How many bulettes for a tenth-level party?

[Chronos]

I would play this one out myself, but game day is approaching and I have a lot of other prep to do, and this seems like it should be a straightforward question.

I would like an encounter where one or more scary non-sapient monsters suddenly appear in a market square, panic the crowd, and force the PCs (six 10th-level characters) to get involved. My first thought was bulettes: They could burrow up from below, so nobody sees them coming, and landsharks are suitably scary.

But then I get home and have a chance to look at my books, and see that a bulette is only CR 5. That should mean that they'd be super-easy for characters twice that level, right? I mean, CR means something, doesn't it?

But then, I double-check the encounter-building guidelines, and the 1800 XP from a CR 5 monster puts one of them at just about the "hard" encounter rating for a normal-sized party, and for my larger-than-normal party, two of them would be well past the "deadly" rating. Now, I know that those labels are inflated, but there still seems to be some dissonance with a monster with a CR five below the party's level being called "hard".

So I want to double-check. Two bulettes vs. a party of six tenth-levels: Reasonable fight? Or, alternately, is there some other fight (against suddenly-appearing non-sapient monsters) that would be more fun?

(if it matters, the monsters are being deliberately released as a distraction, and a couple of the folks in the fleeing crowd running past the PCs are pickpockets)

[JonBeowulf]

Depending on how tough you want it to be, 4 Bulletes is almost a Hard encounter and 5 of them is halfway between Hard and Deadly.

[Darth Credence]

Based on the encounter builder on D&D Beyond, medium is 3-4, and hard is 5-6.

As a note, bulettes are generally solo creatures. The flavor text specifically calls them out as eating other bulettes, and that they only come together to mate. So I'd prepare some type of explanation to why they are attacking people in a town, rather than attacking each other.

[Chronos]

Ah, I see the problem: I was looking at the XP threshold for a single PC, not for the whole party.

Two or maybe even three bulettes, I could justify (as noted, they're being deliberately released). But four or five is just too many, I think, and while this fight doesn't need to be all that hard (as noted, they're intended as a distraction), they're still likely to be the most significant combat this session, and I know some of my players will get bored if they don't get to kill anything.

So I maybe need some other sort of monster to appear suddenly. Any suggestions?

[Waterdeep Merch]

Ah, I see the problem: I was looking at the XP threshold for a single PC, not for the whole party.

Two or maybe even three bulettes, I could justify (as noted, they're being deliberately released). But four or five is just too many, I think, and while this fight doesn't need to be all that hard (as noted, they're intended as a distraction), they're still likely to be the most significant combat this session, and I know some of my players will get bored if they don't get to kill anything.

So I maybe need some other sort of monster to appear suddenly. Any suggestions?

Perhaps a wizard or beast tamer of some sort that's controlling them, and a few bandit henchmen? The numbers can help make the fight a bit harder, but more importantly it gives the players enemies they can cleave through. Bandits are the bubble wrap of fantasy, they're satisfying to pop.

[Chronos]

Sapient enemies present a couple of problems, though. First, my players are quite annoyed by those pesky laws against murder in Waterdeep, so something that isn't covered by those laws would make for better bubble-wrap. And second, any sapient enemies, they're going to try to capture and question, and I don't want to have to plan out just how much each enemy knows, and how much I want them to know, and so on.

[Sorinth]

Ah, I see the problem: I was looking at the XP threshold for a single PC, not for the whole party.

Two or maybe even three bulettes, I could justify (as noted, they're being deliberately released). But four or five is just too many, I think, and while this fight doesn't need to be all that hard (as noted, they're intended as a distraction), they're still likely to be the most significant combat this session, and I know some of my players will get bored if they don't get to kill anything.

So I maybe need some other sort of monster to appear suddenly. Any suggestions?

Keep in mind you can go overboard on numbers since the bulettes aren't focus on fighting the PCs. Many will be spending their turns attacking random civilians, some might just want to leave the area (And causing colletoral damage), and as the suggested they might even fight each other.

In fact having some fight each other is a pretty big clue that this isn't a natural occurrence. The number of bulettes should probably be influenced more by how effective you want the distraction to be, and how feasible it is for those causing the distraction to have so many bulettes in the first place.

You can also just modify the bulette sta block. If bulettes aren't common you can just have them be much tougher in your world compared to a standard D&D game. Or if the people releasing it as a distraction have powerful magic users at their disposal you can have a single bulette that is covered in arcane symbols and much larger then normal making it a much tougher opponent with unique abilities (This also helps work as a clue that this isn't natural and may be a distraction).

