The bulette: Make it cool as hell

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What things have you done with this venerable D&D beastie to make it as cool as can be?

 

[thedungeondelver]

Sic'ed it on name-level characters right after they'd built their strongholds.

"There's a WHAT loose in the keep?!"

 

[Crothian]

Think Tremors. The players had no idea what it was but they were scared to get off the rocks!!

 

[Slife]

It's already as cool as Hell, if by Hell you mean the endless inferno of fire and brimstone.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Bring out the plastic figure that inspired it and put it on the battlemat. And have it eat someone.

(I always loved these guys, even before I knew what it was- I got the toy, and a rust monster one, at a Pizza Hut or something. Or maybe in one of those bags of plastic dinosaurs. Plus, there was a really cool picture of one in that D&D coloring book from waaaaaay back. A cool Tiamat picture in there, too.)

 

[kaomera]

How about: the Silver Bulette?

Or give them Pounce and a 30' leap...

Cross one with a Giant Frog and grapple pesky archers from 20' away...

Adamantine barding (aka the full metal jacket)...

Awaken them and give 'em Ninja levels? (Or Dread Pirate?)

Fiendish Dire Bulette? Half-Dragon?

Smaller or larger versions (ie: different calibers...)?

 

[Wild Gazebo]

I let them burrow quietly if they move at half speed.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Turn the bulette into a landshark -- let it swim through the ground. You don't have to give it the ability to phase through earth to do this; many RL burrowing creatures simply wiggle or 'swim' through the soil rather than digging with claws (& in these cases tend to have highly reduced legs or none at all). Replace the claw attacks with something else, remove the legs, & let it swim through loose soil (& possibly bump the speed, too; 20' would make for a more interesting chase I think). This also brings in the rocks as refuge idea from "Tremors", at least until it rams them enough to knock the characters off or just shatter the stones. Oooh, hrm, that might be an interesting ability to add, actually; give it some sort special ram attack at a bonus to shatter stone objects (like, say, the foundation of the keep).

 

[MerricB]

Turn it on its back, and spin it around very fast. Now that's a Whirlwind attack!

Cheers!

 

[Aeric]

They used to eat halflings. IMC, they also eat gnomes.