Gohlbrorn [Bulette]

Gohlbrorns prowl the cave networks of the deep underworld. They share the bulette's bullet shape and heavy armor but are much smaller, cleverer, and social. The head, which makes up a large part of the body, is dark gray; the hindquarters range from deep blue to dark brown, and the thick plates take on the hue of the surrounding rock. An inner eyelid screens out any light stronger than a candle, protecting it from blinding light spells and helping it hunt near the surface.

Its complex language sounds like far-off rumbling. Whether it can mimic other speech is unknown, but it can probably learn and understand other tongues.

These are cunning hunters. 45% of the time their coloring makes them impossible to tell apart from bare rock, and a pack often hides this way to study prey before striking. They avoid obviously strong prey unless they think the odds favor them. When possible, they dig ahead of their quarry and wait just beneath the surface of walls, floors, and ceilings, bursting out as the victims pass; opponents take -3 on surprise rolls.

A pack fights with real coordination, closing from several directions and focusing on spellcasters before anyone else. Hit-and-run is a favorite: strike, vanish into a tunnel, emerge somewhere else. In melee a gohlbrorn uses a claw for 2d6 and a bite for 3d6. It also gathers rocks as it burrows and usually keeps 2d4 in its gullet, spitting one per round with accuracy at targets up to 60 feet away for 1d8+1 damage. Facing overwhelming force, a pack quickly runs, but they remember, and often return later in greater numbers.

Packs may roam anywhere in the deep underworld, though many stalk the edges of big communities of easy prey such as quaggoths and grimlocks. They are so dangerous that races normally at war sometimes join forces to drive off or destroy a pack. The strongest member leads the tightly organized hunting group, but they seldom keep a permanent lair. Mated pairs make temporary lairs for clutches of 1d6 eggs, which they guard to the death, though the parents abandon the hatchlings shortly after they emerge.

By underworld standards they are short-lived, hunting actively for roughly two decades (about 20 years) until age catches up with them. Unusually for predators, they keep their elders, with young hunters bringing food to members too weak to hunt. They eat nearly any prey they catch. They fear mind reavers and find deep gnomes, with their illusions, too much trouble to hunt, but drow are a favored meal.