Parrotbear

Family: Owlbear

Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 59 (7d10 + 21)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
19 (+4)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	3 (-4)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)

Skills Deception +3, Perception +4
Senses darkvision 30 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages –
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The parrotbear can use Unsettling Mimicry. It then makes two attacks: one with its beak and one with its claws. It can replace its beak attack with Crunch Bones.
• Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the parrotbear can’t attack a different target with its beak.
• Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. If the target is frightened, the attack deals an extra 7 (2d6) slashing damage.
• Crunch Bones. The parrotbear makes a beak attack against a creature it is grappling. On a hit, the creature takes an extra 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage and its movement speed is halved. The movement speed penalty lasts until the target regains at least 1 hit point. Any creature can use an action to end the effect with a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check.
• Unsettling Mimicry (Recharge 6). The parrotbear mimics phrases from its current prey or those it has previously killed. Each creature within 30 feet of the parrotbear that can hear it must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of the parrotbear’s next turn.

ABOUT

Much debate surrounds the paradoxical specimen that is the parrotbear. Colorful and vibrant as a macaw but large and ferocious as a bear, the beast’s closest approximation is the equally enigmatic owlbear. In fact, these creatures are so similar that it is widely thought that the parrotbear is the work of a copycat wizard who sought to put their own spin on the infamous strigine monster.

Others speculate that the parrotbear may be some practical joke of the gods or simply an owlbear-adjacent evolutionary offshoot.

Regardless of its superficial similarities to the owlbear, the parrotbear boasts its own particular set of special skills and powers. Most notably, parrotbears can mimic voices, an ability they use to confound prey and predators alike, which gives them an outsize reputation for having a particularly wicked sense of humor, despite their clearly avian-level intellect. While parrotbears are arguably smarter than their owlbear kin, their ability to speak is not a sign of intelligence, and the nonsensical nature of their utterances becomes evident as one gets closer to the source of the babble.

Like owlbears, parrotbears are omnivores that favor meat whenever they can get it. A parrotbear’s typical hunting tactics involve imitating the bark of a lost pet or the cries of a recently disappeared individual to lure loved ones into the parrotbear’s jungle hunting grounds.

Perhaps surprisingly, parrotbears are rarely found in the jungles, where long-established apex predators easily outcompete them for food. Instead, they seem most prevalent among the outskirts of major metropolitan cities, where so many wizards’ mad experiments often end up. Parrotbears even seem to get along with the owlbears who share their hunting territories; in fact, the two species’ natural abilities complement one another nicely, making such pairings especially dangerous.