D&D Race Guide: How to Play a Owlin
If your next D&D character needs flight, extra good darkvision, and the ability to move silently, you want to play an Owlin.
There are so many ways to play bird people in Dungeons & Dragons. Kenku are flightless and crow-like, while Aarakocra cover a wider variety of birds and can fly. They both have the potential to be great for very different kinds of characters. But what if you want to lay an owl person with all of the grace, silence, and all of the head-swiveling these night-time birds are known for? You would want to play an Owlin.
Distant kin of giant owls from the Feywild, owlin come in many shapes and sizes, from petite and fluffy to wide-winged and majestic. Owlin have arms and legs like other Humanoids, as well as wings that extend from their back and shoulders.
Like owls, owlin are graced with feathers that make no sound when they move or fly, making it easy for them to sneak up on you in the library.
Your owlin character might be nocturnal. Or perhaps your character is simply prone to rise later, embodying the common nickname of night owl.
Owlin Traits
Owlin as a player-race was introduced relatively recently in D&D’s fifth edition. Joining the team in 2021’s Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, they follow the more modern approach to character creation vis a vis the ability score increases. Instead of specified increases, one ability score of the player’s choice gets an additional two points, while another gets one extra point.
From there, the Owlin is a pretty straightforward player-race without a ton of bells or whistles. They are humanoid, though they look a lot like human-sized owls. And are either medium (about human-sized) or small (roughly two-to-four feet tall). This is also up to the player and chosen at character creation.
As owls, Owlin can see very clearly in dim light up to 120 feet and can see shades of gray in darkness. But most importantly, they have flight and have a flying speed equal to their walking speed of 30 feet. Unfortunately, Owlin can’t fly if they’re wearing medium or heavy armor. But thanks to their “Silent Feathers” ability, Owlin also have a natural proficiency in the Stealth skill.
Best Classes
With natural stealth, silence, flight, and the ability to see in the dark much farther than most other playable races, Owlin are perfect choices for Rogue or Rangers characters.
Rogue is an almost obvious choice. This is one of the classes best known for utilizing light armor and stealth. With the added- and silent- mobility of flight and dark and low-light vision, Owlin’s would be the perfect option for spy-work and sneaking about.
Rangers can utilize medium armor, but can easily use light instead. But archery from a further distance with the bonus of flight as well as the added boost to tracking from watching-from-the-sky and low-light vision has the potential to be endlessly helpful.
Tips & Tricks
There are lots of options for playing a bird person in D&D. And they are all very different. If you know you want to play an Owlin, I don’t think there are any specific tricks to it. They’re relatively straightforward but have enough unique abilities to keep it interesting. But if you instead just know you want to be a bird, look at all of the options as well as the specific class or classes you want to play and work from there. There isn’t a wrong choice, but there may be a right choice for the character you want to play.
Have you played an Owlin character? Has there been one in any of your parties? Which 5E bird race is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
