Man is there a monster more classic than the owlbear?ā¦ā¦ā¦ well Beholder, donāt worry weāll get to them eventuallyā¦ā¦.but the owlbear! there is just something iconic about it that feels right, equal parts menacing and ridiculous! Letās talk about how you can put this adorably ferocious monstrosity into your Ravnica game!
You can find the owlbear on page 249 of the fifth edition monster manual, but there first appearance in Dungeons & Dragons was in the greyhawk supplement for first edition D&D by Gary gygax himself!
Owlbears are described the as a massive bear standing at least 8 feet tall if not taller, in addition to the fur that coats there body they also have patches of feathers especially on their arms and Paws. Instead of the head of a bear they have the distinct face of an owl with piercing frontward facing eyes and a razor sharp beak!Ā
These creatures are known to be aggressive, attacking anything that could be considered large enough to be a meal! Their preferred method of attack is to get their opponent into a bear hug and then tear them apart with their beak while in the embrace. Family units usually contain a mated pair, they raise their offspring until they are old enough to take care of themselves. Habitats are usually caves or other locations for a den such as dungeons or abandoned man-made structures.
The fun part about owlbears is that no one knows where they come fromā¦.. but everyone has their own story. Some will claim that owlbears are the result of a Mad Wizards experimentation, some claim that they are The Offspring of some strange forgotten Forest God, Ā the dwarves tell scary stories of how a ancient group of dwarves got lost in the forest and were transformed into owlbears, but if you ask the elves they will tell you that they were brought over from the feywild of course. With so many conflicting answers and almost no proof any of these could be trueā¦ā¦or all of them.
What colors would an Owlbear be?
I firmly believe that if they were to ever print an owl their card in Magic the Gathering it would be a green creature with trample!
they thrive in Woodland environments and seem to fit into nature quite well. as far as secondary colors? The red seems to fit the most, but depending on the backstory you want to go with any color works. If they are faithful guardians of nature perhaps give them a little white, scavengers and cruel opportunist hunters sounds black to me, adaptive experiments that got loose? make them simic! The owl bear can fit in any green aligned Guild!
How to fit an Owlbear into the lore?
I think the most important thing to keep when moving owlbears to Ravnica is the mystery of their origin. Make it fun! A mistake of polymorph magic that only got half of the transformation correct, a result of what happens when an two creatures enter one of the Cities more active leylines, or maybe a joke gone horribly wrong. Perhaps people claim that owlbears have always been around since before the signing of the guildpact!
I suggest having both wild and domesticated owlbears. Wild owlbear tend to stay on gruul turf and other abandoned parts of the city including the undercity and Wildlife Reserves. They make their home in abandoned buildings and hunt anything that wanders into their territory being one of the alpha predators of their food chains. Wild owl bears would be known for their ferocity and feared by those who find themselves all these outskirts of civilization in the city.
On the other hand due to their adorable nature I imagine ātrainedā owlbears would be a popular pet option. I imagine most people buy them for their children when the creatures are small and especially adorable not expecting them to grow into large lumbering beasts, this has resulted in many abandoned owlbears in highly residential areas. Abandoned owlbears turn to Scavenging through rubbish bins until large enough to cause issues usually resulting violent incidents and the Boros Legion being called. Those who properly train their owlbears find out that the creatures make excellent Guardians and beasts of Burden.
The Owlbear and the guilds?
In this part of the post Iām going to focus on the green Guilds of Ravnica since thatās their main color, but just because the Guild does not have green and its color alignment does not mean that they canāt have owlbears! Imagine a very successful azorius judge with a pet owlbear, or a member of the boros legion with a trained guard owlbear, if you want a ring of rakdos to do Pit fighting perhaps one of the Monsters theyāre holding to attack combatants is a hunger owlbear! But letās get on with the Green Guilds!
The gruul are the premier beastmasters of ravnica! they donāt tame their Animal Companions they let them Thrive as they were meant to as primal and Savage as nature would allow. The Gruul would look at the owlbear as a representation of two of Natureās greatest Hunters the bear and the owl. The gruul would tell stories of how the owlbear is a relic from the old world a sister Spirit to the Raze-boarās offspring that should be respected.
The subgroup of the Gruul the Zhur-Taa clan would train these savage beast as hunting companions, having ones skull on your outfit would be a sign that you were a great warrior. Perhaps a coming of age ritual of the Gruul could be going off to find a lair of a owlbear and bringing something back the bigger the trophy the more respect it brings. The trophy can be anything such as the bones from the owlbearās last meal, the head of the Beast itself which you fought and killed or the owlbear accompanying you as a companion whom you would gain the respect of!
