Where does the owlbear cub go?

[marceror]

Anyone know where the owlbear cub goes if you encounter him AFTER wiping out the goblins at the goblin camp?

After defeating his momma, I left him in the owlbear cave to enjoy a nice meal. I went back after a long rest, and the cub was not present at the cave. He is also not at the goblin camp. Is he gone from the game for good, or is there somewhere else I can find him?

I'm obviously okay with some light spoilers related to this.

[alex010300]

Need to give the cub food when he first shows up.

[marceror]

Originally posted by marceror:

Originally posted by StepBroccoli:

Just don't kill him. Enter the cave. Either speak with owlbear mom and leave or kill her, but not a cub.

He will later find his way into your camp in act 2 or 3, I think latter one.

At least in my run I cleared all Act 1, then remembered there was a cave, came back just to talk to owlbears and left without killing any of them. Cub came into my camp in the beginning of act 3.

Interesting. I thought you had to give him your scent. I did not have an option to do that in the owlbear cave. The cub was too engrossed in his "dinner" to pay attention to me.

I can now confirm what you say here. I am just about to head to Act 2 from the Underdark, and I have rested at least ~4 times since I killed the owlbear mama, and spared the cub. Because the goblins were all killed prior, I never saw the owlbear at the goblin camp, and figured I would not see him again.

But he just showed up, in the Underdark even, and told me he was hungry via my speak with animals spell, which is always up. I gave him some food. Shadowheart made a comment about him eating all the food in the camp, and he ran off. I guess I have a chance to get him as a permanent friend still! :)

[CaptAhab!]

Originally posted by marceror:

Originally posted by marceror:

Interesting. I thought you had to give him your scent. I did not have an option to do that in the owlbear cave. The cub was too engrossed in his "dinner" to pay attention to me.

I can now confirm what you say here. I am just about to head to Act 2 from the Underdark, and I have rested at least ~4 times since I killed the owlbear mama, and spared the cub. Because the goblins were all killed prior, I never saw the owlbear at the goblin camp, and figured I would not see him again.

But he just showed up, in the Underdark even, and told me he was hungry via my speak with animals spell, which is always up. I gave him some food. Shadowheart made a comment about him eating all the food in the camp, and he ran off. I guess I have a chance to get him as a permanent friend still! :)

@marceror did you manage to proceed with befriending it? Am experiencing the same issue and actively considering goblin genocide to move on with the story instead of waiting for this issue to be patched.

[marceror]

Originally posted by CaptAhab!:

Originally posted by marceror:

I can now confirm what you say here. I am just about to head to Act 2 from the Underdark, and I have rested at least ~4 times since I killed the owlbear mama, and spared the cub. Because the goblins were all killed prior, I never saw the owlbear at the goblin camp, and figured I would not see him again.

But he just showed up, in the Underdark even, and told me he was hungry via my speak with animals spell, which is always up. I gave him some food. Shadowheart made a comment about him eating all the food in the camp, and he ran off. I guess I have a chance to get him as a permanent friend still! :)

@marceror did you manage to proceed with befriending it? Am experiencing the same issue and actively considering goblin genocide to move on with the story instead of waiting for this issue to be patched.

Not sure how this will play out yet. I have rested maybe 3 times since I saw the owlbear, and haven't seen him again yet. I'll report back as my game progresses, but I have limited playtime this week.

[dbond1]

IN my case I killed the owlbear. later the cub was in the goblin camp and I told Krolla? that the cub was coming with me. It showed up at camp. No speak with animals. this was all in act 1. Now he chases Scratch around the camp

[EricHVela]

No need to kill the mother if you speak with her and convince her to let you leave. (Requires Speak with Animals which isn't supposed to work on creatures classified as monstrosities, but I've yet to see a DM who's made that ruling. Even if your party can't cast that spell, there's something elsewhere in the cave that'll do it for them.)

For the first step, all you need to do is meet the mother. How you deal with it from there is up to you. Killing her isn't the only option.