[Atalas]

I have seen a pair of bulette's almost wreck a party of five level 14's. Conversely I have seen a party of 6 level 5's hang in there against them. it really depends on what the party consists of, the set-up for the encounter, and the initiative order.

[Zhorn]

Another question would be is how many encounters are you planning on in a single day, and how many of those will be combats (or consume hp)?

If you're just having singular combat encounters most days, then using more bulettes might be fine.
If this is just one encounter in a day of multiple fights, a couple will be more than sufficient to rough up some party members and drain a few resources.

Bulettes are only making the single attacks per turn, but those bites are 4d12+4, so while an average hit will be in the mid ~20's, a really good roll will have them in the 40+ range, and a single crit of 8d12+4 has the potential to be VERY scary.

Add to that if you are making good use of their standing leap, a failed save on that is an extra 6d6+8 plus prone, leading to their bit being made with advantage... yeah, don't underestimate bulettes :smallwink:

A small number of bulettes might end up being nova'd too quickly if the party is fresh and doesn't need to worry about conserving for a later fight, nor have issues with getting a safe rest to recover, which if this is in Waterdeep, then the party would probably be able to count on less encounters and safe reliable resting.

A large number on the other hand has the potential to race into TPK territory VERY fast with just a couple of good rolls, especially if they are ALL focused on the party and doing the bog standard 'fight to the death' approach.

I like Sorinth's suggestion as a method to have the best of both worlds. Have a large number released (5+) but have them focused on attacking crowd NPCs, knocking over stalls to gorge on food, etc.

Only 1-2 initially look to the party once they attempt to involve themselves in the encounter, while the rest keep causing destruction in the background. Spread out enough with additional crowd NPCs mixed into the battlefield trying to dodge, save their possessions, or just in a panic with bulettes in every direction.

The party can still nova a couple out to have that 'big stonking heroes' moment, but not as a mindless AoE as they'd still need to draw the others together and get the bystanders safely out of danger, taking a couple of turns to set up.

The initial bulettes the party manages to take down let out cries of pain that draw the attention of others to keep the battlefield dangerous for the PCs. It doesn't need to be all at once, as having the bulettes attacking NPCs in the crowd and causing general destruction puts a pseudo-clock on the encounter; "can the party eliminate the threat before a bunch of innocent folks are slain".

Next, have the bulettes be dumb, but not too dumb. They can attack efficiently (leap + bite on targets that look to be easy meals), but their attention span is short and easy to manipulate (focuses on the last to attack them, are drawn to loud shouting and movement, will attempt to eat if not currently under attack).

Finally, after the first couple are killed, the rest only fight till they are low of hp (or have had enough to eat) then flee. This affords two things:

First you can opt for a larger number of bulettes with an easy opt out if things get too deadly, but makes sense to the players.

Second it gives you follow up encounters and goals. Bulettes breed fast. After mating they lay eggs less than 2 days later, and those in turn hatch within the next day, with the young reaching adult size in just a couple of days beyond that (fortunately the young still need 25 years to reach breeding maturity). The players now have something they need to hunt down to prevent a surge of bulette attacks. Find the mature adults and eliminate them as fast as possible.

And beyond that it gives some questions for the players to pursue with tracking down leads on the adventure;
Where did these bulettes come from?
Who in town is knowledgeable about them?
Who released them in the town and for what reason?
Did they themselves know of the long term risk releasing a group of mature bulettes in close proximity to eachother was?
What where they trying to gain from this?

[Kane0]

Three or four should be plenty if the main concern is the townsfolk getting eaten and the bulettes are staying underground when they arent attacking. If they sit out in the open then the party will make short work of them.

[Mellack]

A higher level suggestion, especially if they are being released (as these are probably the wrong climate) would be a Remorhaz.

[Chronos]

My worry with too many of them isn't that they'd overwhelm the party. My worry is that it'd just feel absurd. Even for a party that can handle five bulettes, you'd still get a reaction of "Aw, c'mon, five of these things?".

[Zhorn]

My worry with too many of them isn't that they'd overwhelm the party. My worry is that it'd just feel absurd. Even for a party that can handle five bulettes, you'd still get a reaction of "Aw, c'mon, five of these things?".
All depends on the circumstance of the encounter.
5+ bulettes just randomly directed at just the party? Yeah, that sounds nuts.
5+ bulettes directed at a town square full of innocent townsfolk and the party's job is to save as many people as possible / minimize as much damage as possible? That sounds more reasonable. Especially if you drop the whole "every fight is to the death" mindset.
From there it's just a matter of giving a good story reason for why the NPC that released the bulettes were using them instead of any other monster they could have had access to.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Based on the encounter builder on D&D Beyond, medium is 3-4, and hard is 5-6.

