Karrnathi Bulette
"My lord, the southern patrol has detected another one."
"By the Flame, that makes... what... six?"
"Seven, my lord... and given that they have every other passage from the valley blocked, our only way out is through the Karrnathi troops."
"No, we cannot risk further causalities.... how many mules do we have left?"
"Nineteen, sir"
"Good, strap a carrot on a pole to it and send it into the southern passage. Once that diseased land shark strikes, it will reveal its crude trap and we should be able to slay the beast."
"And what of those that will contract the sickness?"
"Have the priests ease their suffering.... by either poultice or poison..." General Korrinal knew that a quick death by quicksilver would be far kinder than days dying slowly in a Karrnathi prison... or a bulette pit...
Karrnathi Bulette
CR 9 (8)
XP: 6,400
NE Huge Magical Beast
Init: +5; Senses: Darkvision 60', low-light, scent, tremorsense 60'; Perception +7
DEFENSE:
AC: 21, Touch 9, Flat-Footed 20 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +12 natural)
HP: 105 (10d10+50)
Fort: +12; Ref: +8; Will: +6
Immune: death effects
OFFENSE:
Speed: 35 ft, burrow 10 ft
Melee: Bite +15 (2d6+7 plus disease)
Space: 15 ft.; Reach: 10 ft.
STATISTICS:
Str 25, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 6, Wis 13, Chr 6
Base Atk: +10; CMB: +19 (+4 vs. bull rush); CMD: 30 (+4 to resist bull rushes)
Feats: Greater Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack
Skills: Craft (trapmaking) +4, Acrobatics +8, Perception +7; Racial: Karrnathi bulette gain a +8 racial bonus to Craft (trapmaking) when making pit traps)
Languages: None
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Disease (Ex): Filth fever, Fort DC 20, onset: 1d3 days, effect: 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con damage, cure: 2 consecutive saves. This saving throw DC is Constitution based.
Immunity to Death Effects (Su): Given how much necrotic flesh the Karrnathi bulette consumes, it comes immune to any death effect.
Pit Traps (Ex): Karrnathi bulette are intelligent enough to regularly create pit traps within their territory. Any encounter with a Karrnathi bulette where the creature already patrols the area is assumed to have at least one CR 5 pit trap nearby. If the Karrnathi bulette does not have a nearby CR 5 pit trap to bull rush opponents into, it is only considered a CR 8. If the Karrnathi bulette has additional pit traps nearby, factor their CR separately for the encounter. The stats for the common pit trap are:
Type: mechanical Perception DC: 25 Disable DC: 20
Trigger: location Reset: manual
Effect: Reflex DC 20 to all within 10' x 10 area, 30' deep pit with jagged bones at the bottom (3d6 falling plus 2d6 piercing)
Spikes (Ex): The carapace of the Karrnathi bulette is covered in jagged spikes that deal 1d8 points of piercing damage to any creature the Karrnathi bulette grapples or any creature that successfully hits with an unarmed, natural or non-reach melee weapon. This piercing damage also applies to any creature that the Karrnathi bulette successfully bull rushes.
ECOLOGY:
Environment: Cold hills and planes (battlefields, cemeteries and mass graves)
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: None (incidential)
Role: Combat
Source: FN, pg. 122
The Karrnathi bulette is a mutated offshoot of the typical bulette that has sustained itself over a few generates on the dead flesh of the battlefields, mass graves and charnel houses that littered the southern border or Karrnath. While not as fast as the typical bulette and it seems to have lost some of its physical aptitude, it has more than made up for this in developing the tactics of another ambush predator, the trapdoor spider. Known to regularly create pit traps in the territory that it patrols, it will use these traps to its best advantage. In particular, it likes to separate opponents by bull rushing individuals into the pit trap and leaving it there to die from its wounds and starvation. Pit traps have also been known to be where these predators leave their recent kills in order to rot for a few days before coming back to eat them.