An owlbear (also owl bear) is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

In the early 1970s, Gary Gygax was playing Chainmail, a wargame that also served as a precursor of Dungeons & Dragons.

Although he was able to draw on pulp fiction and sword and sorcery stories for many of them, he also looked through dime stores for figurines that could be used in battle.

Made in Hong Kong, the set included monsters from Japanese "Kaiju" films such as Ultraman and the Godzilla franchise.

[4][5] The owlbear is depicted as an eight to ten foot (2.5–3 meter) tall cross between a bear and an owl.

The actual in-game origin of the owlbear has never been definitively revealed, but the various Monster Manual editions indicate that it is probably the product of a wizard's experiments.

[9] The illustration shows a bear-like creature on all fours, and bears no resemblance to the plastic toy that had given Gygax his original inspiration.

[10]: 66 The owlbear appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977),[1] where it is described as a "horrible creature that inhabits tangled forest regions, and attacks with its great claws and snapping beak".

The illustration of the owlbear shown in the Monster Manual was done by Dave Sutherland, and closely correlates to Gygax's original plastic toy.

[10]: 66 This edition of the D&D game included its own owl bear, in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981 and 1983).

[34] In May 2012, Wizards of the Coast employee Jon Schindehette announced that the inclusion and design of the owlbear for the upcoming fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons was being discussed.

[8] The owlbear is an official monster in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game[37] that is based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition.

[50] The following retro-clones and OSR systems feature the owlbear as an opponent: A male half-owlbear, half-blue dragon hybrid named Dragore is featured as an antagonist in the Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 supplement Foul Locales: Beyond the Walls by Mystic Eye Games.

[74] Blood & Treasure, modelled after Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition, features the owlbear as an opponent.