As a note, bulettes are generally solo creatures. The flavor text specifically calls them out as eating other bulettes, and that they only come together to mate. So I'd prepare some type of explanation to why they are attacking people in a town, rather than attacking each other.

Perhaps someone cast magic mouth down the well, making the sounds of a frightened halfling...like something out of the 'Tremors' franchise? Or maybe the first one is real, and the rest all illusions created by ancient magic that replicated whatever came through a buried portal...

I have used monsters in waves to beat down the party (aka the sweet spot) but only when a long rest is available. Just keep adding one or two bulettes/turn until the party is a bloody pulp, then turn off the flow.

Have a way the party can short circuit the encounter like smashing the summoning thingy, dispel magic on the mouth, etc.

For this brawl, perhaps the party notices a child being scooped up by mom/dad saying, "Why are those people fighting ghosts?" Or the party has an increasing chance of noticing INT(nature) that the bulettes look related, WIS(perception) they look very very similar, perhaps identical.

[noob]

For an all flyer party you can put a few thousand bulettes and have a fight lasting a few days as the party poke the bulettes that get outside of the ground for feeding.

[loki_ragnarock]

You could, if it's a concern, stagger the Bulettes out.

One on the first round (we got this), two on the second round (Oh, it's escalating), three on third round (I don't like where this is headed), a sense of profound relief that there aren't anymore come the fourth round.

It plays with PC expectations and spreads the threat across the encounter, which should also make it an easier encounter to deal with as the Bulettes aren't liable to bring all resources to bear against the party at one time.

[da newt]

To jump on Loki's suggestion - start the encounter w/ 2 Bulettes and then adjust from there by adding new ones as desired for your difficulty goal depending on how things play out.

I'd land shark it up quite a bit to keep the suspense high and keep the party guessing - one pops up here and attacks then burrows away, another is spotted over there, but then dips, 'how many are there?' - that sort of thing. They have a 40' burrow speed equal to their above ground speed - I'd keep them 'submerged' at least half the time. This will also make them much harder to target, and an attack from below could be considered 'unseen' and therefore at ADV.

If you want to add a twist - maybe the Bulettes each have an Intellect Devourer driving them like little soldiers in a tank ... sure they normally stick to sentient humanoids, but the BBEG directed them to inhabit these simple creatures to create massive destruction, and this way you can use the tactics of a INT 12 / WIS 11 creature (cue evil DM chuckle).

[Chronos]

Hm, OK, now I'm torn... On the one hand, it would actually be plausible, in-setting, for the bulettes to be intellect-devoured, and nothing, but nothing, panics players like an intellect devourer... but on the other hand, it's really hard to introduce anything mindflayer-related without making mindflayers the focus of the campaign, and I've already got a perfectly serviceable devil-cult for villains, and I'm not sure I really have the mental energies to come up with properly-convoluted illithid plots.

Another balancing act I find myself facing is that, on the one hand, I definitely want to menace the civilians (so the players can be Big Damn Heroes by rescuing them), but on the other hand, my players won't like it if I kill civilians in front of them without them getting a chance to stop it. I'm thinking that maybe I could have them start by going after a couple of horses-- After all, there's more meat on a horse than on a human, anyway.

[kaoskonfety]

Based on the encounter builder on D&D Beyond, medium is 3-4, and hard is 5-6.

As a note, bulettes are generally solo creatures. The flavor text specifically calls them out as eating other bulettes, and that they only come together to mate. So I'd prepare some type of explanation to why they are attacking people in a town, rather than attacking each other.

Gr'tt - The Sand King, Lord of Bulettes, Commander of the Great Purples Worms of the Sun's Anvil, Destroyer of the Great City of Kanth. Recast as a Mummy Lord with monster control magic, Wacky Desert Themed Fae with beast command and burrowing themes for an underground cave series, or "Kobold In a Funny Hat" who found an artefact (that only works for Kobolds and... True Dragons... sure thats funny), at your leisure and campaign seriousness levels.

[Mobius Twist]

TL;DR: 2 bulettes are not tough enough to challenge 6 10th level characters. Maybe mix up their composition with a druid caster controlling 6 of them or something.

I just recently ran two bulettes against 7 3rd level players. The fight took place in an open plain where the bulettes were free to tunnel around and ambush. The party had no attack bonuses from magic weapons or other enhancements, and no spellcasters buffing them.

