Owlbear

An owlbear (also owl bear) is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong,Greenwood, Ed, "Ecology of the Rust Monster." Dragon #88 (TSR, 1984). Account was later re-printed in the Ecology of the Rust Monster article in issue #346. Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement;Gygax, Gary and Robert Kuntz. Supplement I: Greyhawk (TSR, 1975) the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.

Creation In the early 1970s, Gary Gygax was playing Chainmail, a wargame that also served as a precursor of Dungeons & Dragons. In order to give his players as many different challenges as possible, Gygax was always on the look-out for new monsters. Although he was able to draw on pulp fiction and sword and sorcery stories for many of them, he also looked through dime stores for figurines that could be used in battle. On one of those occasions, he came across a bag of small plastic toys erroneously labeled "prehistoric animals". Made in Hong Kong, the set included monsters from Japanese "Kaiju" films such as Ultraman and the Godzilla franchise. Several of these were odd enough to catch his eye, and he used them to represent several new monsters, including the owlbear, the bulette and the rust monster.Gygax: "There was a set of plastic toys laughlingly labelled as dinosaurs [if I remember right]. I frequented the local dime stores back in the late 60s and early 70s searching for toys that would suit tabletop fantasy gaming. The said bag contained three we incorporated—the bulette, the owl bear, and the rust monster."

Concept The owlbear is depicted as an cross between a bear and an owl. According to descriptions in Dungeons & Dragons source books, owlbears are carnivorous creatures, famed for their aggression and ferocity; they live in mated pairs in caves and hunt any creature bigger than a mouse. They use a "hug" and their beak to attack. In the game's third edition, it was categorized as a "magical beast".

The actual in-game origin of the owlbear has never been definitively revealed, but the various Monster Manual editions indicate that it is probably the product of a wizard's experiments. Within the franchise's mythology, the lich Thessalar claims to have created them, but his insanity and egomania put the accuracy of this claim in doubt.Jacobs, James. "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure." Dungeon #134 (Pazio Publishing, 2006) In the 5th edition, some elves claim that owlbears have existed for millennia and older fey say that they have always existed in the Feywild.

Within the Dungeons & Dragons system and in other role-playing games, the owlbear usually serves as a monster.

Publication history The owlbear is among the earliest monsters in Dungeons & Dragons, and, like the bulette and the rust monster, was inspired by a Hong Kong–made plastic toy purchased by Gary Gygax for use as a miniature in a Chainmail game.

Dungeons & Dragons The owl bear was introduced to the game in its first supplement, Greyhawk (1975). It is described as a "horrid creature" which "hugs" like a bear, and deals damage with its beak. The owlbear is also listed on random encounter tables in Eldritch Wizardry, the third supplement.Gygax, Gary and Brian Blume. Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (TSR, 1976). The illustration shows a bear-like creature on all fours, and bears no resemblance to the plastic toy that had given Gygax his original inspiration.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition The owlbear appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where it is described as a "horrible creature that inhabits tangled forest regions, and attacks with its great claws and snapping beak". The illustration of the owlbear shown in the Monster Manual was done by Dave Sutherland, and closely correlates to Gygax's original plastic toy.

Basic Dungeons & Dragons This edition of the D&D game included its own owl bear, in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981 and 1983).Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson , edited by Tom Moldvay. Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (TSR, 1981).Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson , edited by Frank Mentzer. Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules (TSR, 1983). The owl bear was also later featured in the Dungeons & Dragons Game set (1991),Brown, Timothy B., Troy Denning The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (TSR, 1991). the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991),Allston, Aaron, Steven E. Schend, Jon Pickens, and Dori Watry. Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (TSR, 1991). the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game set (1994),Brown, Timothy B., Troy Denning The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (TSR, 1994). and the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game set (1999).Slavicsek, Bill. Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (TSR, 1999).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition The owlbear appears first in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989),Cook, David, et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One (TSR, 1989). and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1994).

The owlbear appeared in the Dark Sun setting in the adventure Black Spine (1994).Baas, Walter, Dustin Browder, Tom Prusa, Jonathan Tweet. Black Spine (TSR, 1994).

The owlbear was detailed in Dragon #214 (February 1995), in "The Ecology of the Owlbear", which also included the arctic owlbear and the winged owlbear.Richards, Jonathan M. "The Ecology of the Owlbear." Dragon #214 (TSR, 1995). These variants were later reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (1996).Pickens, Jon, ed. Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (TSR, 1996).

The greater owlbear appeared in an adventure in Dungeon #63 (July 1997).Doyle, Chris. "Hunt for a Hierophant" Dungeon #63 (TSR, 1997).

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition The owlbear appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000).Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).

The owlbear appeared on the Wizards of the Coast website for the Chainmail game, in 2000.

The winged owlbear in adult and juvenile form appeared in Dungeon #84 (January 2001).Doyle, Chris. "The Dying of the Light" Dungeon #84 (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).

