Burning Tropical Dry Forest

Tropical Dry Forest
Timothy A. Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Fire has taken the land and will not let go. Volcanoes smoke on the horizon, lava runs in the cracks and ash falls like grey snow. The ground is warm underfoot, and at night the hills glow red. A warm forest ruled by the seasons: green and dense in the rains, bare and dusty in the long dry months, when many trees drop their leaves. Water gathers in a few pools and every animal knows where they are.

Over the year it averages 25 °C.

Hear it

For the table

Ground
rough, about 20 km a day on foot
Seasons
22 °C in the heart of winter, 29 °C in the heart of summer
Water
by season
Foraging
fair

Hazards

  • Crushing heat. At midday the heat wears a walker down far faster than the road. Those who know the land travel at dawn and dusk and rest in the shade.
  • Thirst. Water is far apart and not always where the map says. A day without drinking in the heat is enough to put a traveller down.
  • Wildfire. In the dry season, grass and scrub burn fast, driven by the wind. A fire front outruns a person on foot.
  • Searing air. The heat rises from the ground as much as it falls from the sun, and it does not ease at night.
  • Ember rain. Gusts carry glowing embers and hot ash. Cloth, hair and dry packs catch at a touch.
  • Crusted lava. A black crust over a river of lava looks like any other rock until it cracks.

D&D 5e

Plays as
forest, normal pace at most
Checks
forage: Survival DC 10 · find the way: DC 15 · search: DC 15
Creatures are spotted at
2d8 × 10 ft
  • Crushing heat. At 38 °C (100 °F) or hotter, anyone exposed without drinkable water makes a Constitution save at the end of each hour, DC 5 then 1 higher each hour, or gains 1 Exhaustion. Medium or heavy armour gives Disadvantage; fire resistance passes automatically.
  • Thirst. Each Medium creature needs about 4 litres (1 gallon) of water a day. Drinking less than half of it brings 1 Exhaustion at the end of the day, which does not go until a full day's water is drunk.
  • Searing air. At 38 °C (100 °F) or hotter, a creature exposed without drinkable water makes a Constitution save at the end of each hour, DC 5 and then 1 higher each hour, or gains 1 Exhaustion level. Medium or Heavy armor gives Disadvantage; Fire resistance or immunity passes automatically.
  • Ember rain. A creature on fire takes 1d4 Fire damage at the start of each of its turns. It can spend an action dropping Prone and rolling to put itself out; dousing, plunging into a liquid or smothering the flames does it too.
  • Crusted lava. (House rule) A DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check spots a crust before the party crosses it. A creature that breaks through makes a DC 13 Dexterity save, taking 6d10 Fire damage on a failure, or 2d10 on a success as it scrambles out.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Pathfinder Second Edition

Plays as (Pathfinder Second Edition)
forest, difficult terrain, about 16 km a day at Speed 25
Checks
Subsist: Survival DC 15 · Sense Direction: Survival DC 15
Random encounters
flat check DC 14 each day
  • Crushing heat. Temperature bands (GM Core p. 95): from 35 °C (mild heat) travellers tire after 4 hours; from 41 °C (severe heat) they take minor fire damage (1d6 to 2d6) every hour; from 46 °C (extreme heat), every 10 minutes. In high humidity the mild and severe thresholds are about 8 °C lower.
  • Thirst. Without enough water a creature is fatigued; after its Constitution modifier + 1 days without drinking it takes 1d4 damage an hour, which cannot be healed until it drinks (GM Core p. 43).
  • Wildfire. A wildfire front advances up to about 20 m a round in forest, twice that on plains; flames are hazardous terrain (moderate damage, 4d6 to 6d6, plus persistent fire), smoke works like fog and can suffocate (GM Core p. 97).

