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Resist77
2008-10-24, 12:32 AM
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20081024b

all in all, It looks like a pretty well-designed, well-thought-out monster, but as for the name, well...to be honest, I was stifling laughter the entire time I read this article.

Call me childish, foul, a gutter-mind, and whatever else you will....but does anyone else equate "Brown Dragon" with....a....umm? Deuce? Stool?

I would not have mentioned it if it were not so blatantly obvious, to me at least...and I'm hoping I'm not alone. Did these authors never wonder that Brown Dragon may be a synonym for poo?

As if this weren't inappropriate enough, this dragons fluff pegs it as flavor/digestion-themed. Wow. The word "gastronomical" is even used.


That's about all I can conjure up on the subject at the moment.
Thoughts?

BobVosh
2008-10-24, 01:12 AM
I think of all dragons as terds. Unfortunate, but common. Everyone has a story about em too.

JBento
2008-10-24, 04:23 AM
In WotC's defense, the brown dragon is not a newcomer. He was around for at least 2nd Edition. It had no wings (and thus couldn't fly), but it burrowed like a madman...

Ah, good times were to be had by all (assuming that by "all" you mean "the 50ft long lizard with dagger-like teeth and a hunger for PC flesh")

Smeggedoff
2008-10-24, 04:43 AM
oh, so white Dragons are fine though?
...dragon racist (I kid, I kid)

bosssmiley
2008-10-24, 04:59 AM
@OP: No, it's just you.

I remember those things from FR's 2E "Horde" boxed set. They were a cool take on the wingless 'linnorm/landwyrm' dragon. Camouflaged against the steppe, crawling along on their bellies; the ultimate ambush predator. :smallcool:

Random NPC
2008-10-24, 07:26 AM
@OP: No, it's just you.

I remember those things from FR's 2E "Horde" boxed set. They were a cool take on the wingless 'linnorm/landwyrm' dragon. Camouflaged against the steppe, crawling along on their bellies; the ultimate ambush predator. :smallcool:

it's not just the OP

and Pardon while I drop a Brown Dragon to the Basin of Life

EvilElitest
2008-10-24, 08:25 AM
oh, so white Dragons are fine though?
...dragon racist (I kid, I kid)

i thought dragons were designed with color in mind, they are color coded for your convience
from
EE

newbDM
2008-10-24, 08:32 AM
Damn.

Please put edition numbers on titles. I was sort of confused. Used to my 3.5 edition of the Draconomicon, so I just spent 10 minutes digging it out and trying to figure out if I missed something somewhere.

Talya
2008-10-24, 08:35 AM
First thing I thought of were F'nor and Canth.

BlackRabite
2008-10-24, 08:45 AM
Does the dragon not have arms? It didn't mention it specifically anywhere but in the knowledge section it mentioned that the children had "burrowing horns and claws." The picture at the bottom seemed to be of an amputee dragon.

KnightDisciple
2008-10-24, 09:09 AM
Does the dragon not have arms? It didn't mention it specifically anywhere but in the knowledge section it mentioned that the children had "burrowing horns and claws." The picture at the bottom seemed to be of an amputee dragon.

The pic looked to have at least front limbs; they were just curled up to its torso.

Hzurr
2008-10-24, 10:03 AM
oh, so white Dragons are fine though?
...dragon racist (I kid, I kid)

*sings* Albi, the racist dragon...

*sigh* Youtube is blocked, or I'd link.

kjones
2008-10-24, 10:16 AM
Albi, the Racist Dragon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9Qu3iP3RYA)

I remember the Brown Dragon from 2nd Edition. Did he ever come back in 3rd Edition?

Swooper
2008-10-24, 11:31 AM
Don't quote me on it, but I think he it might have been in Monsters of Faerūn.

Also, am I the only one who thinks the new look for the brown dragon is terrible? :smalleek: It looks like a sandy brown remorhaz. :smallconfused:

Inyssius Tor
2008-10-24, 11:38 AM
I, for one, think the new Brown is really, really cool. In fact, it may just have sold me on the Draconomicon I.

Fishy
2008-10-24, 11:42 AM
"Brown dragons, enamored with eating well, sometimes design elaborate schemes for obtaining unusual morsels."

Wile E. Coyote?

EvilElitest
2008-10-24, 11:49 AM
Don't quote me on it, but I think he it might have been in Monsters of Faerūn.

Also, am I the only one who thinks the new look for the brown dragon is terrible? :smalleek: It looks like a sandy brown remorhaz. :smallconfused:

god, i thought he was talking about the 3E one, oh gods thats awful
from
EE

InaVegt
2008-10-24, 12:04 PM
Oh holy Cthulhu! A flying sandworm! Run for your lives!

Greenfaun
2008-10-24, 12:31 PM
It's not bad, but I agree that the name is unfortunate. I mean, gamers have resorted to scatological humor with less justification than that. "Sand dragon" would've worked just as well, IMO.

Still waiting for the Eau-de-Nil dragon.

golentan
2008-10-24, 12:41 PM
It does look exactly like the 3.5 sand dragon from sandstorm. And the habitat and feeding habits sound similar. Of course, the sand dragon was chaotic neutral, and we all know that isn't a REAL alignment, but "evil" seems pretty divergent from that.

Athaniar
2008-10-24, 12:44 PM
Sand Dragon wouldn't work, since the chromatic dragons always have their color in their name.

As for the current name, well, perhaps Wizards didn't expect people to be so... immature? They're just colors. Chocolate is also brown, as is coffee, cola, and it is especially a color associated with the ground.

