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Time to take a look at the Draconomicon
For those with no care to link:
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Brown dragons revel in the comfort of sand-covered lairs filled with treasure they have filched from desert tombs. Browns also like exotic live food kidnapped from far lands.
To come face to face with a brown dragon requires extra work on the part of a would-be vanquisher. Brown dragons accomplish their goals in a manner that puts them in the least amount of danger—or, more accurately, requires the least effort. For instance, if given a choice between attacking an armed castle to eat the baron’s horses or swooping down on a straggling bull among a herd of buffalo, a brown dragon chooses the latter.
Nevertheless, a diet of buffalo or other easily acquired herd animals pales after a time, so even risk-averse, relatively easygoing brown dragons might take progressively greater risks to try new flavors. Brown dragons, enamored with eating well, sometimes design elaborate schemes for obtaining unusual morsels—schemes of a sort that other dragons would apply toward stealing great treasure or defending their lairs. To brown dragons, life is best lived by eating often and well. A black dragon might find satisfaction in a diet of swamp things and the occasional drowned adventurer, but a brown dragon’s ultimate happiness comes with new tastes and spices.
In the extreme, this peculiarity can result in a brown dragon taking unnecessary risks in the heat of combat, all for a chance to bite a species never before tasted. After a brown dragon samples such a new taste, it invariably muses aloud about the flavor while the fight continues. Possibly browns intend this as a tactic to demoralize foes, but more likely they follow a gastronomical compulsion.
Brown dragons stand out for another reason apart from their love of food. They have the ability to exhale screaming, blinding sand that hits like a concentrated desert sandstorm. Indeed, these dragons are like elementals of the wastelands. The natural dangers of its favored terrain are part of a brown dragon’s armory. At the extreme, an ancient brown dragon’s sandstorm is large enough to encompass an entire battlefield. Anything caught within such fury is tossed about like a doll in a tornado.
Lairs and Terrain
Brown dragons favor desiccated and deserted landscapes, places where humanoid societies are less likely to thrive and bother them. Browns locate their lairs beneath the desert floor, in hollows of empty air supported by old ruins or in buried cave mouths. Other browns might occupy large ruined structures on the desert’s surface, such as grand tombs from which looters have long departed. A brown dragon’s lair consists of a series of rooms or hollow spaces cut off from each other by earth or shifting sand. A burrowing brown digs tunnels as needed.
Favored Treasure
Brown dragons covet food as much as treasure, and even the treasure they favor takes the form of cutlery and crockery, from silver tea sets to crystal decanters once used by deities. Brown dragons cannot resist seizing fine utensils of great value or of noteworthy past ownership. They might even employ intermediaries to buy these types of treasure.
Brown dragons appreciate treasures of other sorts, too: coins, artwork, rare lore books . . . anything valuable that can fill out their hoards. They might also use these kinds of treasure as bait.
Brown Dragon Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 15: More than any other kind of dragon, brown dragons are driven nearly as much by the desire to discover new tastes as by the need to accumulate a hoard. They so love eating that they sometimes take risks in combat merely to “sample” one or more of their foes. Thus, a brown dragon might take a bite instead of making a more tactically advantageous attack for the chance to taste an enemy, especially a creature it has not previously encountered. Brown dragons prize elf flesh for its succulence and tenderness, and least prefer dwarves, whose tough meat they consider unpalatable unless it is aged.
DC 20: A brown dragon’s breath weapon is a blast of supernaturally hot and stinging sand that corrodes flesh and blocks all visibility.
DC 25: A brown dragon makes its lair under the sands, in a hollow within a ruin, a cave, or a similar structure. A lair can consist of several such chambers, each one an island of air surrounded by an ocean of smothering sand. A brown dragon doesn’t need tunnels—it can burrow between the rooms of its lair without difficulty.
A brown dragon might keep a supply of food in its lair, usually smoked or seasoned meats but sometimes a stock of living creatures. It might set aside a space for seasonings, including sea salt, sage, thyme, and more exotic flavorings.
In addition to unusual food items, rare spices, and precious dishes and utensils, brown dragon hoards often contain treasures from civilizations that fell in earlier ages. They are likely to contain unique items (both mundane and magical) from long-extinct cultures now hidden under the shifting sands. A brown dragon might use its treasure as bait for living prey, depositing a half-buried chest on the surface near a crossroads or an oasis to lure treasure-seekers.
DC 30: Brown dragons lay their eggs deep within loose earth, preferably sand. When the eggs hatch, the wyrmlings claw their way to the surface, giving the impression of springing spontaneously from the sand. Even newly hatched brown dragons have fully developed digging horns and claws, giving them the same burrowing ability as their parents.