Paladin (Oath of Glory)
Ranger (Revised beastmaster with bow)
Monk (Kensei)
Warlock (Undying)
Rogue (dual-wielding melee)
Rogue (ranged crossbow)
Cleric (Twilight)

I had the bulettes hunting a herd of sheep at one end of the map (underground), while the party converged on them from the other. I decided that the bulettess wouldn't break and run until 25% health and used average HP from the book.

The only "cludge" in the whole battle was me giving a barefoot halfling monk the chance to perceive a tunnelling bulette directly underneath her and let her do a blind stab with a longspear. Otherwise, everyone else either engaged the sharks on their own terms (warlock EBing from afar and missing) or was largely useless in melee combat (cleric ended up getting caught in the difficult terrain of a stampeding herd of sheep and couldn't even make it to combat).

Long story short: By round 4 the bulettes were in full retreat underground and by round 5 they were dead. The party was barely down a few HP and used no spells. Even if the bulettes crit every round, they'd maybe take one PC down before dying.

----
The same party one level later took out 20 "clay golem" type creatures (AC 13, 26 HP) in a really stupid decision instead of retreating. 3 of the melee types got downed a couple of times each, but even then, they all lived. I rolled all the dice in the open (on VTT). At this rate, I don't think having 7 players get challenged will be easy.

[Tvtyrant]

I would play this one out myself, but game day is approaching and I have a lot of other prep to do, and this seems like it should be a straightforward question.

I would like an encounter where one or more scary non-sapient monsters suddenly appear in a market square, panic the crowd, and force the PCs (six 10th-level characters) to get involved. My first thought was bulettes: They could burrow up from below, so nobody sees them coming, and landsharks are suitably scary.

But then I get home and have a chance to look at my books, and see that a bulette is only CR 5. That should mean that they'd be super-easy for characters twice that level, right? I mean, CR means something, doesn't it?

But then, I double-check the encounter-building guidelines, and the 1800 XP from a CR 5 monster puts one of them at just about the "hard" encounter rating for a normal-sized party, and for my larger-than-normal party, two of them would be well past the "deadly" rating. Now, I know that those labels are inflated, but there still seems to be some dissonance with a monster with a CR five below the party's level being called "hard".

So I want to double-check. Two bulettes vs. a party of six tenth-levels: Reasonable fight? Or, alternately, is there some other fight (against suddenly-appearing non-sapient monsters) that would be more fun?

(if it matters, the monsters are being deliberately released as a distraction, and a couple of the folks in the fleeing crowd running past the PCs are pickpockets)

I would have rumors about a group of particularly aggressive bullettes attacking local farms and herds, followed by scavengers that pick the carcasses clean. Then you can do a few of them and flights of giant condors/ravens/stirges/etc that attack the party and keep them off balance/prevent ye olde hiding on a building shooting arrows.

[Chronos]

OK, the game's this afternoon, so I have to get this settled. I've decided on the following:

* The client really hates the party, and so is paying the Xanathar Guild to pickpocket them. They're leaving the how up to the guild.
* The Xanathar Guild is releasing the bulettes as a distraction, to facilitate the pickpocketing. If that were the only purpose, a single one would be enough. However...
* The Xanathar Guild also has reason to dislike the party, though not quite as much as the client does. So they're releasing not just one, but four, bulettes, in the hopes of killing the party. Their information on the party is a bit outdated, though, so they don't know that the party is now capable of handling that.
* If things start getting too rough for the party, I can ease things up by having the bulettes start to attack each other.
* The attack is in the middle of the marketplace, with lots of innocent bystanders. Most of them fled in a panic, but a few are paralyzed with fear, so the party will have to take measures to protect them.
* Also in the market are a few horses and other livestock, that the bulettes will preferentially target over people (because they have more meat on them), as long as any are left. This will buy a little bit of time for the PCs to rescue the civilians.
* The party will eventually be assisted by three members of the Watch, one griffon rider and two on the ground. They won't be very effective against the bulettes (one crossbow shot per round each), but (if anyone suggests it to them) will switch to getting the remaining civilians out.
* Also on the scene are two pickpockets, who will surrender if engaged, and two hidden gazers, who will fight back if engaged but otherwise merely watch.

[Zhorn]

So initial thoughts now we have more detail:

The pickpockets being the ones releasing the bulettes initially seems a bit off, but being from the Xanathar's guild it gives an opening for it to make sense.
Xanathar > beholder > crazy paranoid and prone to over-the-top planning
If the pickpockets are captured/questioned, suggest making even them dubious of how over-the-top the 'distraction' was with releasing bulettes of all things.