Then, you need to tool around for a bit. If any companion complains of needing sleep, that'll trigger the next stage, but having a long rest doesn't always seem to be required. That's when the cub will be the chicken at the camp, but only if the camp isn't hostile to your character or dead. (Visiting the camp before the cave doesn't matter. Just need to be alive and peaceful when meeting the mother and alive and peaceful when the next step is triggered.)

[Greb]

It would seem freeing him from the goblins is a key part of building up a bond with him, so I guess if you wipe out the goblins before handling the owlbear cave then getting him as a pet is closed off to you for good?

I know if you don't kill the mother the goblins will eventually anyway, and capture the owlbear anyway. Honestly don't feel bad about killing the mother, talking to the owlbear cub will pretty much reveal that she was kinda terrible anyway.

Anyway, usually he ends up captured by the goblins and then you free him there and give him your scent and he'll eventually show up at the camp when you long rest, then run away again, and then come back again when you long rest one more time.

I guess it's possible he can skip the whole goblin thing and just show up at your camp hungry and wounded instead, but I doubt it. It seems like you're going to need to give him your scent and show him you're not a threat to him before he'll even try sticking his nose into the camp. At least that's what I assume anyway.

My friend missed out on the owlbear and he tried getting him in his camp by long resting a bunch (he'd also killed the goblins at this point, but he never saw the owlbear in the camp when he was doing it, and this was after he fought the owlbear etc) and it never showed up, which is why I'm assuming you can't get the cub without meeting him in the goblin camp after he gets captured by goblins.

I could be wrong though, since that was back in buggy initial release...who knows?

[marceror]

Originally posted by dbond1:

IN my case I killed the owlbear. later the cub was in the goblin camp and I told Krolla? that the cub was coming with me. It showed up at camp. No speak with animals. this was all in act 1. Now he chases Scratch around the camp

That's the well known approach. What we are discussing here is what happens if you eliminate the goblins prior to encountering the owlbear. At this point, there seems to be some hope that you can get the owlbear even if you take care of the goblins first.

[marceror]

Confirmed that the owlbear can still become a permanent member of your camp even if you kill the goblins first. Rest a few times after encountering him, and he will show up at your camp looking for food. Rest a few more times, and he will show up asking for help with an injury. Talk to him again after helping him, and he will say that he is "home" (assuming you need to have talk to animals active for him to say this).

Yay!

[alex010300]

BTW; you can convince the Goblins to allow you to keep the owlbear cub. How that happens is when using speak animal you convince the owlbear cub to win the race for you. This pisses off the goblins and you can convince them to let the owlbear cub go with you because keeping it is not worth it.

A good way to rescue the OwlBear Cub without killing the Goblin camp if you are going that route.

[H4m5ter_GT]

So I heard some say the cub can still be interacted with in Act 2? I left Act 1 and completely forgot about the cub though I managed to win the race and eliminate all the goblins in their camp.

Felt bad about not having it in my camp after Act 1.

[ShadowDark3]

All owl bear cubs go to heaven.

[ProestUnicorn]

I like how everyone is just cool with killing his mom, incluiding cub himself in front of him, just to get him as a cute pet ^^

[marceror]

Originally posted by ProestUnicorn:

I like how everyone is just cool with killing his mom, incluiding cub himself in front of him, just to get him as a cute pet ^^

The cub does seem to be rather unhappy that his mother ate his older brother, so he may actually feel more secure with the adventurers. Young minds tend to process these sorts of situations differently than more developed minds, and the cub finding himself lacking security after his mother's death and fearful of goblins (he has nightmares about them), may just be happy to have found a new safe place. The need for security is real, even for owlbears it seems.

[NzFox]

just a warning, if you have talk to animals, the 2nd time he turns up (with the hurt paw) there is an option that is something like 'so young but so much trouble already', it is badly conveyed but from my personal experience and everyone I have talked to about it it seems that option is 'I do not want you in my camp'