Elder Brown Dragon Level 16 Solo Lurker
Huge natural magical beast (dragon) XP 7,000
Initiative +15 Senses Perception +12; darkvision, tremorsense 20
HP 775; Bloodied 387; see also bloodied breath
AC 34; [/b]Fortitude[/b] 34, Reflex 30, Will 32
Resist 25 fire
Saving Throws +5
Speed 10, burrow 8, fly 7 (hover), overland flight 14
Action Points 2
Bite (standard; at-will)
Reach 3; +22 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage.
Claw (standard; at-will)
Reach 3; +22 vs. AC; 2d6 + 7 damage.
Double Attack (standard; at-will)
The dragon makes two claw attacks.
Sand Spray (immediate reaction, when an enemy attacks the dragon with a ranged attack; at-will)
Ranged 20; targets the triggering enemy; +19 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 3 damage, and the target is blinded until the end of the dragon’s next turn.
Breath Weapon (standard; recharge )
Close blast 10; +19 vs. Fortitude; 3d10 + 4 damage. The blast creates an area of swirling sand that remains in place until the end of the dragon’s next turn. Any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the area or that moves through the area takes 10 damage. The area blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon.
[b]Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied; encounter)
The dragon’s breath weapon recharges, and the dragon uses it immediately.
Frightful Presence (standard; encounter) * Fear
Close burst 10; targets enemies; +19 vs. Will; the target is stunned until the end of the dragon’s next turn. Aftereffect: The target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
Quicksand Vortex (minor; encounter)
Close burst 5; +19 vs. Fortitude; the target slides 2 squares and is slowed until the end of the dragon’s next turn.
Sand Cloud (move; recharge ) * Polymorph
The brown dragon transforms into a cloud of sand and shifts a number of squares up to its speed. It can move through occupied squares but must end in a legal space. Any creature whose space the dragon enters takes 2d6 + 4 damage and is blinded (save ends). The dragon returns to its normal form at the end of this move.
Combat Advantage
The brown dragon deals 3d6 extra damage against any target it has combat advantage against
.Alignment Evil Languages Common, Draconic
Skills Endurance +17, Stealth +16
Str 24 (+15) Dex 17 (+11) Wis 19 (+12) Con 19 (+12) Int 17 (+11) Cha 15 (+10)
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Sorry, but that was one of the stupidest monster ecologies I ever read.
Brown dragon basically loves things made by humanoids and likes to lunch on humanoids and loves exotci spices (most likely traded or grown by humanoids) but lives apart from humanoids?
He dines on Buffalos. Buffalos in the desert?
Also they forgot to write this:
"Once a month all brown dragons of the contient meet for tea and discuss the newest crockery styles. The hosting dragon always tries to impress his fellows with exotic dishes." :-)
Am I the only person who doesn't feel like we need any more varieties of dragon? In fact, I've always kind of disliked the chromatic/metallic versions, no matter iconic they have become.
It seems to me that dragons is dragons and that there really only needs to be one flavor: it is big (I mean big, none of this small dragon silliness from 3.5), has scales of a variety of hues (which say nothing about its character, habitat, dining choices, alignment, etc.), is evil (or at least selfish), and breathes fire (not chlorine gas, sand, shadows, or whatever).
I know that many out there will think this statement is pretty close to heresy, but I don't know why we feel the need to populate our fantasy worlds with a rainbow assortment of dragons. You could take the stats given above, call it a sand drake, and I would be perfectly happy.
When Bilbo et al. went in search of Smaug's treasure under the mountain, no one ever said, "Gonna fight a dragon, eh? What color?"
O
PS For a great take on dragon color, ranging from white to black, check out "Dragonsbane" by Barbara Hambly (but ignore the sequel).
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Am I the only person who doesn't feel like we need any more varieties of dragon? In fact, I've always kind of disliked the chromatic/metallic versions, no matter iconic they have become.
Yep, you are the only one! All others are desperately waiting fo the Mauve the Mint and the meanest of them all, the Burberry Dragon!
Yep, you are the only one! All others are desperately waiting fo the Mauve the Mint and the meanest of them all, the Burberry Dragon!
As a weird coincidence, I just happen to have a bag from the Burberry store sitting next to my computer, a gift from a student that I received today. Spooky.
Secretly, I think it would be cool to have a plaid dragon.
