Brown dragon

Brown dragons, also known as sand dragons or great desert dragons, were ferocious dragons that lived under the desert sands.

Description
They had sand colored scales, though unlike other types of dragon their scales were leathery. They had small webbed claws and very large, long mouths. Unlike most other types of dragons, they were wingless. To make up for this, they are the most adept diggers, speeding under loose sand very fast.

Personality
Brown dragons were both ferocious and intelligent. They were not particularly friendly or talkative, and this was mostly due to the fact that they considered most other creatures to be food, including members of intelligent races, and the idea of talking to their food was silly to them.

Abilities
A brown dragon's breath weapon was a line of acid, which reduced most animals to little more than sand and dust. Brown dragons were also born with an immunity to acid and the effects of desert heat. They could even survive indefinitely in an airless environment.

In terms of senses, brown dragons had the ability to detect vibrations in the ground in order to detect approaching prey. Their eyes could see in areas of both low-light and total darkness.

Young brown dragons had the ability to cast create sand once per day, allowing them to cover up their burrows, while juveniles could create water once per day.

Additionally, older and more powerful brown dragons gained a certain amount of power over air. They gained the ability to whip up a vortex-like sandstorms and summon once per day either powerful air elementals or a powerful earth elemental. Older brown dragons also used illusions or invisibility spells to conceal themselves from unsuspecting prey.

Great wyrms, the oldest of brown dragons, could innately cast the disintegrate spell.

Combat
Brown dragons preferred ambushes to straightforward fighting. They often buried themselves in the sand and waited for prey, then attacked with great fury.

Ecology
These dragons mated and raised families for only short periods of time during the adult stage of their life. However, there were many brown dragons who chose to never mate and live a solitary life.

Diet
Brown dragons were both a carnivorous and lithovorous species. They could subsist on a diet of minerals, including sand, but their preferred diet was meat. They were particularly fond of horseflesh, but also regarded intelligent humanoids as food.

Habitats
A brown dragon typically laired in a large cave or underground chambers they had burrowed, deep under the desert sand. These dwellings were typically beneath the sand.

On Toril they were commonly found in the Raurin desert and the wastes of eastern Mulhorand, often close to settled areas.

Languages
In addition to being able to speak Common and Draconic, brown dragons had their own dialect of Draconic and could speak the dialect of blue dragons.

Relationships
Brown dragons and blue dragons, being two types of chromatic dragon that lived in desert environments and liked to burrow into the sand, were considered to be natural enemies. They often fought each other, with their battles being considered legendary among humans.

The people of Mulhorand had a curious respect for brown dragons and as a result often viewed blue dragons as the more evil aggressors.

History
Brown dragons were thought to have been created by Imaskari artificers in the Raurin desert. Over time, brown dragons migrated away from the Raurin and moved into the wastes of eastern Mulhorand.

Notable Brown Dragons

 * Altagos
 * Draconis
 * Vulpomyscan
 * Slavin'krath'magaal

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #40, "Khamsa's Folly"
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Troubled Roads