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Just Use Bears

by Mike on 28 September 2026

Find a simple stat block you can reuse and reskin into just about any monster you want. Keep the stat block handy to help you improvise monsters during your game.

I first ran into the quote and idea behind "just use bears" in Knock issue 1 by the Merry Mushmen – a fantastic zine for OSR RPGs.

First written by Jack Shear in 2016 as far as I can tell, the concept of “Just Use Bears” is simple. When you need a monster and don't have one handy, use the stat block for a bear and you'll probably be ok. Add some flavor if you want. Improvise a feature if you need. But the base stat block likely works just fine.

What Is the Bear Of Your System?

Different systems handle the idea of "just use bears" in different ways. In old-school systems, the flat math of the system means a bear can be a solid threat to characters across several character levels. One or more bears can likely threaten a group of characters.

A single bear stat block may not provide a good threat for systems with a steeper mechanical climb. A single bear might provide a good challenge for low-tier characters in 5e but not above 8th level or so. Instead, you might need several bears.

Whatever system you're playing, seek out the equivalent of the "bear" stat block and keep it on hand.

Why Bears?

Bears are strong – often stronger than a single character – but not as threatening as, say, a dragon. This aspect makes a bear stat block more versatile than a weaker or stronger monster. The RPG you choose to run determines much about how well a bear works (or your bear equivalent), but often bears serve well as strong adversaries without being overwhelming.

Bears of 5e

When we say "bears", it doesn't actually have to be the bear. I actually like the giant stat blocks in 5e most of the time. Giants (starting with ogres and working our way up to storm giants) are strong heavy hitters with lots of hit points but not a lot of mechanical crunch to worry about. They'll scare players without being overwhelming to run.

When Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Teos Abadia, and I wrote Forge of Foes, we included a set of generic monsters at several challenge ratings to serve as "bears" for 5e – reskinnable stat blocks you could use at several levels, tiers, and challenge ratings. We included them in our Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document as well.

We also have the Monster Stats by Challenge Level table or you can use the following quick guide to improvise a 5e monster at any challenge level:

AC = 12 + 1/2 CR
DC = 12 + 1/2 CR
Attack Bonus = 4 + 1/2 CR
Average Damage per Round = 7 × CR (or 2d6 per CR)
Saving Throw with Proficiency = 4 + 1/2 CR
Hit Points = 15 to 20 × CR

Bears of Dragonbane

Dragonbane monsters and NPCs are a little tricker. There's no direct "bear" monster to speak of but Giant Spider works well. It isn't too dangerous, unlike the giant. You'll have to reskin its web attack, most likely, and maybe the poison. The orc stat blocks work well for NPCs – strong but not totally horrifying.

The Bears of Daggerheart

Daggerheart has a nice bear stat block at tier 1 you can use in a pinch. It's a bruiser, so it's big and strong. Because Daggerheart has a tier-based monster difficulty system you can either seek a bear at each tier or use the "improvising adversaries" table on page 208 to beef up your bear for tier 2, 3, or 4 use. Otherwise you might use the giant brawler for tier 2 and the greater earth elemental at tier 3. There's not a fantastic easy-to-use adversary for tier 4.

Alternatively, use the improvised statistics table for on-the-fly adversary stats and add some hit points to build up a monster. A typical challenging battle has about four or five hit points per character.

What About Those Fancy Stat Blocks?

Some GMs love stat blocks with lots of mechanical flavor to them and many games support this style. D&D and the other 5e variants have pretty tactically rich stat blocks most of the time. Supplements like Flee Mortals add even more tactical crunch. Daggerheart has shockingly complex adversary stat blocks given its free-flowing improvisational nature (something I think exemplifies its dual nature as an improvisational story-focused game and a tactical crunchy combat game).

Other times, GMs prefer to focus on the fiction and the stat blocks don't actually matter that much. After decades playing D&D 3e, 4e, and 5e with more tactically rich monster stat blocks, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the details of a stat block don't matter that much to me or my players. Player features matter, but monsters can largely serve as vehicles for damage in and damage out. I ran a year's worth of 5e in my City of Arches setting using generic stat blocks probably 80% of the time and none of us cared.

For me, the ideal monster stat block is that of Monte Cook's Cypher system. A single number between 1 and 10 representing something as small as an angry rat to a world-ending sentient moon. From that single number you have all you need to run a monster. We don't need a bear in Numenera. Every adversary is just a number.

Jonathan Tweet's Bears

Jonathan Tweet, the lead designer of D&D 3rd edition and one of the two designers behind one of my favorite RPGs 13th Age wrote up his home rules for a lightweight D20-based D&D clone he calls Fighter Wizard Elf. Instead of traditional monster stat blocks, Jonathan includes a table, similar to the one we have in Forge of Foes for improvising any monster at any level. No bears needed – everything is a bear.

It's no surprise that 13th Age also includes baseline stats for monsters of different types at any level.

Put a Bear In Your Toolkit

Put a readily accessible standard stat block in your toolkit. Choose one easy enough to run at the table that still feels threatening to the characters. Reskin with fiction and, if you need to, improvise a mechanical ability. Let go of the idea that every monster needs unique and complicated statistics. Let the monster's fiction differentiate itself and make life easy on yourself with a standard stat block. Use bears.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a video on The Dragon's Coil — Dragon Empire Prep Session 82.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Always be looking for new people to join your group.
Ensure players have meaningful choices in and out of combat.
Share secrets through captured notes between enemies.
Print handouts on fancy resume paper and tear off the edges.
Share secrets through monuments.
Review your notes before and after your game. Change your prep to suit what you need at the game.
Let the characters raise and lower their reputation with the factions of your world. You don't need a mechanical system for it. "The Arcane Eye will remember this" is enough.

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