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

[OB1]

I'm fine with Owlbears being beasts in the next MM
I'm fine with Owlbears being monstrosities (as in having a magical origin) and DMs allowing Druids to wildshape into them as they see fit
I'm partial to a Circle of Monsters subclass that specifically allows this - Just because it seems like such a fun design space for a circle

I'm absolutely unconcerned about why the Druid in the movie can do it, cause it was way too enjoyable to watch (almost as much as watching the Barbarian chuck armored soldiers around like rag-dolls... maybe more, I can't decide which moment I like better).

 

[CleverNickName]

My favorite part about this poll is that we've had dozens of votes and almost a thousand views, and not a single person has voted for the "I wouldn't allow it because rules" option.

Rock on, you beautiful nerds.

 

[tetrasodium]

I've long allowed druids to wear metal & wildshape into most true breeding beastlike creatures (owlbear/hellhound/blinkdog/winterwolf/etc). Basilisk & cockatrice has never come up so I haven't had to consider them. The vast majority of the beast-like not-beasts are pretty poor choices for wildshape unless the party needs that beast's gimmick like a winterwolf making an ice bridge/elementals/etc.

edit: I say "most" just to leave an out where I can look at something & say no if it seems crazy

 

[Umbran]

So how would you do it, for your gaming group? There are no wrong answers.

Remind the Druid that they get access to Polymorph when they reach 7th level....?

 

[Deset Gled]

I can think of at least two ways to pull it off legally in 3.5e. I'm pretty sure there are a couple more that I'd be able to figure out with more research.

 

[CleverNickName]

Remind the Druid that they get access to Polymorph when they reach 7th level....?

"But...but...bonus action!" -Circle of the Moon

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Remind the Druid that they get access to Polymorph when they reach 7th level....?

I thought you could only polymorph into beast with polymorph, not monstrosities.

 

[ersatzphil]

I thought you could only polymorph into beast with polymorph, not monstrosities.

That's correct - wildshape lets you turn into a beast you've seen before, polymorph lets you turn into a beast of HD equal or less to your class level, but doesn't have the '...that you've seen' restriction.

edit: I should add, at least in 5e and most versions of the game that I've played; note that I haven't played every edition. From the 3e PHB:

From the 2e PHB:

...that being said, I'll admit that it was a cool moment in the trailer.

 

[Umbran]

I thought you could only polymorph into beast with polymorph, not monstrosities.

By the time you get polymorph, you can already take the form of a CR 7 Giant Ape, and are one level away from being a CR 8 Tyrannosaurus Rex.

It would seem to me that the absolute smallest rule change available to us to allow it would be to allow Polymorph to handle a CR 3 owlbear.

 

[DND_Reborn]

EDIT: Ah crud. In the poll options, I typed "to allow all Beasts" in a couple of options, when I should have typed "allow all Monstrosities." Sorry about that; change your votes if necessary.

Nope, wouldn't allow it. (I just wanted to be the first to vote that. )

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah, agreeing with @Vaalingrade and @Crimson Longinus.

The statblock for the Owlbear doesnt deserve the Monstrosity creature type.

Obviously, the monstrosity concept comes from the lore that a crazy Wizard did it. But in 5e, this lore is officially uncertain. There is alternative official lore, that elves already knew about the owlbear from thousands of years earlier − implying that it is a natural Beast, like the duckbill platypus. An other alternative origin is it is a fey creature. But the statblock lacks the Fey creature type, which means it is just a normal animal surviving in the material plane, in other words a Beast.

The movie has the Druid "wildshape" into an owlbear. Therefore, according to the setting of the movie, which is the default 5e setting, Forgotten Realms: the owlbear is a Beast. The movie has semi-official status because of its ongoing coordination with the 5e designers.

The best and simplest solution is: the owlbear is a beast. A Druid can do it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Sorry, @CleverNickName but to me druids are "nature", not "natural", so they get beast-form and I've even added plant-form for my home games.

While many monstrosities are "natural" to a world perhaps, they are not of "nature."

Yeah, I get it, it "looks" cool, but the "Rule of Cool" has never been a thing in my games and never will be.

You want to turn into an Owlbear, wait until you can prepare shapechange.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The best and simplest solution is: the owlbear is a beast. A Druid can do it.

If anything, it should be Fey, not Beast IMO:

Perhaps their is a Circle of Fey or something in a book? I don't have all the new ones so it might already be out there.

 

[CleverNickName]

Nope, wouldn't allow it. (I just wanted to be the first to vote that. )

Sorry, @CleverNickName but to me druids are "nature", not "natural", so they get beast-form and I've even added plant-form for my home games.

While many monstrosities are "natural" to a world perhaps, they are not of "nature."

Yeah, I get it, it "looks" cool, but the "Rule of Cool" has never been a thing in my games and never will be.

You want to turn into an Owlbear, wait until you can prepare shapechange.

There are no wrong answers.
There are no wrong answers.
There are no wrong answers.

 

[el-remmen]

At first I was gonna ask, how do we know he didn't just dispel his polymorph spell? But looking up the spell for the first time I see it too is limited to beasts. Boring.

 

[grimslade]

Druids turn into an owlbear using bear stats. Why make it hard? Let people reskin stuff to be unique as long as it doesn't interfere with everyone else.

 

[DND_Reborn]

At first I was gonna ask, how do we know he didn't just dispel his polymorph spell? But looking up the spell for the first time I see it too is limited to beasts. Boring.

Yeah, in 1E it was just any creature.

 

[Yaarel]

If anything, it should be Fey, not Beast IMO:

View attachment 254850

Perhaps their is a Circle of Fey or something in a book? I don't have all the new ones so it might already be out there.

Actually, that was my original intention to answer the poll.

But when I doublechecked the Monster Manual statblock, I saw that this 4e fey owlbear is officially uncertain in 5e.

So the idea that the owlbear is fey, might not even be true. And even if there are owlbears in the Feywild, they can just as easily be natural beasts in the material plane, who unwittingly crossed over into the Feywild where the veil between planes was thin.

The most coherent answer is, the owlbear is the Beast creature type.

 

[TwoSix]

Yeah, in 1E it was just any creature.

View attachment 254856

Polymorph was problematic enough in 3e that it got hit pretty hard with the nerf bat.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The most coherent answer is, the owlbear is the Beast creature type.

Not really, since nothing from its origins suggests as such.

Creation of mad wizard person: monstrosity
Creature of the Feywild: fey

But, hey, you do you.