O
Does not do a ton for me. I mean they have tried to introduce yellow and brown dragons before and its never really caught on. If I use this dragon I'd probably treat it as a very rare type that comes about due to cross breeding and not in itself a true strain.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Finally! A brown dragon!!!
...
Ummm...wait...I never wanted a brown dragon...I fear it would be associated with a fecal related breath weapon...
On an entirely unrelated note, has anyone ever noticed that the five chromatic dragons line up with five colors in Magic? This must be the artifact dragon, and not a coincidence that I have attempted to force to fit the facts.
Okay, I've got nothing. No love, no hate. It's a tradition to pump out dragons in every edition, and at this point, I've learned to ignore it. 10 dragon varieties is more than enough, thankyouverymuch.
Okay, I've got nothing. No love, no hate. It's a tradition to pump out dragons in every edition, and at this point, I've learned to ignore it. 10 dragon varieties is more than enough, thankyouverymuch.
You'd think they'd have figured this out by now.
If you need a dragon then everyone uses one of the iconic dragons. What are the chances of a DM having so many dragon encounters in his game that he's basically deciding that he needs some new ones because the old ones have gotten stale? Chances are so remote that its just not worth contemplating.
I'd have much preferred if they had used the space to give us Dragon feats. Can never have enough Dragon feats - the DM always needs good combinations of feats for dragons in order to increase the probability of killing the PCs beloved characters.
Also this polymorph to sand ability rubs me the wrong way - thats not something a Dragon should be able to do, thats more like a Djinn or something.
I'd have much preferred if they had used the space to give us Dragon feats. Can never have enough Dragon feats - the DM always needs good combinations of feats for dragons in order to increase the probability of killing the PCs beloved characters.
Too bad, they remove monsters from having feats. Maybe alternate powers is an alternative options instead?
Though looks like they took the Sand Dragon from Sandstorm and use their form as the basis for the Brown Dragon now.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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If you need a dragon then everyone uses one of the iconic dragons. What are the chances of a DM having so many dragon encounters in his game that he's basically deciding that he needs some new ones because the old ones have gotten stale? Chances are so remote that its just not worth contemplating.
I think interest in new dragons is inversely proportional to how long you've played the game. When I was a new player, I used to buy issues of Dragon magazine if they had new dragons in them. I've got a new player and he is also deep into the I-love-dragon's phase. I think that's who the dragonborn and new dragons are targeted towards.
I happen to like new kinds of dragons that are unique and creative. But seriously...brown? Brown?! How can I say to my players, "You face the ferocious brown dragon!" with any flair.
A brown dragon in sandy regions reminds me of a litter box.
On an entirely unrelated note, has anyone ever noticed that the five chromatic dragons line up with five colors in Magic?
............wow.....just....wow! How did I never notice that? Now I want to stat out a clockwork dragon!
TS
You'd think they'd have figured this out by now.If you need a dragon then everyone uses one of the iconic dragons. What are the chances of a DM having so many dragon encounters in his game that he's basically deciding that he needs some new ones because the old ones have gotten stale? Chances are so remote that its just not worth contemplating.
Maybe it's a mini marketing tool? They can sell more dragon minis if they have more dragon colors. I agree with others who say that brown is a 'crappy' color for a dragon. It seems so ... mundane.
Maybe it's a mini marketing tool? They can sell more dragon minis if they have more dragon colors. I agree with others who say that brown is a 'crappy' color for a dragon. It seems so ... mundane.
You'd think they'd have figured this out by now.If you need a dragon then everyone uses one of the iconic dragons. What are the chances of a DM having so many dragon encounters in his game that he's basically deciding that he needs some new ones because the old ones have gotten stale? Chances are so remote that its just not worth contemplating.
Yeah but what other colours are they supposed to use? Yellow - or worse yet, the dreaded purple dragon.
Or we can start copying Hackmaster and have Teal Dragons and such.
Yeah but what other colours are they supposed to use? Yellow - or worse yet, the dreaded purple dragon.
To me, yellow isn't any worse than green, and purple is not any worse than blue. It just depends on shading.
However, I would like to see endless variations on the existing colors. For instance, black dragons may have different mechanisms for acid sprays or different styles of acid with different effects. Or they have a variation, such as a red dragon with a dark red wings is a different kind of dragon that an average red dragon.
Also, one can still be chromatic, but called something different. For instance, a light brown dragon could just be called a sand dragon although the skin tone remains chromatic. Or sun dragon for yellow, etc.
Some of this I imagine does exist in the book. I'm just not that excited on a gut level about the "brown dragon" name although I think the powers are cool.
