This armor-plated creature's toothy maw gapes wide as a fin-like dorsal plate rises between its shoulders.
Bulette CR 7
XP 3,200
N Huge magical beast
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11
Defense
AC 22, touch 10, flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +12 natural, –2 size)
hp 84 (8d10+40)
Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +5
Offense
Speed 40 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee bite +13 (2d8+9/19–20) and 2 claws +12 (2d6+6)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks leap, savage bite
Statistics
Str 23, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Base Atk +8; CMB +16; CMD 28 (32 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+17 jumping), Perception +11; Racial Modifiers +4 on Acrobatics checks made to jump
Ecology
Environment temperate hills
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Leap (Ex) A bulette can perform a special kind of pounce attack by jumping into combat. When a bulette charges, it can make a DC 20 Acrobatics check to jump into the air and land next to its enemies. If it makes the Acrobatics check, it can follow up with four claw attacks against foes in reach, but cannot make a bite attack.
Savage Bite (Ex) A bulette's bite is particularly dangerous. It applies 1-1/2 times its Strength modifier to damage inflicted with its bite attack, and threatens a critical hit on a 19–20.
The creation of some unknown arcanist in millennia past, the bulette has bred true to become one of the fiercest predators of the hills. Burrowing rapidly through the earth just beneath the surface, sometimes with its armored fin cutting a distinctive wake behind it, the bulette launches itself free of stone and soil to tear into its prey without remorse, giving rise to the common appellation "landshark."
Bulettes are notoriously foul-tempered, attacking far larger creatures with no regard for personal safety. Solitary beasts except for the occasional mated pair, they spend most of their time patrolling the perimeters of territories that can stretch up to 30 square miles, hunting game and punishing interlopers with a fury that shakes the hillsides.
Bulettes are perfect eating machines, consuming bones, armor, and even magical items with their powerful jaws and churning stomach acid. Lacking other food, the bulette might gnaw on inanimate objects, yet for unknown reasons no bulette voluntarily consumes elf flesh—a peccadillo many point to as evidence that elven wizardry was involved in its creation. Dwarves are also rarely eaten by the beasts, though the bulette still slaughters members of either race on sight. Halflings, on the other hand, are among the beast's favorite meals, and no halfling with any sense ventures into bulette country casually.
The bulette is a cunning fighter, surprising foes with its impressive agility. One of its favorite tactics is to charge forward and launch itself into the air in order to drop on its prey with all four razor-sharp claws extended. Folklore claims that the flesh behind the beast's dorsal crest is particularly tender, and that those willing and able to wait until the fin is raised in the excitement of combat or mating can target it for a killing blow—yet most who have faced the landshark agree that the best way to win a fight with a bulette is to avoid it entirely.
