The Giant Beaver Monster and Character Character Options Introduction: Introduction: One of the monsters found in the first pages of the first edition Monster Manual was the Giant Beaver. The humanoid giant beaver subsequently and sadly disappeared from later editions. Here is a version for fifth edition along with suggestions for its use as a character race and an example encounter.
A First Edition Monster Returns for Fifth
by Darren Couillard
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Giant Beavers
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community. Giant beaver pelts are highly valued in some quarters and may be worth up to 500 GP apiece. Young beaver pups may be captured and trained. B eaver communities will ally with neighbors against a common threat and are willing trade partners, bartering both their services (there are few creatures better at dockside carpentry and construction) and their few trade goods (primarily wood, fish, and lore) for metal items and tools they are unable to produce for themselves.
Berserker Beaver Giant Beaver
Medium Humanoid, Neutral Armor Class 15 (Natural Armor & Unarmored Defense) Hit Points 44 (4d12+12) Speed 30 ft, Swim 30 ft Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Medium Humanoid, Neutral Armor Class 12 (Natural Armor - Fur) Hit Points 20 (3d8+6) Speed 30 ft, Swim 30 ft Challenge ½ (100 XP) Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
13 (+1)
10
15 (+2)
9 (-1)
12 (+1)
9 (-1)
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +2 Languages: Beaver Senses: Passive Perception 13, Keen Smell: The beaver has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Hold Breath: The giant beaver can hold its breath underwater for 15 minutes. Actions: Single attack, by bite or by weapon carried, typically spear. Crude Wooden Spear. Melee or ranged weapon attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., or range 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 4 (1d4+1) piercing damage or 5 (1d6+1) piercing damage if used with two hands in melee attack. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 8 (2d6+1) piercing damage. Small communities of up to 40 of these intelligent man sized rodents are found in dammed up p onds and small lakes as well as along rivers and streams. Technologically primitive, the beavers are nonetheless excellent builders, using simple materials to build extensive dams and lodges. Typically the whole community lives in a giant lodge constructed by the beavers in the middle of a lake or pond. When beavers outside the lodge detect a potential threat they use their tails to slap the water loudly to warn the rest of the Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
14 (+2)
10
16 (+3)
8 (-1)
12 (+1)
8 (-1)
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +2, Athletics +4 Languages: Beaver Senses: Passive Perception 13, Keen Smell: The beaver has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Hold Breath: The giant beaver can hold it s breath underwater for 15 minutes. Rage. 3x per long rest. Gain advantage on Strength checks and saving throws, gain an e xtra +2 damage on melee attacks, and gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage for one minute. Also gain a bonus melee attack while raging. Reckless attack. Can choose to attack recklessly to gain advantage on Strength based melee attacks but this gives attack rolls against the berserker have advantage as well. Actions: Single attack, by bite or by weapon carried, typically spear. Crude Wooden Spear. Melee or ranged weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., or range 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 5 (1d4+2) piercing damage or 6 (1d6+2) piercing damage if used with two hands in melee attack. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage. Every beaver clan includes one or two of these berserker champions who serve as their frontline warriors and
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defenders of the community. They tend to be even more bestial than the typical giant beaver but also somewhat tougher. And often angrier as well.
Hit Points 10 (1d8+2) Speed 25 ft, Swim 30 ft Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Beaver Chieftain
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
11
10
14 (+2)
9 (-1)
12 (+1)
9 (-1)
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +2
Medium Humanoid, Neutral
Languages: Beaver
Armor Class 12 (Natural Armor - Fur) Hit Points 31 (5d8+8) Speed 30 ft, Swim 30 ft Challenge 2(400 XP)
Senses: Passive Perception 13, Keen Smell: The beaver has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
14 (+2)
10
15 (+2)
10
14 (+2)
10
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +3 Languages: Beaver, Common, Sylvan Senses: Passive Perception 15, Keen Smell: The beaver has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Hold Breath: The giant beaver can hold its breath underwater for 15 minutes. nd Spellcasting. The chieftain is a 2 level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). Cantrips (at will): Thorn whip, Guidance 1st level (3 slots): Animal Friendship, Cure Wounds, Speak with Animals
Hold Breath: The giant beaver can hold it s breath underwater for 15 minutes. Actions: Single attack, by bite or by weapon carried, typically spear. Crude Wooden Spear. Melee or ranged weapon attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., or range 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 3 (1d4) piercing damage or 4 (1d6) piercing damage if used with two hands in melee attack. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 4 (1d6) piercing damage. The offspring of giant beavers are sometimes valued as exotic slaves and as gladiators, which is one reason the giant beavers often avoid contact with civilization.
