OwlbearCR 3 · Large Monstrosity · Stat Block & Encounter Builder

Forty feet of speed, twenty-four damage a round, and no plan beyond arriving.

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Armour Class

Hit Points

Speed

40 ft.

Challenge

3 · 700 XP

Alignment

Unaligned

The card

Stat Block

Large Monstrosity · Unaligned

Owlbear

7d10 + 21 · 40 ft. · AC from natural armor

Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages: —

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	12 (+1)	17 (+3)	3 (-4)	12 (+1)	7 (-2)

Traits

Keen Sight and SmellThe owlbear has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Actions

MultiattackThe owlbear makes two attacks: one with its beak and one with its claws.

BeakMelee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (1d10 + 5) piercing damage.

ClawsMelee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage.

How to actually run it

Tactics

The stat block tells you what it can do. This tells you what to do with it.

1It has no ranged option and no cunning — 40 feet of speed and 24 average damage a round. It closes and it commits.

2The classic level-3 wake-up call: 59 hit points means it survives the first alpha strike and gets a full round back.

3Best used alone. One owlbear against four level-3s is a Medium fight; two is Deadly. It does not need friends.

4Give it a reason to be somewhere — a nest, a cub, a corpse. An owlbear defending something is a story; an owlbear in a corridor is a speed bump.

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Encounter Difficulty

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How bad is this fight?

Real DMG maths — XP thresholds by level, and the group multiplier that makes crowds so much worse than the raw total suggests.

Owlbears4Party size4Party level3

Could kill someone — and at high enough numbers, the whole party.

Difficulty

Deadly

5,600 adj. XP · ×2

deadly at 1,600

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What beats it

Counters

Spells that shut it down, and classes built to take it.

SpellsWeb · Hypnotic Pattern

ClassesDruid · Wizard

Counsel

Owlbear, Answered

What CR is an owlbear?

Challenge 3, worth 700 XP. With 59 hit points, AC 13 and two attacks for about 24 damage a round, it is the classic first “real monster” for a level 3 party.

Is an owlbear a good boss for level 3?

Yes — one owlbear is a Medium encounter for four level-3 characters, and two is Deadly. It hits hard enough to drop someone but has no ranged attack, so clever parties can beat it.

Can you tame an owlbear?

Not by the rules — it is Unaligned with Intelligence 3 and no listed handling rules. But it is one of the most commonly house-ruled creatures in the game, and several settings sell owlbear mounts.

What are an owlbear’s weaknesses?

It has no ranged attack, no reaction, and Intelligence 3. Anything with flight, difficult terrain or a 30-foot kite beats it. Its answer to everything is to walk over and bite.

Put It On The Table

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