Ursavis

Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: Bite or Claw (1d6+2)
Special: breath weapon (4d6), dropped rocks (1d6+2), hug (5d4 then 2d6/round), fire
Move: 9 Fly 18 (3)
HDE/XP: 9/1,100

Description

An Ursavis (pluras Ursaves) is a weird creature looking like a giant bear with bird features such as a beak, massive wings, and hind-limbs. Due to this features ursavis are commonly mistaken for some kind of owlbear or even griffin variants.

An ursavis’ hind-limbs are rather small and weak to be used in combat and tend to be folded inside its fur, but its beak and claws are potent weapons. An ursavis prefers to attack from distance, either by dropping heavy rocks for 1d6+2 points of damage or by making swooping attacks with its claws. If the ursavis rolls a 20 on a d20 for a claw attack against a medium or small target, the ursavis hugs it for 5d4 points of damage and swoops them away; each round after, the victim is hugged for 2d6 damage.

There's a 10% chance that the ursavis is a firebreathing one (XP value 1,010); such creatures can, 4 times per day, exhale a cone of fire 20 feet long and 10 feet wide for 4d6 points of damage (saving throw for half damage).

Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.