Do owlbears have teeth?

aramis erak · 2026-03-15T00:51:38+0000

Benjamin Olson said:
I've always assumed they didn't, but I suppose they could have retained them from their dinosaur-arctoid ancestors.

Ducks have tooth-like bristles...
a number of birds have keratinous tooth-type structures called tomia - colloquially called teeth by some.
Some birds have an ossified tooth to peck out of their egg, lost in the first day or two. Others it's keratinous.

Tonguez · 2026-03-15T02:02:29+0000

the Jester said:
I guess it depends on which picture I'm using.

So I guess, in my campaign, some owlbears do, some don't.

Milieu said:
Going by owlbear illustrations in the Monster Manuals (or edition equivalent), most have serrated beaks.

clearly serrated: 1e, 2e compendum, 4e essentials, 5.0e, 5.5e
unclear, maybe serrated: 2e MM, 4e
single tomial tooth and notch: 3.Xe
probably no tomia: OD&D

OD&D Greyhawk Supplement - probably a normal owl's beak:
View attachment 431872
1e Monster Manual - a bunch of small serrations, like a goose:
View attachment 431878
2e Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1 - large, jagged, teeth-like serrations:
View attachment 431875

2e Monstrous Compendium Annual Vol. 3 - The Arctic Owlbear also has teeth-like serrations:
View attachment 431882
2e Monstrous Manual - the inside edges of the beak look a little jagged. I think it's supposed to be small serrations, but it's pretty subtle:
View attachment 431876

3.Xe Monster Manuals (both use the same illustration) - looks more like a falcon's beak with a single tomial tooth on each side and corresponsing mandibular notches, used for severing spines:
View attachment 431873

4e Monster Vault - like the 2e Monstrous Manual, it's subtle, but I think the underside of the top beak is intended to look serrated:
View attachment 431874

4e Essentials Monster Vault - serrations prominently displayed on the cover:
View attachment 431879

5.0e Monster Manual - serrated:

5.5e Monster Manual - definitely serrated:

Oh I really like the 5.5 depiction, I hadnt seen that before.

I always assumed the different pictures depicted different species of Owlbear too - so if we just go by fur/feather colour theres seems to be 3 or 4 different types depicted - the standard brown (1e, 2e, 3e, 4e), a grey (5e), snowy white (2e) and maybe a hybrid (4e Essentials).

The poor guy in the 2e Monstrous Compendium Vol.1 looks a bit munted, so I'm going to presume it was either mutated by wizard experiments or disease. Also I always thought the 3e version looked blind so, so also going to presume that one is also a mutated form

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-15T03:07:00+0000

So, I'll admit to not reading the thread. But I have questions. None of which, I suspect, have much to do the OPs reason for posting. That said, here's a pic of what the inside of a penguin's mouth looks like, if that helps: