Gobble-Gobble ROAR! Let’s Play D&D With the Turkeybear
This Thanksgiving we’re taking on the terrifying Turkeybear. But if we win there’s the promise of a rejuvenating hero’s feast!
I live in turkey country these days. This means that sometimes my husband gets a little video of a turkey or three walking past my office window while the Jurassic Park theme plays. I’ve also been chased by an angry wild turkey before and they are terrifying. So when a flock is hanging out in our front yard, I just don’t leave the house until they’ve moved on. I think the neighborhood turkeys are familiar enough with people not to attack me, but I don’t know for sure.
You don’t have to think I’m funny. I think I’m funny.
But you know who would (probably) take on a wandering family of wild turkeys? Our D&D characters! In fact, I bet they would take on an entire…
Turkeybear
A mixture between the Owlbear and your run-of-the-mill Turkey, the Turkeybear is coming to peck at your party members. They have all of the standard monster moves with Multiattack, Claw, and Beak (which would usually be bite). But the Turkeybear isn’t just an Owlbear ripoff nor simply an excuse for me to tell you about my neighborhood fowl.
Okay, it’s a little bit of those things. But it’s also a very fun and thematically specific addition to your Thanksgiving week D&D sessions.
Art by Goatboy.
The Sonic Gobble is based on the real-life reaction you get to hear that turkey gobble when you’re minding your own business in your kitchen. Suddenly they’re out there and you have to do the mental math to figure out if you’ll be late dropping the kiddo off at daycare or if they’ll stop hanging out around your car soon. Regular Earth turkeys aren’t doling out thunder damage, and that’s something the Turkeybear has up on them. But the fear is real. Of course, our characters are armed with weapons and magic, I’m sure they won’t be that scared.
The good news, though, is that the Turkeybear doles out a pretty useful reward once defeated. A fallen Turkeybear becomes a hero’s feast (or the greatest Thanksgiving Dinner you’ve ever had). This feast is so good that it brings back your hit points and spell slots and leaves you ready to fight another battle. Which is to say it acts as a long rest. And of course, we all know the secret best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers you get to eat in the solitary tranquility of your own home the next day. Defeating a Turkeybear will always leave you with enough leftovers for short rest producing sandwiches the next day.
Courtesy of D&D Heroes’ Feast Cookbook
Would you fight the Turkeybear for a chance at the delicious hero’s feast? Have you ever met a real turkey in the wild? What monster or adventure would you add to your D&D session to make it a little more holiday minded for Thanksgiving? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