"The boss is... a bit much... Crazy even. Met him? No we've never seen the guy. But when orders come down from up top, you do as told. Last month Frank hesitated when given the order to deliver a grick egg to Skullport. Next day we find Frank assigned to cleaning out the otyugh's nest as punishment. Orders only get weirder if you don't do the job as instructed"

Originally I thought the pickpockets you mentioned were just being opportunistic, but unrelated, with some more powerful individual involved with larger plans. Bulettes are semi-exotic with a relatively high value. Unless the targets are of high value, or the job being paid is worth a large amount, the premise doesn't make much sense.
But as the machinations of a crazy beholder? That's a story that clicks more easily.

[BoutsofInsanity]

Depends on the objectives of the encounter.

If the Bulettes are targeting people indiscriminately and the objectives of the party is to prevent deaths of the townspeople I would use 3-4 and not target the party at all for damage.

If the objective is to severely challenge a high level party and nearly kill them. Providing a hard fought powerful battle that stresses out the members and really puts the players into a terrifying situation I would use 8 Bulettes providing there are buildings and cover and a disparate battlefield.

If there is no cover, buildings, roofs, and other things, and the battlefield is small, I would use 5 - 6.

-------

Lastly, if the objective is to provide an introduction, and not really challenge the party, I would use 3 - 5.

Any less than that means action economy is going to ruin the day and the party will cake walk it.

One Lore bard for example can completely shut down two bulettes with cutting words and vicious mockery. That's several turns of the bard just negating attacks.

[Chronos]

Quoth Zhorn:

If the pickpockets are captured/questioned, suggest making even them dubious of how over-the-top the 'distraction' was with releasing bulettes of all things.
Yeah, that's about what I was intending. "They told us there would be a distraction, but they didn't say it was going to be ****ing land sharks!" And Xanathar, per Dragon Heist, does have a history of releasing monsters into the city to keep adventurers busy.



Quoth BoutsOfInsanity:

If the Bulettes are targeting people indiscriminately and the objectives of the party is to prevent deaths of the townspeople I would use 3-4 and not target the party at all for damage.

If the objective is to severely challenge a high level party and nearly kill them. Providing a hard fought powerful battle that stresses out the members and really puts the players into a terrifying situation I would use 8 Bulettes providing there are buildings and cover and a disparate battlefield.

A combination of these two. The bulettes probably won't actually be targeting civilians much... so long as the party are actively engaging them and being better targets. But if the party were to retreat to rooftops, say, then they would, so they're forced to not do that.

[da newt]

This is an interesting plan for anyone to come up with as their best way to succeed at the objective.

Bulettes are a HUGE distraction and completely uncontrollable. The pickpokets have zero way of ensuring that the Bulette don't target them or will target the party at all, and it's not any easier to pick the pockets of the party members when they are engaged in full on battle with tanks that bite everything ... This is like using an unguided thermonuclear device to clear a clogged sink drain.

I think it could be a very interesting encounter, but this is not a clever plan hatched by a mastermind or competent organized crime ring - this is the work of an insane chaotic anarchist. It should be fun.

Bonus points if there is a halfling in the party - the bulettes will shun all others to munch on a well marbled halfling.

[Chronos]

One pickpocket attempt was made when the folks were fleeing the marketplace, and some naturally ran right past the party. A second, not-exactly-related attempt was made after the combat, when one of them ran up to a party member and hugged him, thanking him for saving them (she already got the contracted item on the first attempt, but decided on her own to try for an extra commission for herself). No pickpocketing happened during the combat itself. As it happened, both succeeded, and the pickpockets weren't caught.

The fight itself (four bulettes, with some inconsequential help from the Watch) was, in fact, fairly easy, though one party member almost went down on a critical hit. But it still lasted long enough to satisfy folks: 376 HP take a while to burn through. The first bulette to emerge got almost immediately polymorphed (not too big a surprise; they have low Wis saves), and the sorcerer's concentration didn't get broken until after one of the others had been killed. Meanwhile, the druid in earth elemental form got some lucky rolls and managed to grapple one of them while it was underground, and then after that one was dead, grappled another one underground until it was dead. One of them also ended up wasting a round attacking the wizard's Bigby's Hand, because a bulette's way of determining if something is tasty is to chomp on it and see. A couple of times, party members tried to protect civilians by standing right next to them, which should have been a really bad idea, but I was merciful and didn't use the leap attack on them.

[SharkForce]

it sounds like what you need are I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-A-Bullette, the discount version of Bulettes that have the exact same stat line but are definitely not Bulettes, no matter what people might think.

no, really. use the same stat line. give them a new name and description. maybe tack on an extra minor ability or remove something. presto. instant brand new never-seen-before monster that hunts in packs. problem solved.