Your Party has had a rough day of adventuring through the Great Old Forest. There were giant snakes and a tumultuous crossing of river rapids – the Warlock got caught in quicksand and is still complaining about the damage done to their clothes. All anyone wants to do is identify some magic items and get a good, long rest.

Out of the darkness, on vast, silent wings, flies an owl the size of a horse. It alights by your campfire, its head swiveling and huge eyes searching each party member.

And then it speaks. And it has need of your Party’s help.

There are a lot of Giant Creatures in D&D (and don’t worry – we’ll get to them all!), but the Giant Owl might be one of the most interesting. They’re more than just really big birds, for starters. They’re actually Celestials, which should be your first clue that an encounter with a Giant Owl should be something that has weight and meaning to it. The Giant Owl is wise and intelligent, can speak, and can even cast a few spells.

The spells that the Giant Owls have on hand are all about Divination – They have Detect Evil and Good, Detect Magic, and Clairvoyance. This tells us right away that Giant Owls are observant, always on the lookout for what does or doesn’t belong. They’re not looking to spy on things, but rather to understand them. They want to know what kind of heart you have, what dangers you carry, and what kinds of things hover beyond their range.

These are creatures that know things. Knowledge that might elude a normal person might be well within what the Giant Owl has seen. As encounter tools, they’re subtle but powerful – much more than giant beasts. These creatures are witnesses to the stories of the world.

This should give you some ideas for how to use a Giant Owl in your adventures. For example….

The Last Speaker: This Giant Owl that has landed in your Party’s camp is the last of its kind, a witness to terrible destruction. All of its siblings and companions have been slaughtered terribly and systematically. It seeks your Party’s protection, as it possesses divine knowledge that must not be erased from this world – knowledge that is, in fact, critical to the world’s survival. It needs your Party’s protection to get to safety, to a place where it might pass that knowledge on, if it is not already too late. This being sees through time, looking to build a link between the past and the future, and only your players can help it do that.

Knights of the Talon: An order of paladins have an ancient compact with a parliament of Giant Owls. These Paladins ride them into battle, barded and armored, fighting to rid the world of fiendish influences and bring about justice and peace. The headquarters of their Order is in a far-off aerie where they can stand watch for any incursions into our reality. The Giant Owls that they ride see moral clarity. Rather than looking for the secrets of the world, they see it in terms of good and evil, and they assist their mortal companions in protecting the former and eradicating the latter. But this owl has lost its rider. An unspeakable bond has been broken, the Order has fallen, and now the Owl seeks revenge, or perhaps a new cause to serve.

The Watchers in the Trees: These Giant Owls generally don’t interfere. They observe from above, detatched, perhaps oathbound to a wild god or an ancient king to see and record all that happens in these woods. For generations, they have seen everything – but now there is a place in these woods where their vision has gone dark. A place unknown to them. They need your Party’s help to discover what it is, and the longer it remains unknown, the more agitated the Owls of this hallowed wood become.

As a DM, you can also use Giant Owls to help your party stay on track. Do they need to know the location of a lost temple? A Giant Owl might know the way. Have they gotten sidetracked by helping that little village put together a festival in order to placate local forest spirits? Very community-oriented, but that arch-lich isn’t going to destroy himself, and a Giant Owl hovering nearby might help your Players remember what your campaign is actually supposed to be about.

And the Giant Owl’s nature as a Celestial being shouldn’t be overlooked. In divine campaigns, Giant Owls could shine. How loyal is this Owl to its Celestial masters? What might it know that even other Celestials don’t? What would happen if your Party managed to get this divine messenger on their side in whatever grand battle they’re undertaking?

The Giant Owl speaks at your Party’s campfire, and they know that their lives are about to become much more complicated. Use these magnificent creatures well, and you will find places for them to appear nearly everywhere, and soon your players will be on the lookout, scanning the canopy for those silent wings to come and tell them what they need to know.