking tree, screeching the apocalypse.  It spins in a circle before each attack, bobbing its head, eyes rolling madly in its head.