Y'know, maybe this is just me, but I find it slightly odd that Bulette cannot bite-grapple a Medium or even a Small foe. It'd seem to me that it would make a lot of sense for it to try to pull its foes into the ground with it, where it'd have a much greater advantage.
Given its current CR of 7, what might the CR be for a Bulette given that ability? I'm guessing 9 or 10, pending a closer look on defensive options against a Bulette suddenly slamming up under a target, clamping onto it, and dragging back in the ground with its actions for a round. Somehow, Spring Attack seems a lot more useful when you're moving through a terrain others cannot follow. ^_^
Bulette Tactics
Moderator: Moderators
Re: Bulette Tactics
Do you really want a Bullette who bites, pulls some dude into the ground, then leaves him there to suffocate while he attacks someone else?
Re: Bulette Tactics
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at...
Fair? Probably not. Makes sense for a predator so focused on that attack style, though...
It's not much different from a shark or monstrous squid yanking a heavily armored fighter off a boat, though nearly everyone is stuck 'sinking' in the sand.
If it would make it a bit less deadly, there are a few ways to tone it down somewhat. The bite attack would be a secondary, so it's always at -5 (-2 if it's given Multiattack). Perhaps it can only drop them a small distance under the surface, so that they can be dug out by someone else fairly easily, or they can dig themselves out with a harder roll.
As a final trick to balance this so polymorphing into a bulette won't make someone the total shiznit, make a feat "Improved Burial Strike" that bulettes naturally have. If the used doesn't have it, it requires a burrow speed to make this attack, and there's an additional -4 to the attack and it grants an AoO.
This has just been an idea I've been toying with to make something like "Elder Bulettes" scarier than just an additional HD or 3.
Fair? Probably not. Makes sense for a predator so focused on that attack style, though...
It's not much different from a shark or monstrous squid yanking a heavily armored fighter off a boat, though nearly everyone is stuck 'sinking' in the sand.
If it would make it a bit less deadly, there are a few ways to tone it down somewhat. The bite attack would be a secondary, so it's always at -5 (-2 if it's given Multiattack). Perhaps it can only drop them a small distance under the surface, so that they can be dug out by someone else fairly easily, or they can dig themselves out with a harder roll.
As a final trick to balance this so polymorphing into a bulette won't make someone the total shiznit, make a feat "Improved Burial Strike" that bulettes naturally have. If the used doesn't have it, it requires a burrow speed to make this attack, and there's an additional -4 to the attack and it grants an AoO.
This has just been an idea I've been toying with to make something like "Elder Bulettes" scarier than just an additional HD or 3.
Re: Bulette Tactics
Well, Polymorphed creatures get bonus feats, so your plan is bad.
Also, unlike pulling somone into the water, being pulled into the earth uses the "buried rules" and the breathing rules, and its almost impossible for non-burrowing adventurers to retrieve their buddies.
Its a party killer, plain and simple.
Also, unlike pulling somone into the water, being pulled into the earth uses the "buried rules" and the breathing rules, and its almost impossible for non-burrowing adventurers to retrieve their buddies.
Its a party killer, plain and simple.