30 Day OD&D Challenge - Owlbears and Other Oddities -(Part One) Day Fourteen

Today's Our Topic is "Owlbears and Other Oddities, Part One" as we continue our celebration of International Original Dungeons and Dragons Month!

Monsters such as the Owlbear are iconic D&D monsters, but did you know it was not published as part of OD&D?  The Owlbear, Umber Hulks, Displacer Beasts and Blink Dogs were not in the original LBBs (Little Brown Books), they did not show up until the Greyhawk Supplement was published. 

OWL BEARS: Creatures of horrid visage and disposition, Owl Bears will attack whatever they see and fight to the death. They deliver a “hug” just as a Werebear, for example, as well as great damage from beak, tooth, and claw. A large male will stand 8’ tall, weigh 1,500 pounds, and have claws over 2” long. Bodies are furry, tending towards feathers over the cranial region, and the skin is very thick.

We loved Owlbears bitd, they were a really fun monsters; we did not use them as written. The "fight to the death" part did not make a lot of sense to us. So we decided that either they are animals, in which case they would only fight to the death protecting young or if we had them cornered and they could not get away. We usually ran them as animals and while you might  be their prey, they would run if outmatched.

But on the other hand, there was another way to look at them and that is this: as an intelligent, sentient and magically created monster that was an evil and programmed by an evil Wizard as a kill bot guard. If you were attacked by one, then you knew there were likely more nearby and a nasty Wizard to deal with as well, on the other hand if, I say if, you won the reward would be worth the risk. This was one of the encounters  where negotiating was not an option, you could fight or run, but talking was not a good idea. Maybe with the Wizard if you got by his guards.

UMBER HULKS: Of shape somewhat similar to human, an Umber Hulk can be mistaken in the dark for something less deadly than it really is. Typically they are 8’ tall, 5’ wide, with heads resembling bushel baskets, and gaping maws flanked by pairs of exceedingly sharp mandibles. It travels about on two legs. If it is viewed squarely its four eyes cause confusion (save vs. magic or confused). Its claws are harder than iron, causing terrible damage when used as weapons, but they are used primarily by the beast for burrowing through rock (l’/turn). They prize highly human flesh.

Now we played Umber Hulks very similarly to Owlbears, although we considered them to be a tougher opponent even though they did not move as fast (until we increased their move) but there were much tougher in Hit Dice. Plus as they highly prize human flesh, they considered us not chance prey as did the owlbear, but primary prey so they will actively hunt humans.

Tomorrow Part Two with Displacer Beasts and Blink Dogs.