```metadata title: Bear description: I got inspired by a Reddit post and took this joke concept way too seriously. tags: [] systems: - 5e renderer: V3 theme: 5eDMG ``` {{frontCover}} {{logo ![](/assets/naturalCritLogoRed.svg)}} # Bear ## By P. G. Macer ___ {{banner HOMEBREW}} {{footnote Play as an ursine advenuterer in this joke gone too far for the world’s greatest role-playing game }} ![background image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/American_black_bear_-_FWS.jpg){position:absolute,bottom:0,left:60px,height:100%} \page ## Bear Occasionally a creature of the ursine variety decides that those adventurer types of humanoid kind know what they’re doing and chooses to join them. More often, a bear is subject to an *awaken* spell, and upon gaining free will finds it can’t reassimilate back into the wild life it knew before. ### Bear Traits ***Ability Score Increase***. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 1, and your Intelligence score decreases by 1. ***Age.*** Bears come of age at around 3-5 years old. For a bear’s maximum lifespan, see each subrace for more information. ***Alignment.*** Bears are typically unaligned. Those with enough awareness to make ethical decisions tend to be of neutral alignment. ***Speed.*** Your base walking speed is 35 feet. ***Beast.*** Your creature type is beast, rather than humanoid. ***Claws.*** Your claws are natural weapons with the Light property, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, the claws deal 1d6 slashing damage, rather than bludgeoning damage as typical of unarmed strikes. ***Darkvision.*** Your ursine heritage grants you better vision than humans. You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. In that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray ***Keen Smell.*** You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Survival) checks relying on your sense of smell. ***Subrace.*** Bears come in many species. Choose from black, brown, cave, panda, polar, and sun bears. ***Languages.*** You can speak Common, but can only read and write in it if your background provides proficiency in one or more languages. #### Black Bear Despite the name, black bears’ coats come in many colors, from black to cinnamon brown to even rarely creamy white. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Constitution and Wisdom scores increase by 1. ***Size.*** Black bears are on the smaller end of the ursine spectrum, though still very big by human standards. Your Size is Medium. ***Expert Forager.*** You are proficient with the Stealth and Survival skills. ***Tree Climber.*** You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. \column #### Brown Bear Also known as grizzly bears (though that only applies to a certain subset of brown bears), brown bears are known for their sows’ ferocity on protecting their cubs. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Strength and Wisdom scores increase by 1. ***Age.*** Brown bears can live to be up to 50 years old. ***Size.*** Brown bears are quite big, but those that become intelligent enough to be adventurers are on the smaller end of their species. Your Size is Medium. ***Natural Armor***. You have a thick, furry hide. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Constitution modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor. ***Powerful Build.*** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. ***Relentless Endurance.*** When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest. {{artist,position:absolute,bottom:330px,right:85px,margin-bottom:-30px ##### Kodiak Bear with Salmon Greg Wilker, Public domain, [via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kodiak_Bear_with_salmon,_USFWS_DI-DSC00044.jpg) }} :::::::::::::::::::::::::: #### Cave Bear Cave bears live in caves. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 1. ***Age.*** Cave bears can live to be up to 50 years old. ***Size.*** Cave bears are heckin’ big, but those intelligent enough to be adventurers are on the smaller end of their species. Your Size is Medium. ***Mighty Claws.*** Your claws’ damage die becomes a d8. ***Superior Darkvision.*** Adapted to cave life, your darkvision extends to a range of 120 feet. ***Powerful Build.*** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. \page {{artist,position:absolute,top:575px,left:125px,margin-bottom:-30px ##### Mural in a Spanish Preschool [Zarateman, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vitoria_-_Escuela_Infantil_Haurtzaro_6.jpg) }} :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : #### Panda Bear The giant panda, colloquially known as the panda bear, or just panda for short, inhabits remote mountainous regions and is known for its distinctive coloration and diet consisting nearly entirely of bamboo. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Dexterity and Wisdom scores increase by 1. ***Age.*** Pandas reach maturity slightly later than most bears, between the ages of 4 and 8, and can live into their mid-40s. ***Size.*** Pandas are in the middles of the ursine spectrum, though still very big by human standards. Your Size is Medium. ***Cyanide Diet.*** Your diet of bamboo, a plant rich in cyanide when eaten raw, grants you resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the poisoned condition on yourself. ***Panda’s Thumb.*** Your front paws have adapted to eating bamboo via a special thumblike finger. You are proficient in the Sleight of Hand skill, and can add a d4 to the total of your Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks. \column #### Polar Bear Inhabiting extreme arctic regions, polar bears have a distinctive white coat and eat fellow marine mammals, having the most carnivorous diet of the bears. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 1. ***Age.*** Polar bears can live to be up to 50 years old. ***Size.*** Polar bears are on average the largest species of bear, but those intelligent enough to be adventurers are on the smaller end of their species. Your Size is Medium. ***Cold Resistance.*** You have resistance to cold damage. ***Marine Mammal.*** You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. ***Powerful Build.*** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. #### Sun Bear The smallest of the bears, sun bears are found in tropical regions. ***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Dexterity score increases by 2. ***Age.*** Sun bears can live into their mid-30s. ***Size.*** Your Size is Small. You can grapple creatures up to two sizes larger than yourself. ***Arboreal Life.*** You are proficient in the Acrobatics skill, and can add a d4 to the total of any Dexterity (Acrobatics) check you make. ***Expert Tree Climber.*** You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed + 5 feet. ***Mighty Grip.*** You do not suffer disadvantage from being Small when wielding a melee weapon with the Heavy property. ***Powerful Build.*** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. {{artist,position:absolute,bottom:418px,right:70px,margin-bottom:-30px ##### Polar Bear (1912) Colin Campbell Cooper, Public domain, [via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colin_Campbell_Cooper,_Polar_Bear_(1912).jpg) }} \page {{backCover}} # Credits Made by P. G. Macer using The Homebrewery. : Bear is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Coast LLC. : Covers Image by Steve Maslowski - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, [via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_black_bear_-_FWS.jpg) : Thumbnail Image by Jean-noël Lafargue, Free Art License, [via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ours_brun_parcanimalierpyrenees_1.jpg) ___ For use with the fifth edition of the world’s greatest role-playing game. Play the best game of your life! ![background image](https://i.imgur.com/MJ4YHu7.jpg){position:absolute,bottom:0,left:0,height:100%} {{logo ![](/assets/naturalCritLogoWhite.svg) Homebrewery.Naturalcrit.com }}