Dire Owlbear

Family: Owlbear

Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 102 (12d8 + 48)
Speed 35 ft., burrow 10 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	12 (+1)	18 (+4)	3 (-4)	13 (+1)	7 (-2)

Condition Immunities blinded, frightened
Skills Perception +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Blood Frenzy. The dire owlbear has advantage on melee attack rolls against a creature that doesn’t have all its hit points.

ABOUT

This armored owlbear with brown and white fur and feathers stands upright and roars.

Decades ago, dwarves selectively bred owlbears for toughness, ferocity, and slightly more discipline and intelligence. They also managed to introduce a bulette trait they considered desirable into the creatures: the ability to burrow rapidly. The dwarves termed the result “dire owlbears,” although that label isn’t really correct. Most “dire” creatures are primitive branches of a family tree that survive for eons unchanged from more savage versions, usually in isolated regions far from civilization.

Mistaken for Bulettes. Because of their armor plating, dire owlbears are sometimes misidentified as mutated or freakish bulettes by frightened travelers and farmers whose horses and other livestock these monstrosities prey on.

Nocturnal Prowlers. Unlike dire wolves or lions, dire owlbears hunt exclusively by night, stealing away sheep or even horses from pens, corrals, and stables. Hunters and rangers describe them as unusually stealthy, with excellent night vision and the ability to open simple latches or leap over most fences. In some cases, a dire owlbear is thought to be a supernatural creature like a vampire or ghoul—able to enter farm buildings silently to take prey. However, their foot-long, patterned feathers (often found at a kill site) are rather obvious clues to the true culprits.