Friday, June 15, 2018

Frightful Fridays! Glacier Bulette

Hello and welcome back to Frightful Fridays! As implied (or promised or threatened) earlier, I had more elemental bulettes in my mind after working on the stone bulette. The glacier bulette is essentially a massive shell of ice surrounding an extremely large bulette specimen. Of course, as a creature with the cold subtype, it has vulnerability to fire, but using fire to defeat this bulette might be more dangerous than not, since it gains quite a bit of momentum when temporarily freed from its icy shell.

I hope you enjoy the glacier bulette. I'll be back next week with another monster!



This towering iceberg stands on four legs. Icy spikes protrude from its hide, and chunks of ice calve from its body at random intervals.
Glacier Bulette      CR 12
XP 19,200
N Colossal magical beast (cold)
Init 3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft. (120 ft. on ice); Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 27, touch 1, flat-footed 27 (3 Dex, +28 natural, 8 size)
hp 168 (16d10+80); fast healing 5 (while standing on ice or snow or in wintry precipitation)
Fort +15, Ref +7, Will +11
Defensive Abilities impenetrable hide; DR 10/—; Immune cold
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft. (40 ft. through ice and snow only); ice glide, icewalking
Melee bite +22 (3d8+19/1920 plus grab), 2 claws +21 (2d6+13)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks ice spray, savage bite, swallow whole (6d6 cold damage, AC 24, 16 hp), trample (6d6+19, DC 31)
STATISTICS
Str 37, Dex 5, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 19, Cha 10
Base Atk +16; CMB +37 (+39 bull rush, +41 grapple); CMD 44 (46 vs. bull rush, 48 vs. trip)
Feats Awesome Blow, Crippling Critical[APG], Critical Focus, Dazzling Display, Improved Bull Rush, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Climb +17, Intimidate +20, Perception +14, Stealth -19 (-3 in icy conditions), Swim +17; Racial Modifiers +16 Stealth in icy conditions
ECOLOGY
Environment any cold
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ice Glide (Ex) A burrowing glacier bulette can pass through nonmagical ice and snow as easily as a fish swims through water. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other sign of its presence. A control water spell cast on an area containing a burrowing bulette flings the bulette back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round, unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save.
Ice Spray (Ex) As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a glacier bulette can shake loose icy spikes it has accumulated on its body. All creatures within 30 feet of the bulette take 12d6 points of cold and piercing damage (Reflex DC 23 halves). Creatures that take attacks of opportunity do not receive Reflex saves to avoid the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.
A glacier bulette can only use this ability once per day, but if it stands on ice or snow or is in wintry precipitation, it regains the use of this ability after 1d6+1 rounds.
Icewalking (Ex) This ability works like the spider climb spell, but the surfaces a glacier bulette climbs must be icy. The bulette can move across icy surfaces without penalty and doesn’t need to make Acrobatics checks to run or charge on ice.
Impenetrable Hide (Ex) The ice forming a glacier bulette’s outer shell grants it considerable protection. It gains DR 10/. When the bulette must attempt a Reflex save to avoid taking energy damage, other than fire damage, from an area of effect spell or effect, it makes a Fortitude save instead; if it succeeds on the Fortitude save, it takes no damage, and if it fails it takes half damage). Finally, when targeted by a ranged spell or effect with a single target, the spell or effect has a 50% chance of deflecting off the bulette. If the bulette has an attack of opportunity remaining, it can deflect the spell or effect back to its source.
If a glacier bulette takes at least 40 points of fire damage in one round, it reduces all the benefits of its impenetrable hide (DR 5/, 25% chance of deflecting a single-target spell or effect, takes full damage on a failed Fortitude save) until the end of its next turn. If the bulette takes at least 80 points of fire damage in one round, it loses all benefits of its impenetrable hide until the end of its next turn.
Savage Bite (Ex) A glacier bulette applies 11/2 times its Strength modifier to damage inflicted with its bite attack, and threatens a critical hit on a 1920.
Vulnerability to Fire (Ex) If a glacier bulette takes 40 points of fire damage in a round, it gains the benefits of the haste spell for 1 round. The duration of this benefit increases by 1 round for every 20 additional points of fire damage the bulette takes that round. If the bulette takes fire damage while hasted in subsequent rounds, any additional duration overlaps with rather than adds to the current duration.

Glacier bulettes enjoy their lonely existences in the polar regions of the world where they charge at ancient glaciers to bring avalanches down upon themselves. They are cantankerous at best when other creatures intrude on their solitude, and, while they have animal intelligence, they instinctively know to bury themselves in snow and ice to launch surprise attacks on their foes. Despite their massive size, they are ponderous creatures and move almost as slowly as their namesakes. When fire melts their dense icy hides, though, their speed increases drastically, and they use this increased speed to charge at and crush opposition.

Glacier bulettes stand 30 feet tall, measure 40 feet from snout to tail, and weigh 10 tons. Their slow metabolisms help guarantee some longevity, with the oldest bulettes reaching 500 years of age.