Owl

These night raptors live in every climate, most often temperate or subarctic, ranging from the 6-inch pygmy owl to the 2-foot great horned owl with its 5-foot wingspan (typical statistics describe the bigger kinds). Most have a heart-shaped facial disk and enormous eyes guarded by a nictitating membrane, and some have swept-back ear tufts like horns. Some cultures call them wise, others harbingers of death.

Owls take insects, rodents and small lizards, and turn on humans only out of fear or under magical command. With twice normal ultravision, four times normal hearing and utterly silent flight, they impose -6 on prey's surprise rolls and cannot themselves be surprised between sunset and sunrise. By day their eyesight is poorer than a human's, and an owl found at its daytime roost suffers -3 on its surprise roll. They attack with talons and hooked beak; a swoop from 50 feet or higher gives each talon attack +2 and double damage, but allows no bite.

Most nest in hollow trees (the burrowing owl uses prairie dog holes) and evict other birds. Crows, ravens and other day birds they prey on mob them by daylight, which lets hunters use an owl as bait. Owls live singly or in pairs and can be partly tamed if raised young, but never trained to hunt.

Besides rodents and insects they eat toads, frogs and day birds, and only monsters like wyverns hunt them.

Giant owls are huge, long-winged versions of large owls with their own language, hunting rodents, rabbits and big game birds in remote wilds. Their size denies them the swoop bonus, but they still fly almost noiselessly, imposing -6 on surprise rolls. Intelligent but wary, they may befriend humans. A lair has a 20% chance of young: either eggs (25%) or hatchlings (75%) 20-70% grown, numbering 1-3, and the parents fight anything that threatens them. Eggs fetch 1,000 silver pieces and young 2,000.

These rare, magical birds resemble normal owls, yet converse in Common plus as many as six more tongues of the DM's choosing, and they swoop like normal owls. They exist to guide and counsel champions of good on perilous quests, staying for 1-3 weeks with anyone who is kind at their first meeting; one may pretend to have an injured wing as a test of a party's character. They can detect good and have Wisdom 21, which makes them immune to command, forget, friends, scare, fear, cause fear, hypnotism, charm person, hold person and ray of enfeeblement.