Brass dragon

Brass dragons are great talkers, but not particularly good conversationalists. They are egotistical and often boorish. They often have useful information, but will divulge it only after drifting off the subject many times and after hints that a gift would be appreciated.

At birth, a brass dragon's scales are dull. Their color is a brassy, mottled brown. As the dragon gets older, the scales become more brassy, until they reach a warm burnished appearance.

Brass dragons would rather talk than fight. If an intelligent creature tries to take its leave of a brass dragon without talking to it at length, the dragon might have a fit of pique and try to force a conversation with suggestion or by giving them a dose of sleep gas. If the victim falls asleep it will awaken to find itself pinned under the dragon or buried to the neck in the sand until the dragon's thirst for small talk is slaked. Before melee, brass dragons create a cloud of dust, then charge or snatch. Brass dragons often use control temperature to create heat to discomfort their opponents. When faced with real danger, younger brass dragons will fly out of sight, then hide by burrowing. Older dragons spurn this ploy. A brass dragon has two breath weapons: a cone of sleep gas or a cloud of blistering desert heat.

Brass dragons are found in arid, warm climates; ranging from sandy deserts to dry steppes. They love intense, dry heat and spend most of their time basking in the sun. They lair in high caves, preferably facing east where the sun can warm the rocks, and their territories always contain several spots where they can bask and trap unwary travelers into conversation.

Brass dragons are very social. They usually are on good terms with neighboring brass dragons and sphinxes. Brass dragons are dedicated parents. If their young are attacked they will try to slay the enemy, using their heat breath weapons and taking full advantage of their own immunity.

Because they share the same habitat, blue dragons are brass dragons' worst enemies. Brass dragons usually get the worst of a one-on-one confrontation, mostly because of the longer reach of the blue dragon's breath weapon. Because of this, brass dragons usually try to evade blue dragons until they can rally their neighbors for a mass attack.

Like other dragons, brass dragons can, and will, eat almost anything if the need arises. In practice, however, they eat very little. They are able to get nourishment from the morning dew, a rare commodity in their habitat, and have been seen carefully lifting it off plants with their long tongues.

Note: Brass dragons originally appeared in this form in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual for the AD&D game from TSR. Their use here is for the purposes of providing context for the campaign only.