Frightful Fridays! Inferno Bulette

Hello and welcome back to Frightful Fridays! We're in the middle of the hot days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, so it seems appropriate to wheel out the last of the elemental bulettes, the inferno bulette, today. This bulette melts everything and is so hot it can penetrate fire immunity and resistance (except for creatures with the fire subytpe). It's already fairly angry, but targeting it with cold damage makes it enraged, and it will go after the source of the cold.

I hope you enjoy the inferno bulette, and I'll see you next week with another monster!

If you want to revisit the other elemental bulettes (or look them over for the first time!), these handy links will take you to them.

Stone Bulette
Glacier Bulette
Blitz Bulette

This creature, shaped like a massive teardrop of flame with four legs, transitions in color from blue at its head, through white and orange along its body, to red at its tail.

Inferno Bulette      CR 19

XP 204,800

N Huge magical beast (fire)

Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +21

DEFENSE

AC 34, touch 16, flat-footed 26 (+7 Dex, +1 dodge, +18 natural, –2 size)

hp 324 (24d10+192)

Fort +22, Ref +21, Will +16

Immune fire

Weaknesses vulnerability to cold

OFFENSE

Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft., fly 90 ft. (good); detonating teleport

Melee bite +31 (3d6+9 plus 8d8 fire and burn), 2 claws +31 (2d8+9 plus 6d8 fire and burn)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks burn (4d6, DC 30), burn through

STATISTICS

Str 28, Dex 25, Con 27, Int 2, Wis 22, Cha 11

Base Atk +24; CMB +35 (+39 sunder); CMD 53 (55 vs. sunder, 57 vs. trip)

Feats Dodge, Following Step[APG], Greater Sunder, Hover, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Mobility, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception), Step Up, Step Up And Strike[APG]

Skills Acrobatics +25 (+37 to jump), Fly +7, Perception +21

Languages Ignan

SQ superheated

ECOLOGY

Environment any warm land

Organization solitary or pair

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Burn Through (Su) As a full-round action, an inferno bulette can make a special charge attack. Creatures in the path of the charge take 1–1/2 times the fire damage dealt by the bulette’s bite attack and are subject to burn, but they take no physical damage. Targets of this ability can make an attack of opportunity against the bulette. If a target forgoes its attack of opportunity, it can attempt a DC 29 Reflex save to take half damage and avoid burn. The save DC is Dexterity-based.

A charging inferno bulette that deals sufficient damage to an object to destroy it with this ability can continue its charge with no penalty.  When using this ability against larger structures (like a wall), the bulette does not destroy the structure if it deals sufficient damage to substance's hit points (per the breaking and entering rules in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook), but it leaves a hole equal to its size in the structure.  If it does not deal enough damage to destroy the object or break through the structure, it stops adjacent to the object and takes 1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet it moved to reach the object.
An inferno bulette must wait 1d4 rounds before using this ability again.

Detonating Teleport (Su) Once every 1d4+1 rounds, an inferno bulette can explode and propel itself up to 120 feet from its current location. All creatures within 20 feet of the bulette’s original location take 10d8 points of fire damage (DC 30 Reflex save for half). This is a teleportation effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Superheated (Su) An inferno bulette’s body reaches extreme high temperatures, which taper off from its head to its tail. Its bite attack ignores up to 20 points of fire resistance, and its claws ignore up to 10 points of fire resistance. When it charges, including when it uses its burn through ability, its attacks ignore fire immunity. Creatures with the fire subtype retain their fire immunity against the bulette’s attacks.

Bulettes touched by the Elemental Plane of Fire undergo a transformation where plasma replaces most of their flesh. These inferno bulettes generate incredible heat, with the greatest amount concentrated in their heads. The further from the bulettes’ head, the cooler their bodies become, but even their tails emanate heat at a lava-like intensity. The cantankerous creatures often test their fiery bodies against standing structures and opponents.

Inferno bulettes are straightforward opponents and use their inherent abilities at the first opportunity. They charge about battlefields and overrun as many opponents as possible. When they can’t charge and have no nearby opponents, they detonate themselves to jump to a target. Likewise, when foes inflict cold damage against the bulettes, they take advantage of their maneuverability to destroy cold-using foes along with all objects on their foes.

Unlike most elemental-touched bulettes, inferno bulettes serve roles in their elemental plane. Powerful generals from the Elemental Plane of Fire use inferno bulettes as shock troops to destroy defensive lines and generally demoralize the opposition. Salamanders attempt to ride the bulettes into battle and often fall prey to their own mounts without some sort of magical control.

Inferno bulettes measure 22 feet in length. The ionized gas constituting most of the bulettes’ bodies make them extraordinarily light, with most specimens weighing a relatively mere 500 pounds.