First Campaign - What monsters to use?

[SerGavin]

for hunting a bear:

Firstly, what you'll be wanting to do is engage from a distance, and preferably from a height, however refrain from climbing a tree as this is more likely to cause injury to yourself and your peers than anyone else. find a safe vantage point and using your ranged weapon (a bow is recommended) shoot at the bear.
Once (if) the bear is hit, it will most likely very quickly detect the hunter and become enraged. Keep in mind that most typical adventurers will not be able to outrun a bear. Do not try. while the adage that one only needs to outrun their allies may occasionally hold true, more often than not this tactic will result in a slightly delayed death and a trail of dead adventurers and blood across the forest floor. this is undesirable.
Because of this, once you have attacked the bear it would be unwise to suddenly have second thoughts at this point. once the bear has reached you, if it is able, which it will be, it is recommended to use oil or whatever comes to hand to attempt to set the bear alight. this will not help however it will certainly look cooler and if worst comes to worst result in a memorable death.
When inevitably engaged in melee combat the hunters stand little chance of surviving alone against the now flaming bears wrath as a result of this it is recommended that the hunters use group tactics and make ample use of flanking attacks and rotate around the bear to both confuse it and prevent one individual taking all of the large amount of damage that an enraged flaming blood soaked bear can and will undoubtedly inflict.
When (if) the bear has been slain, take no risks and impale or stab it a few more times just to be sure. many a would be hunter has lost their life to a bear whose death apparently was greatly exaggerated.

Following this advice and in the unlikely event that you succeed. congratulations! you just survived attacking a bear. Now take the lessons learned to heart. Don't mess with bears.

[Woe]

When hunting player characters (using bear vocabulary, "lunch"):
First, what you'll want to do is engage immediately, and preferably by dropping down upon them from a nearby tree or boulder; or charging them when they are staring at the map and arguing which direction to go (in human words, they call this "role playing"). Do not charge them across open fields, as they have these things called "miss-ayles" that will sting like porcupine quills but from much farther away.
There are two different kinds of food, squishy ones with scrawny legs wearing brightly colored robes and slow ones with metal exoskeletons. Attack the squishy ones first. Not only are they tastier, but they are also much more dangerous. Attacking the squishy ones will probably cause the rest of the group to become enraged. The slow ones will attack and the squishy ones will run away. This is a trap. The squishy ones are running away to attack with this thing called "mahjik", and will seriously ruin your day. The slow ones will attack with sticks and stones, but will usually miss and might even hit each other. Even when they hit, they will likely leave naught more than a small wound, and the scars will aid you in the next mating season anyway.
If you are lucky enough to kill one of the squishy ones, you have a choice. You can either go for another squishy one or lumber off with your kill. Often, these players will allow you to withdraw with your kill, especially if you have mauled a few of the metal ones. Again, focus on the squishy ones but collateral damage may happen. If they look like they intend to fight to the kill, kill all of the squishy ones followed by the slow ones without the pointy sticks.

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Bears are great at learned behavior passed from their mas. The whole "rip a car open to get the toothpaste" behavior is learned. Only in Yosemite does that happen. Mama bears learned it and taught it to their cubs, and the park rangers never broke up that behavior. In other parks, bears that attempt that get a one-way ticket to the zoo.

BFRPG bears, equally smart. They (and other monsters) will also use prior experience. Very seldom will it truly be a "first encounter" experience for both parties.

[AlMan]

Also remember, bears are wild animals, they don't know how to Evade a sword stroke. I was in a party of adventures when the DM had the bear attacking us start to evade. I don't think we let him forget about his "dancing bears".

[PendragonTX]

That gives me a *nasty* idea -- escaped circus animals, no fear of man, some knowledge of Man' s tools.

[Tazer_The_Yoot]

There are no challenges too tough for players to (eventually) overcome. It depends on their creativity, planning and resources. A 3hd creature without any special immunities or powers isn't all that out there as a challenge for a low level party. Many classic modules and BFRPG adventures make it possible for level 1 characters to encounter Ogres and tougher baddies. As long as you make it possible for them to acquire information and gear that would make this hunt easier (provided they engage with the world and ask the right questions), a bear hunt is fine.

[Seven]

A black bear is actually HD4. It's still only worth 240xp and has no treasure.

It's relatively high risk, low reward, all factored in.

[Rosisha]

Treasure is a relative term. Pelt. Claws. Teeth. Meat. Those are all valuable.

[Seven]

My dad made a rug from a black bear. It's a pretty rough fur, let me tell you.
Couldn't keep it from shedding over the years.
Meat? It's kinda of an acquired taste. I had sausages a couple of times.
You gotta stay clear of the fat. Bear fat is kinda rancid.
Why not eat deer, rabbits and birds instead?
Or a boar. Now, that an HD3 creature worth eating.

Claws and teeth? Maybe in a barbarian economy or if you're trading with goblins.

The mistake that bear did was break into my dad's hunting camp and eating everything in there, including a pound of butter. That's mostly the story with bear. They're kinda like pets if you can keep your boundaries.

[Rosisha]

Well the fur might be tough but the skin could make some nice leather armor after being treated!

Still, teeth and claws can be transformed into jewelry. Might be useful for magic users who need components and so on. Bear fat could be transformed into some kind of slime ball thrown at enemies. All kinds of possibilities!

[Solomoriah]

Also remember, bears are wild animals, they don't know how to Evade a sword stroke. I was in a party of adventures when the DM had the bear attacking us start to evade. I don't think we let him forget about his "dancing bears".

Dude, striking with a sword is pretty obvious. Hit the bear once and it's smart enough it could try to avoid being hit. That said, it will almost always choose to attack instead of defend... if you get it defending, it's obviously failed a morale check and should start a fighting withdrawal. Yes, animals can do that, I've seen it in videos and I've seen cats and dogs do it in real life.