Bulette

Bulette (Threat; CR 9)

Pure Evil - Huge - Magical Beast

Lore:	Know (Arcana)
17		35
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

18

Perception:
24	+14
Passive	Active

Ambush:

9+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Darkvision 60 ft.
• Tremorsense 60 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 40 ft.
• Burrowing 40 ft.
• Earth Glide 40 ft.
• Vaulting 40 ft.

Defense

AC

28

Man Def

28

Monster Health
534	267	14
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+11
Refl:	+6
Will:	+11

Strong Against:

• (Threat Role) Immunity (partial 5): Threats are immune to the first five conditions applied to them during an encounter. If a sixth condition is applied to a threat, it is resolved normally. A 'condition' is defined as any non-instantaneous harmful effect applied to the monster, other than damage, but is most commonly one of the defined Status Conditions (but it doesn't have to be). Statuses related to damage (such as injured, bloodied, staggered, dying, or dead) are not 'conditions', and cannot be negated or avoided with this ability.

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Huge
15 ft.		10 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+15

Man Off

+14

Action

3

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Savage Bite +15 (3d10+25/x2)
  as gnashing (physical, uncommon)
  plus Bruised
• 1x Nine-Inch Nails +15 (3d6+10/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus Bruised

Full Attack (Melee):

• 2x Savage Bite +15 (3d10+18/x2)
  as gnashing (physical, uncommon)
  plus Bruised
• 4x Nine-Inch Nails +15 (3d6+6/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus Bruised

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage:

• 1x Nine-Inch Nails +14 (1d6)
  

Statistics

26

STR

18

DEX

20

CON

4

INT

13

WIS

6

CHA

Skills:

• Acrobatics: 14
• Escape Artist: 14
• Movement: 14
• Perception: 14
• All other skills: 9 (no ranks)

Languages:

Feats:

• Combat Reflexes (EFFECT: Monsters with this feat make up to 4 attacks of opportunity per round instead of one.)
• Mobility (EFFECT: +4 AC against attacks of opportunity from movement)

Special Abilities

Breaching (Ex) Full Attack Action

As a full attack action, the bulette may use its unholy strength to either spring into the air or plunge through the ground and move a number of squares equal to its move rating. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and must end in any unblocked space that the bulette can fit into without squeezing. At the end of this movement, the bulette can make a Nine-Inch Nails attack against every foe in its reach: Nine-Inch Nails: +15 (3d6+6/x2) as slashing (physical, common), plus Bruised If any creatures are in the bulette's space when it breaches, these creatures are subject to the bulette's claw attacks, and are also moved (via forced movement) to an unblocked, unoccupied space adjacent to the bulette (bulette's choice). If creatures choose to fall prone to avoid this movement, they are prone inside the Bulette's space, and may be Squeezing depending on their size. Note that creatures always threaten all their internal squares, and the Bulette can certainly make attacks upon a character who is prone this way.

Mine! (Ex) Attack of Opportunity

If a creature attacks one of the bulette's Bulette Pups while within the threatened area of the Bulette, the Bulette may make an attack of opportunity against that creature prior to its attack against the pup. Bulettes don't particularly care about their pups in a traditional parental sense, but they feel strongly that no one else should be allowed to beat up on them. They're their pups!

Resurgence (Ex; Threat Role) Auto Upon Death

The first time in combat that the bulette is reduced to zero or fewer hit points, it is not killed. Instead, it burrows beneath the surface and vanishes, as a triggered free action. Combat progresses normally until the bulette's next turn, when at its normal initiative count, the bulette bursts to the surface again, anywhere within 40 feet of its last position. At this point, the bulette is reset to half its original hit point total (267 hit points) and any status conditions it was suffering are cleared. Any enemy figure whose space is completely or partially inside the bulette's space when it re-emerges is violently tossed aside by this resurgence. Allied creatures are simply moved aside with no other ill effects. The bulette may move any and all creatures affected by resurgence to any legal square adjacent to its space. This is considered forced movement and does not provoke. All enemy creatures moved in this way must also make a Reflex save versus a DC of 19. If they fail this save, they are rendered prone adjacent to the bulette and take 3d8+12 of damage. If they save, they are not prone and take half damage. Bursting to the surface after Resurgence is a free action for the bulette, and it may attack normally afterwards.

