AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 95 (10d10 + 40; bloodied 47)
Speed 40 ft., burrow 40 ft.
Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Saving Throws Int -1
Skills Perception +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Steely Hide. If a creature targets the bulette with a melee attack using a nonmagical weapon and rolls a natural 1 on the attack roll, the weapon breaks.
ACTIONS
Leap (Recharge 5–6). The bulette leaps up to half its Speed horizontally and half its Speed vertically without provoking opportunity attacks , and can land in a space containing one or more creatures. Each creature in its space when it lands makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw , taking 18 (4d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failure. On a success, the creature takes half damage and is pushed 5 feet to a space of its choice. If that space is occupied, the creature is knocked prone.
Burrow. The bulette burrows under the ground without provoking opportunity attacks , moves up to its burrow speed, and then resurfaces in an unoccupied space. If it is within 5 feet of a creature, it then makes a bite attack.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d12 + 4) piercing damage.
REACTIONS
Jaw Clamp (1/Day). When an attacker within 5 feet of the bulette misses it with a melee attack, the bulette makes a bite attack against the attacker. On a hit, the attacker is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the grappled creature is restrained , and the only attack the bulette can make is a bite against the grappled creature.
Hard Carapace (1/Day). After taking damage from an attack, the bulette lies down and closes its eyes, protecting all vulnerable spots. Until the beginning of its next turn, its AC becomes 21 and it has advantage on saving throws.
Combat
The bulette targets halflings first. The bulette uses Leap if it can land on two or more creatures. Otherwise, it uses Burrow. It fights to the death.
Legends and Lore
With a Nature or Survival check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Bulettes are armor-plated predators that burst up from the ground.
DC 15 Bulettes love halflings and pursue them above other targets (note: this is DC 5 for halflings).
A bulette, also called a land shark, is a voracious predator that tunnels underground, using tremorsense to search for prey.
Underground Hunters. Bulettes burrow constantly, never sleeping and claiming no lair for their own. When they tunnel at top speed after quarry, their trail can be marked by a path of disturbed ground racing across a field. They burst from the earth to seize their victim in huge, serrated jaws. A bulette knows no fear and never retreats from battle.
Two-legged Prey. The tremorsense of bulettes is sensitive enough to determine the species of the creatures that walk above them. They primarily hunt humanoids. When bulettes happen upon a settlement, they stay within a few dozen miles indefinitely, eating about one victim per day. They particularly enjoy the taste of halfling. Many a halfling village has been harried into nonexistence by a single bulette.
Prized Armor. Armorers pay well for an undamaged piece of bulette scale, a key ingredient in making enchanted armor.
1 Bursts out of the ground and attacks on sight
2 Attacking a caravan, marketplace, or holy site
3 Audibly tunneling nearby; it bursts out and attacks you unless you stay still
4 Near an open tunnel, eating human corpses
Wilderness Signs
1 Disturbed earth and a tree lying on its side
2 A path of turned-up earth; if you walk on it, you may fall in a sinkhole
3 A dead and partially-eaten beast; nearby are the signs of recent tunneling
4 DC 12 Perception check: a faint scraping underground, like something tunneling; it moves when you move and stops when you stop, as if tracking you
Underground Signs
1 The entrance of a rough earthen tunnel
2 A wall trembles as if a digging creature is about to burst through
3 Quiet rumbling like a distant rock fall
4 A single steely scale
Nowhere is safe from a rampaging bulette, but villages in hilly terrain or on the edges of deserts are particularly at risk.
CR 5–10 bulette