Brown dragons are a species of chromatic dragon from the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. Being desert-dwellers, they are also called sand dragons.
Description
Brown dragons have dull-brown scales that match the colour of the desert sands where they make their homes. Their bodies are long, sinuous and have many bony spikes adorning their necks and tails. Their scales are soft and leathery to the touch, yet dense enough to resist most attacks. Unlike other dragons, brown dragons cannot fly as they do not have wings.
Brown dragons prefer to live lives of minimal struggle, taking the path of least resistance to get what they want. When faced with the choice of seizing a lone animal for dinner or attacking a fortified castle to capture all of its livestock, a brown will most likely choose the former. They are solitary creatures that prefer to stay away from civilized societies, only approaching communities that have something they want.
A brown dragon's diet consists largely of minerals found beneath the desert sands, though they also have a taste for horse meat.
Lairs and Terrain
Brown dragons prefer to make their lairs beneath the sands of deserts or otherwise arid wastelands. Such places are unlikely to be trespassed by humans, allowing a brown dragon to relax without worrying about any kind of intrusion. They carve out their lairs within the earth and rock deep below the dunes, or may otherwise take up residence in ancient structures that have long since been buried beneath the sands of time.
Favoured Treasure
Brown dragons seem to crave food more than treasure, although that is not to say they are above typical draconic avarice. Finely crafted metalworks, sculptures and paintings are likely to be found adorning their lairs with other more valuable trinkets strategically placed to bait would-be looters.
More than material wealth, brown dragons crave new tastes and go to great lengths to seek out new and exciting morsels. They may concoct elaborate schemes in order to discover new flavours, hunting rare game and, in rare cases, forcing other creatures to cook for them.
Life Cycle
Brown dragons lay their eggs after about five months of a fourteen-month incubation period. They lay clutches of five to six eggs, with an average of three hatching successfully under optimal conditions.
The wyrmling stage of brown dragon development lasts for approximately eight years. Young browns reach adulthood around age 130 and become elders after their 600th year. A truly ancient brown dragon has lived for at least 1,250 years, give or take a century or two. The oldest known brown dragon lived for about 2,000 years.
When a brown dragon dies of old age in its desert lair, the dry air might preserve and mummify it, making it one more relic of lost time buried by the desert sands. When a deceased brown dragon experiences environmental diffusion, the result is an area of quicksand.
Abilities
- Blindsight - Brown dragons can see in complete darkness and low-light, and can navigate terrain easily even when blinded.
- Frightful Presence - Proximity to a brown dragon can cause lesser creatures to panic.
- Breath Weapons - Brown dragons exhale great blasts of sand and dust to blind and buffet opponents. They can also breathe waves of extreme heat to scald prey to death.
