Owlbear Cub

Owlbear Cub is a Beast and a potential Camp Follower encountered in the Owlbear Nest with his mother during Act One.

“

Like it here. Warm fire. Scratch reminds me of big brother.

„

— Owlbear Cub chatting in camp

Involvement

Recruiting as a camp follower

The Owlbear Cub can be recruited as a pet Camp Follower and will remain in the Campsite after being recruited.

First, the mother Owlbear must be encountered in the Owlbear Nest in the Forest, near the Blighted Village. It does not matter whether the Owlbear mother survives the encounter, but the cub must be spared if he is to become a camp follower later. The principal scenarios include:

1. The party meets the Owlbear mother in cut scene, and retreats without combat. After long resting, the party can return to the cave and find the Owlbear mother killed by a Goblin hunting party. The cub will survive and reappear after the next long rest (see below).
2. The party meets the Owlbear mother in cut scene, fights and kills her. A second cut scene in which the cub begins eating its mother gives the party an opportunity to spare the cub. The cub will survive and reappear after the next long rest (see below).
3. The party attacks the Owlbear mother from stealth, skipping the initial cut scene. In this case the second cut scene with the cub eating the mother will not be triggered and the cub will keep attacking. To save the cub, the party will need to flee from the combat while the cub is still alive, after killing the Owlbear and grabbing any desired loot. If the party disengages while the cub is still alive, he will survive and reappear after the next long rest (see below). Downing the cub, even with non-lethal combat, will NOT spare him for this purpose -- fleeing combat is the only way to preserve him for story purposes.

Note that in Honor mode, the Owlbear summons the Owlbear Mate. During the scenario 2 described above, if the Owlbear mother is killed before the Owlbear Mate there is no second cut scene and the party must flee to save the Cub. If the Owlbear Mother is killed after the Owlbear Mate, the second cutscene will play normally.

If he has been successfully spared in one of the above scenarios, then after long resting the Owlbear Cub can next be found in the Goblin Camp where he can be freed by playing Chicken Chase or by persuading the goblins. The Cub does not seem to appear in the Goblin Camp if Devout Mezzka was killed before a long rest or if the Goblin Camp was poisoned through the Booze Tub. Should the party have killed the entire Goblin Camp before encountering the owlbears, then the mother will be killed by a Goblin hunting party and the cub will show up at the campsite after a couple of long rests.

As long as the cub is spared and not stuck in the goblin camp (i.e. the party freed him or cleared the camp before he was captured), the cub will appear at the Campsite one evening. He can be fed, but he will get scared by another member of the camp and run off. He will reappear after another long rest, injured. If healed, he will become friendly and will stay at camp for good.

If calling Lump the Enlightened to participate in combat with the Goblin Camp exterior when the cub is present, then the Owlbear Cub will become hostile to the three Ogres and by extension the party. If this happens, the party will likely be locked out of recruiting the cub, as even if knocking him out using nonlethal attacks, he still will disappear after a long rest, and it will be difficult to prevent the ogres from eventually killing him. A similar situation also occurs if the party recruits Brynna and Andrick for the fight with the Owlbear as they will make the cub hostile even after his mother's death. In this case knocking out Brynna and Andrick and then fleeing the combat while the cub is still alive can preserve the option of recruiting him later.

The final cut-off point for recruiting the Owlbear Cub is travelling to Baldur's Gate at the end of Act 2.

Camp events

The cub quickly acclimates to camp life. At some point after recruitment, a long rest will be interrupted by a noise. If  Speak with Animals is active, it will be revealed that the cub had a nightmare, and Scratch is trying to calm him down. The cub will also remark that Scratch reminds it of his older brother. If asked about that, the cub will say that he used to have an older brother, but their mother ate him.

Act Three

If the cub is a camp follower and Dammon survived till the game's finale, then the latter will transform the cub into a battle-ready beast before the group arrives in the Upper City. Dammon feeds the cub potions to accelerate his growth and outfits him with steel armour, and the cub's display name changes to Armoured Owlbear. The party can summon the owlbear to assist in the final battle using  Gather Your Allies, though he is one of two major characters who can permanently die in this fight and be removed from the Epilogue, the other being Zevlor.

Epilogue

If the cub survived the final battle, he will appear at Withers' Reunion Party still as the Armoured Owlbear. The player character can pet him, tell him it's good to see him (to which he becomes flustered) and ask what he's up to (though his answer is mistaken for dancing). If the player character knows  Speak with Animals, the cub reveals that he was never invited but instead followed the player character's pleasant smell to join the gathering. Speak with Animals casters can also comment on the cub being so much larger than his "big brother" Scratch and ask again what he's been up to, to which he shares that he made new cat, turtle, and kraken friends but attacked the kraken after the latter ate the cat. If the cub survived but was not upgraded by Dammon (due to not completing  The Hellion's Heart and/or killing Dammon at any point), he still appears as a juvenile owlbear and shares the same story of what he's been up to. However, he lacks the enhanced strength or armor, so he says that he instead had to run away when the kraken ate his cat friend. Either way, the player then has the opportunity to let a former party member adopt the cub: either Halsin, Shadowheart (if she turned away from Shar), or the player character themselves (if they only romanced Halsin and/or Shadowheart in Act Three and went home with one of them). Regardless of who adopts him, the cub says he likes the player's choice and will go to them after the party.

Combat

Attacks and abilities

 Tiny Claws ()

1d4 (1~4) + Strength modifier Slashing

Lash out with your tiny but deadly paws.

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

Companion approval

• After killing the Owlbear in the Owlbear Nest:

• Let the creature live.

 +1  +1  +1  +1

• Attack.

 +1  -1  -1  -1

• The first time the cub comes to camp:

• Feed the cub something from your pack

 +1  +1  +1  +1  +1

• Tell the cub to go away, or attack him (with Speak with Animals)

 -1  -1

• Attack (without Speak with Animals)

 -1  -1  -1

• The second time the cub comes to camp:

• Nature, Medicine, or Survival check to heal him

 +1  +1  +1  +1

• Scare him away (without Speak with Animals)

 -1  -1

• Attack

 -1  -1

Achievements

You Have Two Hands for a Reason
Pet Scratch and the owlbear cub at the same time - the greatest joy an adventurer could ask for.

Gallery

• 

  Fully grown and in armour

• 

  Owlbear cub's Early Access model

• 

  Armoured Owlbear resting on a stone bench.

• 

  Early Access appearance

• 

  Render by Bert Vanhengel

External Links

Owlbear on the Forgotten Realms Wiki