Also, I like the picture. Looks awesome.

Asbestos
2008-10-24, 12:54 PM
"Brown dragons, enamored with eating well, sometimes design elaborate schemes for obtaining unusual morsels."

Wile E. Coyote?

Hmmm... I can see a Wile E. Coyote type Brown Dragon being used. Say, a Brown Dragon bursts out the sand and offers the PCs the choice of "help me hunt down this one particularly elusive beastie or I eat you"
The PCs have to then hunt down whatever the roadrunner proxy is in this case. Whether they have access to ACME products is up to the DM.

TheThan
2008-10-24, 12:57 PM
How about mocha, tan, maroon, khaki, amber, mahogany, chocolate, bugandy, copper or beige dragon?



edit

how about the Achaierai (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG9.jpg) for a road runner stand in?

Asbestos
2008-10-24, 01:00 PM
How about mocha, tan, maroon, khaki, amber, mahogany, chocolate, bugandy, copper or beige dragon?



edit

how about the Achaierai (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG9.jpg) for a road runner stand in?

Sadly... well, fortunately rather, that four-legged chicken didn't make it into 4e. But, I've got nothing against creating a 4e one just to hunt it down and feed it to a dragon.

EvilElitest
2008-10-24, 01:04 PM
did the 3E brown dragon have this problem? Not that i recall? is it just hte picture?
from
EE

hamishspence
2008-10-24, 01:09 PM
Chaotic neutral, but very very predatory. Worlds and Monsters suggested alignment was a bit more flexible: Chromatics could be Neutral, but its Hungrey Dire Bear neutral- not very safe to negotiate with.

I think its passable. I wonder what Grey and Purple will be like. And how come that old 2nd ed favorite, Yellow, is missing?

I hope Manual of the Planes will give Shadow, MM2 the Metallics, and Draconomicon 2, the alloy metallics- bronze and brass, maybe steel?

EDIT:
3.0 Brown in MoF had stubby wings that didn't work, and carnosaur-like jaws.

golentan
2008-10-24, 01:11 PM
Chocolate is also brown, as is coffee, cola...

I'm sorry, I wasn't going to make scatological comments, but I can't let this slip by me. Chocolate is of course, an obvious euphemism. But in addition: every example you gave contains caffeine, a well know diuretic. I don't see this helping the brown dragon's case.

Hzurr
2008-10-24, 01:47 PM
"You hear a roar near by, the earth begins to rumble as something large moves towards you. You see a glint of teeth as a terrifying creature rises in front of you, it's eyes focused on what is certain to be it's next morsel. It's...a coffee dragon!"

...

yeah, let's stick with "brown"

hamishspence
2008-10-24, 01:50 PM
I liked Farerun's Rattelyr from Shining South. Burrowing, wingless, cobra hood, rattlesnake tail, flame breath.

Asbestos
2008-10-24, 01:55 PM
I'm sorry, I wasn't going to make scatological comments, but I can't let this slip by me. Chocolate is of course, an obvious euphemism. But in addition: every example you gave contains caffeine, a well know diuretic. I don't see this helping the brown dragon's case.

I think you may be confusing diuretic and laxative.

Also, every example? How about clay, mud, or plain old dirt? Oh, and leather and wood are most commonly brown as well.

hamishspence
2008-10-24, 01:57 PM
Or, keep the old name, and say Brown dragon is sage name for it.

Sand dragon sounds somehow more interesting, I'm not sure why.

Maybe old dragon age category- instead of ancient, Wyrm.

Sand wyrm. Hmm.

Draz74
2008-10-24, 02:45 PM
My biggest problem with it is how it has no intelligent reason to ever Bite anything, except when it's restricted to making a Basic Attack (e.g. OA's). Dragons ... should Bite things. :smallyuk:

Asbestos
2008-10-24, 02:47 PM
My biggest problem with it is how it has no intelligent reason to ever Bite anything, except when it's restricted to making a Basic Attack (e.g. OA's). Dragons ... should Bite things. :smallyuk:

Indeed, it has no mechanical proclivity to bite, the fluff gives it a proclivity for biting though, even when it isn't the 'best' option.

hamishspence
2008-10-24, 02:57 PM
I wonder if Old Faerun brown is gone, completely replaced by Sand, or if Sand retains some of the traits from Faerun brown.

RTGoodman
2008-10-24, 06:35 PM
I haven't studied the 4E Core dragons much, but to me this looks pretty deadly.

Open up with Sand Cloud and as a move action shift 10 squares, hitting as many PCs as possible to damage (2d6 + 4) and blind them. You now have combat advantage against everything that's blind. Then hit 'em with a Breath Weapon as your Standard Action for, on a hit, 3d10 + 3d6 + 4. As a minor action, you can use Quicksand Vortex to move all of them around 2 squares and hopefully stun them. Toss on an action point to use your standard action double attack against any within reach 3 for another 2d6 + 3d6 + 7.

That's a lot of dice for one round. :smalleek:

golentan
2008-10-24, 10:15 PM
Whoops, mea culpa. This is what happens when you go online after more than 50 hours awake.

Remember: Friends don't let friends type... awake... er... thing.

I know what I mean.

Mando Knight
2008-10-24, 11:37 PM
They wanted to scare players into getting Blind-Fight, just in case they're on a long desert trek. (And if there's no desert in the campaign world, and the DM just got Draconomicon I... be afraid. Be very afraid.) This is the Elder Brown Dragon, after all...