Goliath Werebear

Goliath legends speak of a creature that prowls the far reaches of Icewind Dale, known as Oyaminartok the Winter Walker. She can take the form of either a polar bear or a hulking, bipedal shape obscured by wind and blowing snow. Elders invoke her name to keep young goliaths from wandering too far from home before they're ready. Adult goliaths sometimes encounter this legendary individual in their travels to the far-flung corners of the dale. If they flee like cowards, Oyaminartok laughs and lets them go to wander in obscurity. If they challenge Oyaminartok to a fight, the Winter Walker smiles and tests their mettle. Those who impress her with their fighting skills are bitten and become goliath werebears themselves—goliaths who carry Oyaminartok's curse of lycanthropy. Contrary to myth, Oyaminartok is not a monster but a force of good in the region, and she passes her curse only to goliaths whose hearts are pure.

Oyaminartok and others of her kind try to help creatures they come across, for the weather and the geography of Icewind Dale can be brutal. They know the safest routes across the tundra, and they can help guide travelers through the Sea of Moving Ice and across its ever-shifting ice floes. These polar werebears attack evil in the wilderness, but they steer clear of camps and settlements. Fire is Oyaminartok's bane, and thus she and her kind are wary around hearths and open flames.