Homebrew Bear Species Details

 

We’ve all wanted to play a bear before, now you can. You really are just a bear that has gained consciousness, although you also sport the ability to talk as well. You could have gained this autonomy through many routes; choose an origin from the table below or you can settle on your own.

Bear Origin

1d6	Origin
1	Cursed by a mischievous fae.
2	Possessed by a spirit.
3	Awakened by a god.
4	Learned to talk by watching humanoids.
5	Fell into a vat of ooze.
6	A wizard did it.

This species option is homebrew. It is a copy of the Bugbear option found in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse without the Fey Ancestry feature and with the Claws feature from the Tortle, also found in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.

Creating Your Character

At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.

Life Span

The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.

Bear Traits

As a bear, you have the following racial traits.

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a goblinoid for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a goblinoid.

Size

Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 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 discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Claws

You have claws that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Long-Limbed

When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Sneaky

You are proficient in the Stealth skill. In addition, without squeezing, you can move through and stop in a space large enough for a Small creature.

Surprise Attack

If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat.