D&D General The Owlbear Druid: How Would You Do It? (A Poll)

[Steampunkette]

Looks like it's related to The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes

Worth Noting, for anyone interested in such a history:

Also good for D&D players in general, probably.

 

[Mannahnin]

I remember reading somewhere that there was a medieval or early modern bestiary that had a metal bull that breathed poison called a Gorgon and that either it had been reprinted in the decade before D&D came on the scene or some other encyclopedia of monsters had used it as source material in the decade before D&D came on the scene (I can't remember which). Either way the description apparently matched Gygax's Gorgon exactly and there were a number of other monsters in there that looked like they made their way into the Monster Manual as well.

You can imagine Gygax wracking every book of monsters he could find to fill all the pages of the Monster Manual he'd decided to write.

Edward Topsell's 1607 fanciful zoological text, The Historie of Foure Footed Beasts.

The gorgon therein closely resembles the D&D monster, though its deadly breath poisons and kills rather than petrifying. It also is portrayed with a scaled hide on the book's cover.

 

[CleverNickName]

I will also note: While writing that article I was shocked by how many monstrosities can turn people to stone.

Basilisk, Cockatrice, Gorgon, Medusa... Sure it's only 4 out of 50 from the core rulebook, but it's pretty much all the main "Petrifiers". And while three of them are pretty "Animal" in structure, Medusa stands out against them.

Maybe 3e's separation between Monstrous Humanoids and Magical Beasts was a good idea.

This could be one HECK of a liability in a low- to mid-level party.

Kevin: "My druid wildshapes into a basilisk!"
DM: "Sounds good. Everyone within 30 feet of the druid, please make Constitution save throws."
Everyone else: "DAMMIT KEVIN! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!!!"

(I'm exaggerating of course; the basilisk's gaze attack isn't automatic. My point is that @Steampunkette is right: this has the potential to be very problematic on both sides of the battlefield.)

 

[Mannahnin]

Worth Noting, for anyone interested in such a history:

Also good for D&D players in general, probably.

"Corn" was any grain. Maize (what we generally call corn today) hadn't been discovered yet.

 

[Mannahnin]

I'd let the druid use bear stats but it looks like an owlbear. Replace the bite attack with a beak attack that is the same except for the name.

I'm pretty sure that statwise the owlbear is just a bigger bear.

This. Just re-skin it. Or reclassify Owlbears as animals.

 

[Jer]

This. Just re-skin it. Or reclassify Owlbears as animals.

I mean, I'll do both. But using bear stats means that you don't have to wait until the Druid hits the point where they can use CR 3 creatures in their wildshape - as soon as they can wildshape into a bear, they can also wildshape into a small owlbear. And with a few different bears in the creature section of different CRs that means it can scale a bit with level, which I like.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

Worth Noting, for anyone interested in such a history:

Also good for D&D players in general, probably.

There's a youtube channel I follow called "Tasting History with Max Miller" (I can't link it since I'm at work and they block youtube) where he recreates ancient recipes from historical documents/cookbooks (sometimes dating back thousands of years). Part of his segment is a history portion where he discusses how the recipes evolved that often discusses the evolution of language as well.

 

[CleverNickName]

This. Just re-skin it. Or reclassify Owlbears as animals.

There are no wrong answers.

My personal favorite is to just let druids wildshape into monstrosities as well as beasts. It's the option that sounds like it would be the most fun, and would have the highest potential for mayhem. (That, and there's an enemy druid faction in my campaign that this would be perfect for.)

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I voted I would "Do something else" not so much because I would but I have never played or seen a 5e druid in action (nor an owlbear) and so I would not automatically say yes but I would be sympathetic to the request.

 

[jmartkdr2]

In addition to owlbears, I’d allow certain other monstrosites like griffons and rocs. But not stuff with a magical or supernatural attack like a basilisk. Each creat Is evaluated as it is requested.