Short-faced Bear

Family: Megafauna

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
Hit Points 95 (10d10+40)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
22 (+6)	13 (+1)	18 (+4)	3 (-4)	12 (+1)	7 (-2)

Skills Perception +5
Senses passive Perception 15
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Keen Nose The bear has tactical advantage on Wisdom/Perception checks involving scent.
• Bear’s Pounce If the bear moves 20 feet or more and hits a target with a claw attack, the target must make a DC 17 Str save or be forced prone. If the target falls prone, the bear gains a bonus action to make a bite attack against it.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The bear makes three attacks: two with its claws, and one with its bite.
• Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6+6 slashing damage.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8+6 piercing damage.

ABOUT

This very large bear has long legs and a short, wide muzzle with powerful jaws. Black ring-like markings mask its eyes.

The short-faced bear-usually known simply as the “long bear” or the “great bear” by the tribes who share their home-is one of the largest and most aggressive carnivores of the continent, and one of the biggest bears that has ever lived. Only the largest cave bears (or dire bears) top it in size and weight. A typical short-faced bear stands about 5-1/2 feet high at the shoulder and weighs more than 2,500 pounds. Standing upright, it towers almost 11 feet tall.

Long-legged and tall, the short-faced bear is only distantly related to its brown bear or cave bear cousins.

It is a fast sprinter with good endurance, and usually runs down its prey on open ground. The bear is also known to aggressively drive lesser predators from their kills, and mammoth hunters in the Lands of the Long Shadow frequently have a harder time dealing with a scavenging bear than killing the mammoth in the first place.