Bulette Folk

Bulette folk are humanoids that resemble the burrowing hunters known as bulettes. Sometimes called land sharks, bulettes burrow through the earth, erupting beneath their prey. Bulette folk are said to be magical creations of ancient dwarves who planned an assault on surface dwellers.

Taking dwarven volunteers and crossing them with the fearsome subterranean monstrosities, the dwarven wizards created a battalion of bulette folk to serve their ends. Even with the shocking introduction of the bulette folk troops into battle, however, the dwarven forces were routed and the bulette folk scattered.

Ancestral Traits

Bulette folk are taller than dwarves and smaller than bulettes, making them roughly the size of tall, heavy humans. They have bony plates on their bodies that protect them, as well as large, strong jaws. Their hands are wide and very strong, with fingers ending in thick claws suitable for burrowing. They have tiny hairs in between their bony plates, which they can be trained to use to detect movement while burrowing through the earth. Bulette folk have certain traits.

Age. Bulette folk mature more slowly than humans, a result of their dwarven hybrid ancestry. They reach adulthood by thirty and live roughly three hundred years.

Size. Bulette folk are broad and at least as tall as humans, though they tend to weigh a good deal more. On average they are six feet tall and weigh three hundred pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base speed is 30 feet. You have a burrowing speed of 20 feet.

Bony Plates. Bony plates cover a bulette folk’s body. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score.

Claws and Teeth. Bulette folk have inherited the predatory instruments of the bulette. You can bite or scratch as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.

Burrower. Thanks to your strong arms and heavy claws, you can burrow through the earth, though not through solid or worked stone. When moving through earth, you have a burrow speed of 20 feet.

Cultural Traits

Several small bulette folk communities exist, more than one of which was formed shortly after the bulette folk battalion was routed. These communities allow those of non-bulette folk ancestry to join, though much of the culture involves burrowing and subterranean activity.

Thus those who cannot themselves burrow are often paired with a bulette folk as a guide and companion, so that the non-burrower might reach the community’s subterranean homes.

These relationships of ancestral bulette folk and non-bulette folk have become one of the hallmark features of bulette folk communities.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.

Alignment. Those who grow up in bulette folk communities learn early on to respect difference and to see those of different ancestries as equals, thanks in part to their practice of mixed ancestry friendship pairs. These communities tend toward goodness.

Earth Listeners. Those who grow up burrowing or following the burrows of bulette folk learn to sense movement in the solid soil around them from the subtle vibrations such movements emit. You have tremorsense to a range of ten feet.

Leaping Ambush. Like the bulettes from which the ancestral bulette folk descend, bulette folk communities practice ambush hunting by bursting from out of the ground and leaping at foes. Even those who cannot burrow learn these leaping attacks. Add ten feet to your running long jump distance and five feet to your high jump distance. When you hit a foe of your size or smaller with a melee attack after leaping at least ten feet, they must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Terran.