Space Owl

Space owls look like ordinary owls, dark brown to snowy white, with large, unblinking yellow eyes. They stand about 2 1/2 feet tall with a 4-foot wingspan. Besides Common they know as many as three more tongues chosen by the DM, and can converse with every kind of bird, whether from a planet or from the void between worlds.

These thoughtful birds avoid fights. Faced with a foe, a space owl tries to talk things through, probing the enemy's psyche for the roots of its aggression: was it born mean or raised badly? Few enemies enjoy being analyzed, so this usually makes matters worse.

Forced to defend itself, it rakes with two taloned feet for 1d4 each and pecks for 1d3. Knowing these attacks rarely discourage anyone, space owls also have spells, cast at 6th level: blink, spook, minor image, invisibility and ventriloquism three times each daily, and augury, true seeing and find the path once each daily.

Space owls gather in small groups called parliaments and roost in trees, atop buildings devoted to learning (libraries, observatories, sages' houses, wizards' towers, laboratories), or inside wrecked starships, which they often try to repair. Members of a parliament pair off; any mated pair may be raising 1d4 owlets (20%) or brooding 1d4+1 eggs (10%).

They live 100+10d10 years. Nocturnal by nature, they adore the starry dark of the void, and bright light, such as a light spell, blinds them. Their hearing is exceptional and their ultravision works only at night.

Every space owl has the Navigation proficiency without the usual -2 modifier, and trained ones have a 45% chance of 1d4 more, drawn from Astrology, Spellcraft, Engineering, Animal Lore, Ancient History, Reading/Writing and Reading Lips. Their bearings are right 90% of the time, and in their home crystal shell they navigate without charts, having instinctively memorized every heavenly body. Learning a new shell takes a month of travel there, or 1d4 days with an accurate map, followed by an Intelligence check; failure means repeating the study.

Space owls also calculate orbits, debate science and philosophy, and play a mean game of chess. Their one flaw is a habit of rambling, overthinking and reaching for the longest possible word.

A few minutes in breathable air every couple of days is all a space owl needs. It eats nearly anything, including cooked food, sweets and wine; wild ones live on plants, insects and small rodents. A wizard who wants one as a familiar must cast find familiar and then talk the owl into the arrangement.