The owlbear cub is a creature you can encounter very early in your game. And if you pass all the right rolls and make all the right decisions, you can eventually usher him into your camp. Here’s how.
How to Find the Owlbear Cub in Baldur’s Gate 3
First things first: you’re going to need to actually find the owlbear cub. To do this, head to the Owlbear Cave at the coordinates X: 70, Y:401. This is in the river, below the bridge that leads to the Blighted Village.
Once inside, you’ll encounter the owlbear and its cub. From here, you can opt to fight the owlbear mother and her cub, or you can try to approach them peacefully.
If you interacted with the nearby injured dwarf, Edowin, and his siblings and brought them to the cave, the siblings will settle for nothing less than vengeance. You’ll have no choice but to fight the owlbear and her cub.
Approaching the Owlbear Peacefully
Approach the owlbear mother close enough, and a cutscene will begin. You’ll then have the option to study the owlbear’s behavior by using Animal Handling, back away with a Survival check, or puff out your chest with a Performance check.
If you fail any of these checks, the owlbear will attack you, and you’ll have to fight. Showing any hostility will also cause her to attack.
Studying the owlbear will reveal that she’s protecting the owlbear cub behind her. Hold out your hands to show you mean no harm or back away slowly, and the owlbear mother will allow you to safely leave. If you have the ability to do so, you can also use Speak to Animals to have a conversation with the owlbear mother and convince her to let you leave. Either way, you’ll want to leave the cave.
You’ll encounter the owlbear cub again at a later time.
The owlbear mother will die in the game no matter what, whether it’s by your hand or another’s. If you choose to leave the owlbear mother and her cub alone, a goblin will come along and kill her after one long rest. The owlbear mother’s death is what allows you to interact with and recruit the owlbear cub later on in the game.
Fighting the Owlbear
If you choose to fight the Owlbear, do not hurt the cub. Just kill the mother. It’s not a very difficult fight, but the cub can become a nuisance, especially when you’re trying to keep it alive. You can try to use non-lethal attacks on the owlbear cub, but know that you won’t be able to take down the owlbear mother non-lethally. Even non-lethal attacks will end up killing the owlbear mother.
Killing the owlbear mother will trigger a very sad cutscene. You’ll then be given the decision to kill the owlbear cub or let it live. Since we’re trying to recruit it, let the poor guy live.
With that grim deed done, leave. We’ll have to move on and encounter the owlbear cub again later in the game. But not before looting the Head of a Broken Spear off the owlbear mother’s corpse.
How to Save the Owlbear Cub in Baldur’s Gate 3
As you proceed through Act 1 of BG3, you’ll eventually come to the Goblin Camp, home of the goblins. This camp is furthest west of the first Act’s map, and you’ll need to come here to rescue the druid Halsin. It also houses one of the many ways to access the Underdark, which you’ll need to pass through to procced to Act 2.
You’ll find the owlbear cub for the second time in the Goblin Camp’s central courtyard near the camp’s entrance. You can recruit the owlbear cub in two ways here.
If the Goblins Are Friendly
If you charmed or betrayed your way into the goblins’ good graces, you’ll be able to access the goblin courtyard freely. If this is the case, you’ll see the owlbear cub beside a goblin, called Mezzka, in the courtyard.
Before you talk to Mezzka, talk to Volo. This is necessary because Mezzka won’t talk to you until Volo stops his singing.
Once Volo is gone, speak to Mezzka. She’ll invite you to take part in chicken chasing, which will have you running around after the owlbear cub. Refuse to take part. The owlbear cub will then start running. Chase after it and speak to it.
If you have Speak to Animals, you won’t need to pass a skill check. But if you don’t, you’ll need to roll Animal Handling and get a roll of at least 10. If you pass that, you can offer your hand to the owlbear cub, and let it smell you. But that won’t be enough. He’s too scared to leave.
Return to Mezzka and tell her you’re taking the owlbear cub with you. You’ll then have a series of options to choose from. We had intimidation, persuasion, and Illith/wisdom. Use whichever option you think will give you the best result.
If you succeed, she’ll hand the owlbear cub over to you.
If the Goblins Are Aggressive
If you killed the three goblin leaders, or the goblins in the camp are aggressive, you’ll need to kill them. Do not kill the cub. Once the courtyard is cleared out, you can speak to the owlbear cub. If you can’t speak to it, leave the camp and take a long rest, then return and speak to the cub.
If you were able to freely roam the Goblin Camp and speak to the owlbear cub before slaughtering everyone in the camp, note that the cub likely won’t appear in the courtyard after your exit from the Shattered Sanctum. This is fine as long as the owlbear cub has smelled you and knows where your camp is. If the owlbear cub knows your scent, it will eventually find you in your camp. In fact, it’s disappearance might even help you in the courtyard battle as you won’t have to worry about keeping the cub alive.
If the owlbear cub hasn’t appeared in your camp yet, don’t worry. It usually appears after a long rest or two, and you’ll be prompted to feed it. It will wander off again. But don’t worry, it will be back, and you’ll eventually be able to add it as a full-time member of your party.
When the owlbear cub returns after you feed it, you’ll see it cozying up with Scratch (assuming you recruited him), and you’ll find they’ve become close friends. Interact with them, and you’ll start a cutscene where you can pet both of them at the same time. Doing so will net you the You Have Two Hands For A Reason achievement.
How to Use the Owlbear Cub
Once the owlbear cub has become a permanent member of your camp, you’ll be able to pet and interact with it as you would with Scratch. Unlike Scratch, however, you won’t be able to summon the owlbear cub as a familiar in battles. The owlbear cub mostly just exists as a camp companion until the end of the game.
The owlbear cub can, however, eventually come into play in the game’s final battles. Without spoiling anything, we’ll just say that there will be a point where you’ll have a special option to call upon allies. The owlbear cub will be one of these allies that can aid you in the final battle.
If you want a more in-depth guide on how to get through BG3’s Owlbear Cave past the owlbear cub and its mother and get that gilded chest open, we have you covered.
