The Dire Owlbear
Spiciness: 5/5
Feeds about 3-5 players, level 5-7
Scales for: Number of Players, Player Level
Ingredients:
- The Dire Owlbear.
- X Cubs (One per 2 players)
Scale For Level: For each level above 5, add +10 to the Dire Owlbear's HP. At level 5, add +1 to their Save DCs.
Preparation
The Dire Owlbear is an apex predator, and knows how to use its abilities to deadly ends. It always attacks from above, either through a hole in the top of its cave, or from a cliffside where it lands on it's food. Much like Owls themselves, they are ambush predators.
Note on Flight Speed: While flight speed dictates how far you can willingly fly on a turn, there's no rule against willingly free falling and then using the remainder of your flight speed to safely land. That's how we'll be using the Owlbear's very limited flight speed!
Pre-battle Setup: The party is camping next to a cliff, or entering an unknown cave-- someplace that the owlbear can leap down at them from. Luckily for the party, the Owlbear is not particularly stealthy, so they only need to make a Perception Check DC 13 to avoid being Surprised. Then, ROLL INITIATIVE!
Things you should know for this fight:
- Prone: A prone creature’s only Movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition. The creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls. An Attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the Attack roll has disadvantage.
- Restrained: A restrained creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s Attack rolls have disadvantage. The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity Saving Throws.
- Surprise: If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't.
Cooking the Owlbear Cubs
Round 1+: The cubs are there to do 2 things: Give the momma owlbear advantage on her attack rolls, and soak up some of the party's damage so that the Dire Owlbear stays in the fight longer. Run in, knock some people prone, and run back to mommy. Don't worry about taking attacks of opportunity: Firstly, they'll have disadvantage if they're prone. Secondly-- your Too Cute To Die can negate them if used properly. Thirdly, if a cub does die, it'll just enrage your Dire Owlbear anyways!
Reactions: Every time someone would target the Cubs with an attack, hit them with Too Cute To Die to try and avoid it. Extra points if you can do this with against melee attacks, since it's unlikely they'll have a target to redirect it to.
Cooking the Dire Owlbear
Round 1: Swoop in from above and hit the whole party with a HOOT HOOT MOTHERFUCKER. That should deal a little damage, but more importantly-- frighten them. Since we only have 1 high CR creature in this fight, that's a great defensive ability to both give them disadvantage on attack rolls and prevent them from getting closer to you.
Round 2: Find someone who isn't frightened and show them why they should be by hitting them with your Claws, which will grapple them (bonus points if that person was prone because now they can't stand up!). Then, follow up with your Bite attack.
Round 3: Remember that person we grappled? Hope they used their action to escape, because now you can use Get In My Gizzard to swallow them whole, like an owl does.
Round 4: Since HOOT HOOT recharges on a 5-6, there's a 89.11 chance of it being recharged by now. Hit as many party members as possible with it; remember that the creature you've swallowed gets disadvantage on this save (because it's inside you while you roar).
Round 5+: From here, the fight should be very similar to how a vanilla Owlbear runs. Claw & Beak every turn, maybe throwing in a HOOT HOOT if it recharges.
Note on Momma Owlbear: The party will likely target your cubs once they realize they're giving you advantage. This means they're more likely to trigger your buff, so let them know where that advantage is coming from!
Dire Owlbear
Large monstrosity, unaligned
- Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 133 (14d10 + 56)
- Speed 40 ft. (20ft Fly)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 22 (+6) 16 (+3) 19 (+4) 8 (-1) 12 (+1) 7 (-2)
- Saving Throws Con +7
- Skills Perception +4
- Condition Immunities Frightened
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
- Languages Understands Common & Sylvan, but cannot speak
- Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Prof. Bonus +3 Spice: 2 (out of 3)
Momma Owlbear: If the Owlbear has a Cub in her line of sight, she gains advantage on attack rolls. If a cub dies in front of her, she enrages, gaining the benefits of Haste until the end of her next turn.
Clumsy Flier Owlbear cannot end its turn airbone.
Actions
Multiattack. Attacks once with its claws, and with one Beak.
Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) slashing damage. The creature is considered Grappled (DC 16 to Escape)
HOOT HOOT MOTHERFUCKER (Recharge 5-6): The Dire Owlbear emits destructive energy in a 15-foot radius. Each non-owlbear creature in that area must succeed on a DC 13 Con saving throw or take 10 (3d6) thunder damage and be Frightened. Creatures swallowed by the owlbear have disadvantage on this save. At the end of a creature's turn, it may make an additional save to end this effect.
Get In MY GODDAMN GIZZARD: The Owlbear makes a bite attack against a Medium or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is swallowed, and the grapple ends. The swallowed creature is blinded, restrained, has total cover against all effects outside the Owlbear, & it takes 10 (3d6) acid damage at the start of each of the Owlbear's turns. A creature reduced to 0 hit points in this way stops taking acid damage and is stable.
The Owlbear can have only one target swallowed at a time. While the Owlbear isn't incapacitated, it can regurgitate the creature at any time (no action required) in a space within 5 feet of it. The creature exits prone. If the Owlbear dies, it likewise regurgitates a swallowed creature.
Dire Owlbear Cub
Small Monstrosity, Unaligned
- Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 37 (5d10 + 10)
- Speed 20ft (20ft Fly)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 17 (+3) 15 (+2) 15 (+2) 6 (-2) 12 (+1) 12 (+1)
- Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
- Senses passive Perception 13
- Languages -
- Challenge 1 (200 XP) Prof. Bonus +2 Spice: 1 (out of 3)
Cubly Cowardice. At the start of its turn, if the Cub is not adjacent to an Owlbear and a Hostile Creature is adjacent to it, the cub is Frightened until the start of it's next turn.
While Frightened in this way, it must use its movement to flee towards an Owlbear (if it knows where one is), or away from any creatures threatening it.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.*
Reactions
Too Cute To Die. When a creature the cub can see takes an action that would harm the cub (attacking it or casting a spell, for example), the cub can use its reaction to attempt to charm them with cuteness. The attacker must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 11). On a failed save, the attacker is considered charmed by the Cub until the end of its turn, and stops whatever it was doing to harm the cub initially.