Dungeons & Dragons Movie Spot Uses Cartoon to Address Owlbear Complaints

A new Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves commercial jokingly sticks it to fans who complained about the accuracy of the movie to the rules of the game. Paramount Pictures has released a new commercial for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the brand new movie based on the popular tabletop roleplaying game. The commercial features characters from the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, with Dungeon Master showcasing Doric's transformation into an owlbear to the assembled cast of characters. When Eric (the cavalier who usually served as the comic relief in the cartoon) complaints that druids can't transform into owlbears within the context of the rules, the rest of the cast reproaches him, with Dungeon Master rather directly telling Eric that he sucks. You can check out the commercial down below: 

The commercial references a mostly jovial "controversy" involving Doric's transformation, with more than a handful of players pointing out that Doric couldn't transform into an owlbear because owlbears are monstrosities and druids are limited to transforming into beasts and elementals. While it seems like a weird complaint, within the lore of D&D owlbears are unnatural creatures created by magic while druids have a fundamental connection to nature, so it does appear to be an inconsistency. 

The directors eventually addressed the complaints, largely mimicking the Dungeon Master's words in the trailer. "We're aware that there was a certain amount of controversy that emerged in the D&D fan community after the first trailer showed our Druid wild-shaping into an owlbear," co-director Jonathan Goldstein said in a recent interview.. "And it was something we discussed a great deal when we were writing it. We know that technically, it's not permissible, but we subscribe to the "Rule of Cool." And we felt that if we, as the dungeon masters of this movie, would let our players do this, then why should we deprive the audience of something that's as cool and fun as this?"

Wizards of the Coast, which designs the D&D game, recently proposed a rule change to allow druids to transform into something like an owlbear. The designers of the game proposed a new version of the druid that allowed characters to flavor their wild shape form around any combination of animals, including that of an owl and a bear. 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is out now.