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combat, all for a chance to bite a species never beforetasted. After a brown dragon samples such a newtaste, it invariably muses aloud about the flavor whilethe fight continues. Possibly browns intend this as atactic to demoralize foes, but more likely they follow agastronomical compulsion.Brown dragons stand out for another reasonapart from their love of food. They have the abilityto exhale screaming, blinding sand that hitsempty air supported by old ruins or in buried cavemouths. Other browns might occupy large ruinedstructures on the desert’s surface, such as grandtombs from which looters have long departed.A brown dragon’s lair consists of a series ofrooms or hollow spaces cut off from each other byearth or shifting sand. A burrowing brown digstunnels as needed.34like a concentrated desert sandstorm.Indeed, these dragons are like elementalsof the wastelands. The naturaldangers of its favored terrain are part ofa brown dragon’s armory. At the extreme,an ancient brown dragon’s sandstorm is largeenough to encompass an entire battlefield.Anything caught within such fury is tossedabout like a doll in a tornado.Lairs and TerrainBrown dragons favor desiccated and desertedlandscapes, places where humanoid societies areless likely to thrive and bother them. Browns locatetheir lairs beneath the desert floor, in hollows ofOPTIONAL RULESA brown dragon in desert or similar wasteland terraingains a +4 bonus to Stealth checks.Some brown dragons dig out hollow areas just beneaththe surface of the sands. Anyone who walks over suchan area might cause it to collapse. The collapse does notcreate a sinkhole or endanger the walker, but it doescreate a subsurface, thrumming vibration strong enoughto alert any nearby brown dragon to the presence ofintruders.CHAPTER 1 | Dragon LoreFavored TreasureBrown dragons covet food as much as treasure,and even the treasure they favor takesthe form of cutlery and crockery, from silvertea sets to crystal decanters once used by deities.Brown dragons cannot resist seizing fine utensilsof great value or of noteworthy past ownership.They might even employ intermediaries to buythese types of treasure.Brown dragons appreciate treasures of othersorts, too: coins, artwork, rare lore books . . . anythingvaluable that can fill out their hoards. Theymight also use these kinds of treasure as bait.Life CycleBrown dragons lay their eggs after about fivemonths of a fourteen-month incubation period.They lay clutches of five to six eggs, with an average ofthree hatching successfully under optimal conditions.The wyrmling stage of brown dragon developmentlasts for approximately eight years. Young brownsreach adulthood around age 130 and become eldersafter their 600th year. A truly ancient brown dragonhas lived for at least 1,250 years, give or take a centuryor two. The oldest known brown dragon lived forabout 2,000 years.SAM WOOD