Beaver (Common)
Actions: Single attack, by bite or by weapon carried, typically spear.
Tiny Beast, Unaligned
Crude Wooden Spear. Melee or ranged weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., or range 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 5 (1d4+2) piercing damage or 6 (1d6+2) piercing damage if used with two hands in melee attack.
Armor Class 11 Hit Points 4 (1d4+1) Speed 20 ft, Swim 30 ft Challenge 0 (10 XP)
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.
Str 6 (-2)
The chieftains of the giant b eaver clans are often older and wilier than the typical specimen, and have often studied a bit of druidic magic as well that aides their clan in coexisting with the local wildlife.
Senses: Passive Perception 11, Keen Smell: The beaver has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Giant Beaver Pup Small Humanoid, Neutral Armor Class 12 (Natural Armor - Fur) Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.
Dex Con Int 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 2 (-4)
Wis Cha 12 (+1) 6 (-2)
Hold Breath: The beaver can hold its breath underwater for 15 minutes. Actions: Single attack by bite. Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit 4 (1d4+1) piercing damage.
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The common beaver is found in and near lakes, ponds, and streams in temperate climates. They are noted for building dams and lodge homes out of trees and branches. Adult pelts are worth 2 GP.
A Giant Beaver Encounter While traveling through a mountainous or hilly countryside, the party comes across a human vil lage by a river that looks like it was recently much reduced in volume, to judge from the docks and nets now 100’ away from where the stream now trickles by. The people are somewhat agitated, and the village headman comes forth to petition the PC’s for assistance. He describes the recent drying up of the river as being a sudden and unexpected hardship, with the village now unable to send the lumber t hey harvest down river and no longer being able to supplement their diets with fish from the river. He describes an expedition t hat recently traveled upriver being chased away by large furry monsters, and asks the adventurers to investigate. If they can restore the river to the point where lumber can be floated downstream again, the villagers are willing to give the adventurers the proceeds of the next l umber shipment, worth perhaps 100 GP. If the PC’s make the journey upstream, it could be a good time to throw some wandering monsters unrelated to the beavers into the mix. Or it could be a good chance to be intentional, and perhaps the characters experience the local goblin/orc/kobold problem first hand. The journey should take about a day and a half to get a little over 12 miles through terrain that becomes increasingly challenging as they ascend the stream valley. Eventually they come upon a gigantic crud e wooden dam. If they immediately start investigating ways to break it, they are interrupted by a small mob of a dozen angry giant beavers who seek to drive them away. If they investigate what is on the other side of the dam, they find a recently created reservoir with a castle like beaver lodge being constructed in the middle of it. A full community of 30 or so giant beavers should give 1st to 4th level adventurers pause for making an immediate attack, especially if there is a berserker beaver present. And they may have good reason to have created their defensive reservoir and castle like dwelling. Perhaps the aforementioned goblins/orcs/kobolds have driven them here. Perhaps there is a trading opportunity
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or mutual defensive pact to be found between the humans and the giant beavers. T here may be an effective role playing solution here for the PC’s to negotiate an occasional draw down of the water level in the reservoir.
As a Playable Race When giant beavers find their way to more civilized lands, their animalistic appearance and behavior clearly distinguish them from other races. Their innate caution and the typical self-sufficiency of the beavers’ lodge communities typically will ensure that these excursions away from their wilderness homes are somewhat rare. However, they are social creatures and can often b ecome integral members of organizations dominated b y others. The rare giant beaver adventurer is most t ypically a barbarian or druid, but those who have greater exposure to a more advanced civilization have been known to explore other paths as well.
Giant Beaver Traits Giant beavers are typically strong and hardy wilderness natives. Ability score increase. Giant beavers have a +2 bonus to Constitution and a +1 bonus to Strength. Age. Giant beavers mature rapidly and typically live shorter lives compared to humans, reaching physical maturity by the age of 10 and rarely living past the age of 50. Alignment. Often focused on survival in a someti mes harsh and dangerous environment, the typical giant beaver is neutral in alignment, although their focus on the success of the community as a whole makes good alignments more common than evil. Size. Giant beavers are approximately human-sized in height, though their fur gives them a bulkier appearance. Their size is medium. Speed. Giant beavers have a base movement speed on both land and while swimming of 30 feet. Keen Smell. The giant beaver has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on their sense of s mell. Hold Breath. Giant beavers can hold their breath underwater for 15 minutes. Bite attack. Giant beavers are proficient in making a bite attack that does 2d6 + strength modifier piercing damage on successful hit. Natural armor. Giant beavers have a base AC of 12 due to their thick fur and hides.
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