Homebrew Awaken Owlbear Species Details

"As we were walking through the brushes of the Wilds, I saw a hulking mass come towards me. I turned my head, and I saw an Owlbear on two legs if you can believe it! As our traveling party readied their weapons to attack, The Owlbear began waving his arms in front of him as if to say "I mean no harm!" That's when Merl noticed he had a satchel on his back, and called for us to hold our weapons. The Owlbear took the Satchel off and displayed some crude bowls and trinkets along with a small amount of coins. We asked him questions, and he seemed to understand, but said nothing and made gestures in response. We traded some food for some necklaces, then we went on our way." -Merchants report to the King of Neverwinter

Physical Description

Awakened Owlbears have the same resemblance as their ancestral counterpart, the Owlbear. The wizard's spell from their origin story, however, had its side-effect, which slightly shortened the race's size by a minuscule amount (cutting off about 3 to 5 inches from their normal build) when the second generation of Awakened Owlbears were conceived. This small blunder, however, doesn't change their ferocity and aggression, making them perfect fighters within skirmishing situations. Their origin race's reputation for being violent and mindless makes them heavily feared by many.

History

About a hundred years ago within in the Wilds, a down on his luck Wizard tried to create a spell to raise his own intellect. Unfortunately, a mother Owlbear alongside her cubs stumbled into the clearing he had made. In a panic, he cast the unfinished spell, and a bright flash gleamed from his point of origin; the wizard was gone. The Owlbears, however, had become intelligent and self-aware.

The magic had fundamentally altered the beasts and her kin, retaining their intelligence. Over the course of the next century, they formed a tribal society, learned to walk upright, wield simple weapons, and craft crude materials and implements. They learned how to understand common, but have yet to fully become proficient when speaking it.

Society

Their society, like their intellect, is coarse and unrefined. It is entirely centered around surviving the wilderness, and as such, the biggest and strongest amongst the tribe the is usually considered the Chief. They are, however, beginning to learn through the trickles of information they get from the outside world. They aspire to become a great civilization, yet only time will tell if they can learn to build and carve out a kingdom within the Wilds.

Awakened Owlbear Names

Awakened Owlbear are not given names, they earn them. Titles such as "Defender of village", "He who killed the Crocodile", and "He who spilled the soup on the Chief" are common names. Chiefs are invariably named "Chief, protector among us"

Awaken Owlbear Traits

Your Owlbear character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Owlbears mature around 12 and can live until about 50

Alignment

Owlbears are a neutral race, following the laws of nature and are neither inherently evil nor good.

Size

Awakened Owlbears stand a little over 9 feet tall. Your size is Large.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 40 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Innate Savagry

Your beak and talons are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your beak you deal 1d10 + your Strength in piercing  and If you hit with your talons you deal 2d8 + your Strength in slashing damage.

Natural Instincts

The owlbear has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Surprise Attack

If you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack on your first turn in combat, the attack deals an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per combat.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Goblin.