Homebrew Were Bear Species Details

Human legends speak of a creature that prowls the far reaches of Icewind Dale, known as Oyaminartok the Winter Walker. She can take the form of either a polar bear or a hulking, bipedal shape obscured by wind and blowing snow. Elders invoke her name to keep young goliaths from wandering too far from home before they’re ready. Adult goliaths sometimes encounter this legendary individual in their travels to the far-flung corners of the dale. If they flee like cowards, Oyaminartok laughs and lets them go to wander in obscurity. If they challenge Oyaminartok to a fight, the Winter Walker smiles and tests their mettle. Those who impress her with their fighting skills are bitten and become goliath werebears themselves—goliaths who carry Oyaminartok’s curse of lycanthropy. Contrary to myth, Oyaminartok is not a monster but a force of good in the region, and she passes her curse only to goliaths whose hearts are pure.

Oyaminartok and others of her kind try to help creatures they come across, for the weather and the geography of Icewind Dale can be brutal. They know the safest routes across the tundra, and they can help guide travelers through the Sea of Moving Ice and across its ever-shifting ice floes. These polar werebears attack evil in the wilderness, but they steer clear of camps and settlements. Fire is Oyaminartok’s bane, and thus she and her kind are wary around hearths and open flames.

Were Bear Traits

It’s hard to make generalizations about humans, but your human character has these traits.

Keen Smell

The werebear has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Shapechanger

The werebear can use its action to polymorph into a Large bear–humanoid hybrid or into a Large polar bear, or back into its human form. Its statistics, other than its size and AC, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed in to the new form, or worn if possible, at players discretion. It reverts to its true form if it dies

Bite (Bear or Hybrid Form Only).

Unarmed strike: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werebear lycanthropy, as described in the Monster Manual.

Claw (Bear or Hybrid Form Only)

Claw (Bear or Hybrid Form Only). Unarmed strike: (STR+Proficiency) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d10+STR) slashing damage.

Weapon

Choose a weapon with which you are proficient

Skills

Choose two skills

Ability Score Increase

Your ability scores each increase by 1.

Age

Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.

Size

Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.