The supplemental book Unapproachable East features a feat, an ability that player characters can obtain, named "owlbear berserker" that allows a player character to use a ferocious owlbear-like fighting style.Baker, Richard, Matt Forbeck, and Sean K. Reynolds. Unapproachable East (Wizards of the Coast, 2003).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 The owlbear appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003) as well as the owlbear skeleton under the skeleton entry.Williams, Skip, ed. Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III v.3.5 (Wizards of the Coast, 2003).

The ancient owlbear appeared in Dungeon #107 (February 2004).Brown, Rusell. "Mellorn Hospitality" Dungeon #107 (Wizards of the Coast, 2004).

The Ankholian owlbear appeared in the Dragonlance, Bestiary of KrynnBanks, Cam, André La Roche. Bestiary of Krynn (Sovereign Press, 2004). (2004) and the Revised Bestiary of Krynn (2007).Banks, Cam, André La Roche. Bestiary of Krynn Revised (Sovereign Press, 2007).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition The owlbear appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008) along with the winterclaw owlbear.Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008). The flavor text mentions that owlbears can be tamed to serve as guards.

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials

The Monster Vault boxed set contains the owlbear as well as various subtypes like the young owlbear, trained owlbear, wind-claw owlbear and again the winterclaw owlbear.Thompson, Rodney, Logan Bonner, and Matthew Sernett. Monster Vault (Wizards of the Coast, 2010). The cover of the monster book included in the box and the box itself feature an owlbear alongside other monsters.Monster Vault – An Essential D&D Game Supplement at the Wizards of the Coast official website

Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition In May 2012, Wizards of the Coast employee Jon Schindehette announced that the inclusion and design of the owlbear for the upcoming fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons was being discussed.

The monster was included in the "bestiary" of the D&D Next Playtest Package,Official D&D Next Playtest Package Bestiary, version from January 28, 2013 a compilation of files available for gamers interested in playtesting this Dungeons & Dragons version before its official release.

The owlbear is included in the Monster Manual of the full release of the game, published in 2014. The flavor text states that remote settlements have used owlbears for racing, and it also states the fact that owlbears are more likely to attack their tamer, than actually begin the race.

In other role-playing games Pathfinder Roleplaying Game The owlbear is an official monster in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that is based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition. It is included in the game's first bestiary, and elaborated on in Dungeon Denizens Revisited. Dungeon Denizens Revisited also includes a variant named siege owlbear.Boomer, Clinton, Jason Bulmahn, Joshua J. Frost, Nicolas Logue, Robert McCreary, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Sean K Reynolds, James L. Sutter, and Greg A. Vaughan. Dungeon Denizens Revisited – A Pathfinder Chronicles Supplement (Paizo Publishing, 2009) Furthermore, Paizo released a part of the series Behind the Monsters dedicated to the owlbear, which features the bearowl, the possibly "even stranger offspring" of an owlbear.Boyd, Bret. Behind the Monsters: Owlbear (Paizo Publishing, 2007) Additional official Pathfinder variants of the owlbear are the arctic owlbear, Darklands owlbear, fruss owlbear, great hook-clawed owlbear, screaming owlbear, sleeyk owlbear, slime owlbear, sloth owlbear as well as the spectral owlbear.

The adventure module Pathfinder #7 – Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 1: "Edge of Anarchy"Logue, Nicolas. Pathfinder #7 – Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 1: "Edge of Anarchy" (Paizo Publishing, 2008) originally published by Paizo Publishing for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition under the OGL contains a taxidermic owlbear. It is a regular owlbear with the skeleton template allowing the game master to turn a regular monster into an undead one. A skeletal owlbear illustration was also done by Goodman Games artist Nick Greenwood.

Retro-clones and OSR RPGs As only the design of a role-playing game, not the rules are protected by U.S. copyright law, it is possible for third-party publishers to release RPG systems based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons without using the actual name or trademarks associated with the brand. These systems are referred to as "retro-clones" or "simulacra". Games not directly using rules of a Dungeons & Dragons edition but claiming to capture the style are often called Old School Renaissance (OSR) games.

The following retro-clones and OSR systems feature the owlbear as an opponent:

Swords & Wizardry, modelled after the original Dungeons & Dragons from 1974 and published by Mythmere Games.Finch, Matthew J. Swords & Wizardry Monster Book (Self-published, 2008) Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games.Proctor, Daniel. Labyrinth Lords – Classic Fantasy Roleplaying Game of Labyrinths, Magic, and Monsters fourth revised edition (Goblinoid Games, 2009) Dark Dungeons, Darker Dungeons and Darkest Dungeons (later renamed Blood, Guts and Glory) by Gratis Games all include the owlbear in their bestiary.Blacky the Blackball. Dark Dungeons (Gratis Games, 2010)Blacky the Blackball. Darker Dungeons (Gratis Games, 2011)Blacky the Blackball. Darkest Dungeons (Gratis Games, 2012)