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Tanar�ri, Lesser, Bulezau

2613

Bulezau tanar�ri are born and bred to fight in the Blood War. With the exception of the vrocks, bulezau are the toughest front-line troops of the tanar�ri hordes. Bulezau are used as heavy infantry, assault leaders, and personal guards; they lack the mobility or magical prowess of a similar band of vrocks, but they�re strong and fearless bashers who�re too stubborn and stupid to ever give up.

A bulezau resembles a minotaur, but it�s gaunt and skeletal, and its flesh is filthy and diseased. The creature isn�t covered with fur, but instead with patches of wiry bristles over battered, boil-covered skin. Its feet are clawed, not hoofed, and it has a long, serpentine tail with a clump of iron-hard spines at its end. The bulezau�s horns and head are more ramlike than bull-like, and its mouth is filled with small, needle-sharp fangs. Bulezau are often armed with great tridents, pole arms, or morning stars of wicked design.

Bulezau can speak the common trade-jargon of the planes with difficulty or communicate with a weak form of telepathy at will. It�s a good idea for a cutter to make out like he understands the bulezau perfectly no matter how animallike its speech is, since it�s not a patient basher. If a bulezau decides it�s easier to tear the arms off a sod than talk to him it won�t wait long to act on its impulses.

Combat: Bulezau are built for a fight. They can deal out raw damage just as well as many kinds of greater or true tanar�ri, but their chief vulnerability�s found in the hollow space between their ears. Strategy, discipline, and common sense�ve got no lace in the world of a bulezau, and if there�s anything dumber than a bulezau, it�s two of �em together. �Course, strength and energy�ll make up for a lot of failings of strategy, and that�s an approach bulezau are happy to take.

Like all tanar�ri, bulezau suffer no damage from nonmagical fire, electricity, or poison. Cold, magical fire, and gas cause only half damage to a bulezau.

Unarmed bulezau strike with each of their clawed forelimbs for 1d4+1 points of damage, deliver a powerful head-butt for 2d8 points of damage, and lash out with their bristly tails for another 1d3 points of damage. If the bulezau rolls a natural 19 or 20 with its head-butt, it knocks a man-size or smaller opponent back 5 to 10 feet (d6+4) and stuns the sod for 1 to 3 rounds. If the bulezau�s armed, it substitutes the weapon attack for its claw attacks. Bulezau weapons�re huge (size H) and inflict double normal damage, +6 for the creature�s Strength. A bulezau fighting with a morning star�ll do 4d4+6 points of damage with a hit. The bulezau can also butt and lash with its tail in the same round.

Once a bulezau�s in a fight, it�s likely to go berserk. There�s a 25% chance each round that it goes on a rampage of destruction, refusing to stop until either it or its opponent is dead. This rises to a 75% chance in a round in which bulezau takes damage without managing to hit its foe. (They don�t take failure well.) A berserk bulezau�s Armor Class falls to 1, since it ignores any defensive tactics whatsoever, but it gains a +2 bonus to all attack rolls. While berserk, the bulezau gains a +4 bonus to its saving throws versus any fear, emotion, or mind-affecting spells, including hold monster and the like. The bulezau doesn�t recover from its rage until all opponents are dead, routed, or the bulezau�s been unable to engage in melee for 5 rounds or more.

In addition to the powers common to all tanar�ri, bulezau can use the following spell-like abilities (at will unless otherwise specified) at the 7th level of ability: cause fear, command, detect invisibility, shout (1/day), and wall of fog. Bulezau can be injured only by cold iron or weapons of +1 or better value. Once per day they can attempt to gate 1 to 3 rutterkin (40%) or 3 to 12 dretches (60%) with a 25% chance of success.

Habitat/Society: Bulezau are quarrelsome, bullying creature that often fall into lethal disagreements with each other. Only the authority of a powerful greater or true tanar�ri can keep them from each other�s throats, and even then only if the promise of battle is near. Bulezau live for combat, and regard all other activities as a waste of time. They make poor pickets, sentries, or scouts since they�ve got no patience for waiting around or attempts at stealth � if a bulezau sees an enemy, it charges, and if it doesn�t see an enemy, it goes looking for one.

Bulezau may be difficult troops to keep control of, but they�re very good at what they do. Once committed to a battle, they hold nothing back and plunge into the thick of the fight with reckless abandon. For a tanar�ri commander, the bulezau are a slavering band of maniacs that�ll attempt any attack and never retreat, no matter how long the odds are. Loyalty of that kind is hard to find in the Abyss, even if it�s uncontrollable bloodlust instead of iron discipline.

Tanar�ri commanders�ve long recognized that it�s a good idea to keep bulezau near the war front. They�re just too stupid and aggressive to remain in a noncombat situation for long.

With a strong and charismatic commander, bulezau can hold themselves in check � just barely. High-ups in the Abyss sometimes create a ruthless and fanatical guard of bulezau, deciding that it�s worth the headaches to have such capable and loyal (for tanar�ri) fighters at their back and call.

Ecology: It�s rumored that the tanar�ri lord Baphomet, the patron demipower of minotaurs, was responsible for the creation of the bulezau. The chant goes that Baphomet bred his minotaur servants with some of the tanar�ri in his service, but there�s no way to know if this�s a peel or not. It�s also said that Baphomet maintains a bodyguard of fierce bulezau of unusual loyalty and discipline.

Bulezau are generally well-regarded by tanar�ri of higher station, since bulezau pursue the Blood War with so much enthusiasm that a more subtle tanar�ri can drop out of sight when they�re around. Tanar�ri commanders place a high value on bulezau formations and go out of their way to gather such units when possible. On the other hand, less powerful tanar�ri rarely want to be anywhere near a bulezau since the creature�s likely to fly off into a murderous rage at the least provocation, regardless of the consequence. There�ve been engagements where more dretches and rutterkin were lost to bulezau impatience than to baatezu action.

Bulezau�ve got a bitter rivalry with vrocks, and encounters between the two almost always break out into a fight unless there are baatezu nearby to deal with.

Last Modified: January 14, 2010, 17:37:42 GMT

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