Brown dragons, also known as great desert dragons, are ferocious dragons that lived under the desert sands.  They have sandy brown scales, unique among dragons for being leathery rather than hard.  Their legs are short but stocky, ending in large webbed claws perfectly suited for digging.

Brown dragons are notable for the strange structure of their wings.  Their wings are similar in appearance to those of a brass or gold dragon's: frill-like, though a brown dragon's wings are much shorter and stretch from its head to the tip of its tail.  By undulating their wings, a brown dragon is able to swim through sand and earth.  Their wings do allow them to fly, but not as well as other chromatic dragons.

Obsessive Gourmets.  A brown dragon's usual diet consists of minerals, mostly sand.  Due to their monotonous diet, brown dragons covet food as much as treasure, and will leap at the chance to eat literally anything that isn't sand.  They will go to great lengths to seek out strange or exotic things to consume to enjoy the flavor.  They care nothing for whether something tastes good or bad, so long as it tastes different.  They are known to be particularly fond of the taste of the horseflesh.  Their obsession with food is reflected in their hoards.  The treasure they favor takes the form of cutlery and crockery, from silver tea sets to crystal decanters.  Rare and expensive spices are especially prized by brown dragons.

Hidden Danger. While most dragons prefer to hunt from above, brown dragons prefer to hunt from below, burrowing rather than flying to stay out of sight of prey and foe alike. A brown dragon may partially surface, but the color and texture of their hides still allow them to blend in with their surroundings, appearing as pile of stones in the desert sands. Once a brown dragon has settled on its quarry, it pursues by burrowing at an incredible speed, and explosively launches from the sand beneath a target.

Shared Sands. Brown dragons get along surprisingly well with blue dragons, as the two do no compete for resources or territory.  A blue dragon hunts for meat, but a brown dragon is content to eat pretty much anything, including whatever a blue does not. Apart from its permanent lair, the reclusive brown dragon claims no territory, which suits a blue dragon, because it does.  A blue dragon craves servitude and tribute; as it has no need of traditional treasure such as gold, a brown dragon will happily offer it to a blue dragon in exchange for being left alone.  Interestingly, there have been reports of blue dragons bearing brown dragon offspring, hinting that the two may be related.  This might explain why the two seem to tolerate each other so well.

Brown dragons favor deserts or other desiccated landscapes where humanoid societies are less likely to thrive. They make their lairs beneath the desert sand, in  old ruins, buried cave mouths, or tunnels of melted and reformed sand.

A brown dragon’s lair consists of a series of rooms or hollow spaces cut off from each other by earth or shifting sand. The dragon simply burrows to the different chambers of its lair, allowing the tunnels to collapse behind it.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Part of the ceiling collapses above one creature that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone and buried. The buried target is restrained and unable to breathe or stand up. A creature can take an action to make a DC 10 Strength check, ending the buried state on a success.
• A cloud of sand swirls about in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners. Each creature in the cloud must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be blinded for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
• The dragon creates a wall of swirling sand on the ground at a point it can see within 120 feet of it. The  The wall can be up to 30 feet long, 10 feet high, and 10 feet thick, and it vanishes at the next initiative count 20.  The wall blocks line of sight but not movement. A creature is blinded while in the wall’s space and must spend 3 feet of movement for every 1 foot it moves there.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary brown dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• Sandstorms rage within 6 miles of the lair.
• Dust devils scour the land within 6 miles of the lair. A dust devil has the statistics of an air elemental, but it can’t fly, has a speed of 50 feet, and has an Intelligence and Charisma of 1 (−5).
• Hidden sinkholes form in and around the dragon’s lair. A sinkhole can be spotted from a safe distance with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. Otherwise, the first creature to step on the thin crust covering the sinkhole must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall 1d6 × 10 feet into the sinkhole.

If the dragon dies, the dust devils disappear immediately, and the sandstorms abate within 1d10 days. Any sinkholes remain where they are.