There are many hues of brown which would offer a more stylish name - Umber Dragon, Ocher Dragon, Sepia Dragon et cetera.
Mmmm...chocolate dragon.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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On an entirely unrelated note, has anyone ever noticed that the five chromatic dragons line up with five colors in Magic?............wow.....just....wow! How did I never notice that? Now I want to stat out a clockwork dragon!
TS
As long as you're headed off in that particular brand of OCDness (which I approve of), don't forget to reshuffle the draconic associations a little bit. Red, black and green are in alignment with their MtG associations, but blue is off (should be nautical instead of deserts) and white's arguably off (I suppose that the arctic tundra is a lot of plains, but the white dragon should probably be more like the gold in terms of personality and intelligence to fit with its MtG color).
For the record, brown dragons have actually been around since 2nd edition, and the current brown dragon from the article looks like its taking the name of the brown dragon and the appearance of the sand dragon from the 3.5 terrain book Sandstorm, which actually makes sense because between blue, yellow, brown, and sand dragons, as well as the less willing to eat you brass dragons, the deserts were getting pretty crowded with dragons.
Not so much saying its a great article, but they aren't really adding a new dragon type so much as consolidating some old ones that already existed, at least in this piece.
I hope I will never be so jaded on D&D that I'll need an encounter with a brown dragon to liven things up.
Finally! A brown dragon!!!
...
Ummm...wait...I never wanted a brown dragon...I fear it would be associated with a fecal related breath weapon...
*At the table*
"Has any one got a brown dragon mini?"
"Yah, yah. She tapping at my backdoor, just a minute."
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Yep, you are the only one! All others are desperately waiting fo the Mauve the Mint and the meanest of them all, the Burberry Dragon!
As a weird coincidence, I just happen to have a bag from the Burberry store sitting next to my computer, a gift from a student that I received today. Spooky.
Secretly, I think it would be cool to have a plaid dragon.
O
Plaid dragons would be cool only if they all speak in a Scottish bough, have their lairs near golf courses, drink only single malt scotch and their breath weapon is a cone of golf balls.
Mmmm...chocolate dragon.
That would've been more interesting, and more welcome in our campaign :/
Sorry, but that was one of the stupidest monster ecologies I ever read.
Brown dragon basically loves things made by humanoids and likes to lunch on humanoids and loves exotci spices (most likely traded or grown by humanoids) but lives apart from humanoids?
He dines on Buffalos. Buffalos in the desert?
Also they forgot to write this:
"Once a month all brown dragons of the contient meet for tea and discuss the newest crockery styles. The hosting dragon always tries to impress his fellows with exotic dishes." :-)
They could have done a much better Ecology of the dragon than they did but I do sort of like the individual dragon types. It's not something that I couldn't live without but I'd be more interested in just a Dragon with lots of variations.
Like the Lampton Wyrm which was a long snake like Dragon who regenerated so quick that it couldn't be stopped until a knight came up with a plan to wear a spiked armour and lure the beast to the middle of a fast flowing river so the Dragons parts were washed away before they could Regenerate.
A group in my present campaign came up with a plan to 'catch' a manticore which made a fun and interesting encounter as they snared it's wing with a grapple hook and four of the group pulled the manticore from the sky so they could kill it.
*stuff about brown dragons*
*brown dragon looks to WotC Design Team after it assigns dragon names*
Yeah, yeah, but "Mr. Brown Dragon"? That's little too close to " Mr. <CENSORED> Dragon".
I have always been under the impression that dragons are whatever color the world designer wants them to be, and they breathe whatever evil vileness the designer wants them to breathe. Sure, a black dragon is likely to live underground, a swamp or somewhere else dark. But it is likely to breathe fire or warm fuzzies as it is acid. They can also be whatever alignment, have whatever abilities, and just about anything else atypical of classic chromatic dragons.
Just my two cents.
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They could have done a much better Ecology of the dragon than they did but I do sort of like the individual dragon types. It's not something that I couldn't live without but I'd be more interested in just a Dragon with lots of variations.
I have nothing against new Dragon types. In fact, I love them both as DM and as Player.
Thy could have called it Ochre Dragon or Desert Dragon. They could have build the ecology around a desert theme (and have a look at their own Sandstorm book for ideas). They could have made it a dweller either in old forgotten ruins or burrowed in the sand.
They could have made it a curse for the nomads. A Dragon who raids Oasis and Caravans. They could have given hints that the Dragon can be bribed, not with the usual gold, but with exquisite Food, Drink and Spices. Some Nomad tribes even pay a yearly tithe to Oche Dragons but are in turn protected by it. They could have given hints that Ochre Dragons sometimes ride Sandstorms through the desert. They could have given ideas that Ochre Dragons bury their eggs mere inches beneath the desert sand and that young Ochre Dragons can be trained as Mounts.