The selesnya tell a story about the origins of the owlbear, in their story the creator of these beasts was Mat'Selesnya herself. Back just after the signing of the guildpact when the world tree was still just a sapling Mat'Selesnya created them for her domain. noble sage like beasts to protect The Guild these were the first owlbears, These stories say that these owlbears were sentient druids who knew the old ways of nature magic. Their offspring unfortunately weāre not intelligent, all owl bears are descended from these progenitors it is said.
No matter if the story is true the selesnya hold the owlbear in high regard, it is not uncommon for one to be allowed to inhabit a selesnya gardens or sanctuaries if one does it is treated as a member of the conclave. It is not a uncommon sight to see a selesnya trained battle owlbear covered in armor, they fight beside a bonded selesnya Warrior for the honor of the conclave.
Many trace the origin of the owlbear back to an experiment before the dissension that shatter the guildpact by the original Simic. The experiment in question case file 0-l7w, its original Ā purpose was to create a more sturdy, strong, but intelligent Beast of Burden for the merchant District. There seems to have been an accident and when simic guards were able to reach the laboratory it had already been torn apart, scientists have been viciously attacked and the experiment was nowhere to be found.
Some people point to a rare deformity that occasionally appears on owlbear hide when trying to connect the owlbear to the simic, this deformity looks like a patch of scales like that of fish and lizards. many members of the combine claim that this is a result of the current experiments that they do on owlbear and cite the lack of evidence that they are responsible for the creatures creation. Responsible or not the simic view the owlbear as an interesting creature and research it in hopes of using it to help create better krasis.
On The Fringe of civilization where the city meets the undercity many owlbears have adapted to life as scavengers eating both meat and fungus. The Golgari view these creatures as nothing more than a part of the circle of life and while the creatures are living pay them little heed other than as another scavenger that lurks The Rot Farms. Occasionally a particularly aggressive owlbear has to be dealt with by the swarm, but it is not until an owl joins the Rot that the Golgari truly welcomes them to the Swarm.
Undead owlbear make for excellent guards for the rot Farms, theyāre large foreboding frame keeps away those who would want to steal from the Swarm. Even though dead their Brute Force remains making them excellent Beast of Burden in their reanimated state. As the Swarm does not actively raise owlbears the reanimated ones are either those who passed away of natural causes or those killed in conflict with the Swarm.
The way I plan on using them!
Letās review what we just talked about and put it together in a coherent little text blurb. Owlbear away!
āThe owl bear is an aggressive predator that lurks on the outskirts of the city and the undercity places where civilization has a hard time taking a foothold. They are massive creatures standing 8 feet tall, but record show that can get much more larger. Owlbears have large Bear like bodies with the heads and talons of owls. this creatures preferred manner of attack is holding down its opponents in a form of bear hug and then using their sharp beaks to rip away at their prey. Owlbear territories are usually defended by a mated pair and will consume anything larger than a mouse.
The origin of the owl there perhaps just as odd as the creature itself as no one quite agree where they came from. Stories of a failed simic experiment are sometimes told, while others claim them to be manifestations of the ancient spirits of Ravnica long forgotten when the city was built. Some popular explanations are as follows, an izzet teleportation experiment gone horribly horribly wrong, creations of some powerful entity(some say the Nephilim others MatāSelesnya and still others spawn of Utmungr the raze boar) as Protectors of nature and others claim that they existed long before the city was built. It is a common game for young children to try to tell the best story about the origin of owlbears whoever can tell the best most Outlandish story wins!
Itās a recent trend that owlbear cubs have become highly sought-after pets. The adorable Cubs are usually bought when theyāre still small and manageable by owners that do not expect them grow as quickly or as large as they eventually do. An owlbear when trained properly make for excellent guards and loyal family pets, but due to their size food and upkeep can be rather expensive for these creatures. Unfortunately many owlbears are abandoned by their owners when they become to unwieldy to keep as house pets, many of these owners simply kick these creatures to the streets where they have to fend for themselves as scavengers eating the garbage of highly populated areas. it is unfortunate truth that I released owlbears are more likely to attack humans than a wild owlbears due to desperation for food. The Boros have teamed up with the selesnya in hopes of catching strays before it becomes too late, under the care of the selesnya they are taken care of and trained to be guard animals or simply released back into the wild where these majestic creatures belong.ā
Thanks for reading this was a fun one! On Saturday Iām going to post a review of the week and quick links to all of my articles. As always if there is a creature from the monster manual that you want to see fit into Ravnica or a card from the magic the Gathering game from a ravnica set find a stat black message me and Iāll see what I can do.