I like concept A the best. The other examples don't show enough 'bear'. See also Curse of the Asure bonds - my original introduction to owlbears. www.gamebanshee.com/curseoftheazurebonds...
I like the anatomy and the "mammal snout" of the second design but the exposed skull looks too wrock. While I always though of it as a creature of mystical (almost fey) origin it also was clear to me that it is "of the forest". I might be totally wrong. The skin on the legs and feathers on the body should feel to the touch like an owl but the feathers and pigmentation of the skin should look different in each forest depending on foliage and season. Thinking of this I wouldn't be...
View full commentI like the anatomy and the "mammal snout" of the second design but the exposed skull looks too wrock.
While I always though of it as a creature of mystical (almost fey) origin it also was clear to me that it is "of the forest". I might be totally wrong.
The skin on the legs and feathers on the body should feel to the touch like an owl but the feathers and pigmentation of the skin should look different in each forest depending on foliage and season. Thinking of this I wouldn't be surprised to know that they shed their feathers as the seasons change ("Winter-shade owlbear feather" sounds like a ritual-component), white/blackish/brown for winter, shiny-deep green/brown/gray in spring, deep bluish green most of the year (maybe the vivid color of a local flower at the "owl-ears" feathers).
The "wing" (or better the feather cape descending from the arms) gets longer with age and it gets somewhat longer for females tending the offspring (Imagine a mother owlbear covering 2-3 chick-pups with her blanket of feathers).
As for the color of the eyes gold-brown during the day and almost glowing silver with a faint bluish hue during the night.
See the claws on the front paws as very short mostly straight mining picks, ideal to dig frozen soil or to break armor plates. The hind claws I would describe as hooks (a bit thicker/sturdier than owl-claws) which help to climb trees... or just imagine a specimen leap-grabbing onto a poor soul and charging forward on his arms while pulling the victim over roots, branches & rocks.
But of course it is a omnivore (surely any forest would lose its fauna to a fit "predator" like this), and so I think that the pointy "snout" - with a line teeth that looks almost human ones sorted into a two triangles - serves to dig up fungi and insects /this also implies an acute sense of smell/.
The roots of a tree plagued by fungal-infection could serve as nest. The owlbear would get food and tree would get saved.
I'm going to say that the PHB and DMG *should not* have "advice" sections on how to play, construct, or adjudicate adventures. Such material is useful precisely once, ever, in the life of any player or DM. Once. But unfortunately, in every edition of D&D, that crap has been strewn throughout the book, wedged between the actual tables used in play or character or adventure construction. It's not just wasting space, it's making the actual information more difficult to access. If...
View full commentI'm going to say that the PHB and DMG *should not* have "advice" sections on how to play, construct, or adjudicate adventures.
Such material is useful precisely once, ever, in the life of any player or DM. Once. But unfortunately, in every edition of D&D, that crap has been strewn throughout the book, wedged between the actual tables used in play or character or adventure construction. It's not just wasting space, it's making the actual information more difficult to access.
If such material is included - and it shouldn't be, it should be in a separate publication - it should be in an appendix or section TOTALLY separate from the actual material used to play the game.
While I always though of it as a creature of mystical (almost fey) origin it also was clear to me that it is "of the forest". I might be totally wrong.
The skin on the legs and feathers on the body should feel to the touch like an owl but the feathers and pigmentation of the skin should look different in each forest depending on foliage and season. Thinking of this I wouldn't be...
View full comment