Bulette

This creature possesses the Threat role, and therefore counts as 4 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure.

This monster frequently has the Threat role, but may be set to different roles if desired.

Solitary monstrosities, Bulettes are burrowing fiends created many thousands of years ago by some mad fool. They have escaped into the wild, and their magical strength serves them well as they prey upon just about everything they can catch.

Bulettes are maddened murderers, the sort of beast who will lay beneath the surface and follow you to your home and eat your children as you watch. Their strength, even for their enormous size, is mind-boggling. They can burrow through earth at good speed and tear their way through solid stone like a strong man clearing brush. Even worse, bulettes, despite their squat shape, are not clumsy. They are ridiculously agile, able to leap as if mounted on springs and dodge blows in combat like the most lissome elf. Their prowess is unnerving to see and utterly unnatural in origin.

Their huge maws administer gigantic bites that leave their victims battered and torn, their claws can strike in all directions, and all of this is driven by a dull, vicious intelligence that glares at the world in mute rage, always wanting more to kill, more to kill...

Bulettes are so vicious the main thing that limits their numbers in the wild is their own savage nature. Bulettes breed slowly, since it is hard for two of them to tolerate each other for long enough to raise any pups. That said, it is not uncommon to find a Bulette with one or more pups at its side, as the pups tend to stick to the monstrous parent for several years as they slowly mature. If you are extremely unfortunate, you may encounter a mated pair, although that is mercifully rare. Mated pairs may or may not have pups as well...

Combat Tactics

Bulettes are fearsome and terrible in combat. They are fully aware of their Combat Reflexes and Mobility abilities, and will move back or take five-foot steps to open up the range and get more attacks of opportunity every chance they get. They will spread their Savage Bite around if possible, to slow down any healing their victims are using. When they are getting pressed, they will use Breaching to shake up the field of battle, going to attack ranged and supporting characters, and force any melee attackers to close the distance again and suffer even more attacks of opportunity with that Savage Bite.

If a Bulette is taking damage from a foe it cannot reach, such as a flying foe or one that is stealthed or invisible to all its senses, the Bulette will immediately burrow away, leaving any of its pups behind. If a Bulette flees in this manner, it is NOT defeated and the adventurers gain no rewards, just as for the pups. A Bulette which has fled in this manner will then patiently stalk the adventurers and will attack them in town or at another opportune time, preferably while they are asleep.

Bulettes will typically spend their action points early in the fight (but only one per round, of course), using them to make a normal move and then perform a full attack action against a soft target.

Bulettes are completely fearless and will fight to the death without even a pause.

Out of Combat

Bulettes are mindless beasts, and few creatures exemplify that state more perfectly than the land sharks. They burrow deep to sleep, and emerge far away from where they last walked the surface. Indeed, Bulettes seem to spend most of their time buried, but they also seem to roam far and wide while underground. They will attack creatures wherever they find them, if they are hungry or not. Bulettes seem to relish tough fights at all times, but they will happily kill and eat anything, no matter how weak, when they are hungry.

Bulettes seem to prefer undisturbed areas for their habitat, and have been observed many times failing to claw through worked materials, It is speculated that Bulettes ability to burrow is magical in nature, and is disrupted (fortunately) by materials that have been worked or otherwise manipulated by organized cultures. It is not known if this immunity is tied to the Spark, but it is speculated to be so, for reasons that are mysterious.

Rewards

XP: 25,600 (Threat role included.)

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 20,500 gp.

Weight: 360 lbs.     Volume: 14.4 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	Nothing Found
6 - 10	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
11 - 14	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
15 - 17	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
18 - 20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1	5 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
2 - 5	5 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
6 - 10	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
11 - 14	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
15 - 17	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
18 - 20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1	5 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
2	5 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
3 - 6	5 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
7 - 10	5 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
11 - 14	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
15 - 17	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
18 - 20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)