But they just gave us this uninspired crap!
That makes me sad!
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Why take up more room with a new thread when I can just put this here...
In todays Draconomicon Excerpt: Heart of Darkness, we get introduced to Orukurtz the Purple Dragon.
For those with little care to link:
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Orukurtz(O) Level 19 Solo Controller
Elder purple dragon
Huge natural magical beast (dragon) XP 12,000
Initiative +15 Senses Perception +14; darkvision
HP 895; Bloodied 447; see also bloodied breath
AC 37; Fortitude 33, Reflex 35, Will 37
Resist 25 psychic
Saving Throws +5
Speed 9, fly 9 (hover), overland flight 18; phasing
Action Points 2
Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Psychic
Reach 3; +24 vs. AC; 2d6 + 4 damage, and the target takes
ongoing 15 psychic damage (save ends).
Claw (standard; at-will)
Reach 3; +24 vs. AC; 2d8 + 4 damage.
Double Attack (standard; at-will)
The dragon makes two claw attacks.
Phasing Strike (immediate reaction, when an enemy ends its
turn within 3 squares of the dragon; at-will) ✦ Psychic
The dragon attacks the triggering creature; reach 3; +23 vs.
Will; 2d6 + 4 psychic damage, and the target is pushed 5
squares. The target gains the phasing quality during this forced
movement.
Nightmare Gaze (minor; at-will) ✦ Charm, Gaze, Psychic
Ranged 10; targets a stunned or dazed creature; +23 vs. Will;
the target is dominated (save ends). A creature dominated by
this eff ect must attack an ally on its turn or take 20 psychic
damage at the end of its turn (even if it saves against this eff ect).
Breath Weapon (standard; recharge ⚄⚅) ✦ Psychic
Close blast 10; +23 vs. Fortitude; 2d10 + 8 psychic damage, and
the target takes ongoing 10 psychic damage and is dazed (save
ends both). Miss: Half damage, and the target is not dazed and
does not take ongoing damage. Each time the target fails the
saving throw against this effect, the purple dragon can slide it 5
squares.
Bloodied Breath (free, when first bloodied; encounter) ✦
Psychic
The dragon’s breath weapon recharges, and the dragon uses it
immediately.
Frightful Presence (standard; encounter) ✦ Fear
Close burst 10; targets enemies; +23 vs. Will; the target is
stunned until the end of the dragon’s next turn. Aftereffect: The
target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
Harmed by Sunlight
An elder purple dragon that begins its turn in direct sunlight
can take only a single standard action on its turn. If it ends the
turn in direct sunlight, it also takes 223 damage.
Alignment Evil Languages Common, Draconic
Skills Bluff +22, Diplomacy +22, Intimidate +22, Dungeoneering
+19, Insight +19
Str 19 (+13) Dex 22 (+15) Wis 21 (+14)
Con 19 (+13) Int 21 (+14) Cha 27 (+17)
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More draconomicon...
Excerpt: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20081107b]Bone Mongrel Dracolich
For those with little care to link:
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Bone Mongrel Dracolich Level 8 Elite Brute
Large natural magical beast (dragon, undead) XP 700
Initiative +7 Senses Perception +9; darkvision
HP 218; Bloodied 109
AC 22; Fortitude 21, Reflex 19, Will 18
Immune disease, fear, poison; Resist 15 necrotic; Vulnerable 10
radiant
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6, fly 8 (clumsy)
Action Points 1
Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Necrotic
Reach 2; +11 vs. AC; 2d8 + 6 necrotic damage, and the target
takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends).
Flensing Teeth (standard; at-will)
The dracolich makes a bite attack against each of two diff erent
targets.
Breath Weapon (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅) ✦ Necrotic
The dracolich unleashes a blast of bone shards: close blast 5;
+9 vs. Reflex; 2d10 + 10 necrotic damage, and the target takes
ongoing 5 damage (save ends). First Failed Saving Throw: The
ongoing damage increases to 10.
Horrid Presence (standard; encounter) ✦ Fear
Close burst 5; targets enemies; +9 vs. Will; the target is pushed
3 squares and dazed (save ends).
Alignment Evil Languages Draconic
Str 22 (+10) Dex 17 (+7) Wis 11 (+4)
Con 19 (+8) Int 7 (+2) Cha 12 (+5)