This product is licensed under the ORC License located at the Library of Congress at TX 9-307-067 and available online at various locations including paizo.com/orclicense, azoralaw.com/orclicense, and others. All warranties are disclaimed as set forth therein. Attribution: this rules layer is based on the following Licensed Material: Pathfinder Player Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter. Authors: Alexander Augunas, Kate Baker, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Carlos Cabrera, Calder CaDavid, James Case, Eleanor Ferron, Steven Hammond, Joan Hong, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Erik Keith, Dustin Knight, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Patchen Mortimer, Dennis Muldoon, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Mark Thompson, Clark Valentine, Andrew White, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder GM Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner and Mark Seifter. Authors: Amirali Attar Olyaee, Logan Bonner, Creighton Broadhurst, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, Jesse Decker, Eleanor Ferron, Fabby Garza Marroquín, Jaym Gates, Matthew Goetz, James Jacobs, Brian R. James, Jenny Jarzabski, Dustin Knight, Jason LeMaitre, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Owen K.C. Stephens, Amber Stewart, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder Monster Core © 2024 Paizo Inc., Authors: Alexander Augunas, Dennis Baker, Kate Baker, Joshua Birdsong, Joseph Blomquist, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Darrin Drader, Brian Duckwitz, Robert N. Emerson, Scott Fernandez, Eleanor Ferron, Leo Glass, Matthew Goodall, BJ Hensley, Thurston Hillman, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Miko Kallio, Jason Keeley, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Philippe-Antoine Menard, Jacob W. Michaels, Dave Nelson, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, Patrick Renie, Alex Riggs, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Chris S. Sims, Amber Stewart, Jeffrey Swank, William Thompson, Jason Tondro, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer. If you use our Licensed Material in your own published work, please credit us as follows: Biomes, Pathfinder Second Edition rules layer © 2026 Michael Ghelfi. Reserved Material: the names of Biomes and its catalogues, its descriptions, sounds, art and code. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc.; this site is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc.

Adventure hooks

  1. A glassblower wants an escort into the burning land, where sand fused by the lava keeps the last voice it heard before it cooled. She is looking for the piece that holds her brother’s, who died the night the fire came.
  2. Two villages on either side of the fire have quarrelled for generations over whose fault it is, and each hires the party, separately, to prove it was the other. Both are wrong: it was an old goatherd’s wish, made in a temper fifty years ago, and he is still alive and still rather proud of it.
  3. Under the ash lies a town buried in a single night, its people still seated at table. In one house a lamp burns: a clerk has spent eleven years keeping the dead town’s ledgers in perfect order, and he does not want to be rescued.
  4. A fire priest pays handsomely for an escort to the heart of the burning, where he means to ask the fire to go out. On the way the party notices that he never sweats, and that the fire seems to be following him rather than the other way round.
  5. At the end of the dry season, two herding clans both claim the last pool that still holds water. A jaguar drinks there too, and each clan is quietly hoping the other will meet it first.
  6. The rains are a month late, and a rainmaker has promised them for one cow from every household. The headman wants proof she is a fraud before the cows change hands; the first storm breaks on the evening the party arrives.
  7. A bush fire is coming through the leafless trees, and an old charcoal burner refuses to leave his kilns. He will come quietly if his three goats, his tally sticks and his late wife’s chest come too.
  8. When the leaves fall, a ruined watchtower shows on a ridge that the green hides all through the rains. Every year a different traveller swears there was a lamp burning in it.

What grows here

  • Indian Sandalwood (tree). A small evergreen tree of 4 to 9 m that taps the roots of neighbouring trees for part of its food. It grows in dry forests and scrub on sandy or stony soil in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and northern Australia. Its scented heartwood has been burnt in temples and on pyres for over two thousand years, and overharvesting has left the wild tree vulnerable. Gives: Sandalwood, Sandalwood Seed.
  • Kapok (tree). A giant of the tropical forest, up to 60 m tall, with huge buttress roots and a spiny trunk; it flowers while bare of leaves and is pollinated by bats. Native to the American tropics and probably to West and Central Africa, it is held sacred by the Maya and in Caribbean and Surinamese traditions. People take the floss of its pods, oil from its seeds and a light wood. Food of: Goat. Food of: Sheep. Food of: Cattle. Gives: Kapok Floss, Kapok Seed, Kapok Wood.
  • Teak (tree). A large deciduous tree up to 40 m with huge papery leaves and clusters of small white flowers, native to India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. It grows in the tropical forests that have a long dry season. Its durable, oily wood is one of the most prized timbers in the world. Gives: Teak Wood, Teak Leaf.

Animals

Kept here

  • Cattle (can wound or kill, in herds, by day)
  • Water Buffalo (can wound or kill, in herds, day and night)
  • Goat (dangerous if cornered, in herds, by day)

Creatures

Also met here

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

To gather

Obsidian Powder, Ash Lizard Egg, Firenewt Bile, Native Sulfur Crystal, Volcanic Fume, Efreeti Ashes, Salamander Brain, Azer Flame, African Buffalo Hide, African Buffalo Meat, Beeswax Block, Cattle Fat, Cattle Hide, Cow Milk, Ostrich Egg, Ostrich Plume, Ostrich Leather, Goat Hide, Goat Wool, Honey Comb, Sandalwood Seed, Kapok Floss, Kapok Seed, Kapok Wood, Lion Mane, Plains Zebra Hide, Plains Zebra Meat, Spotted Hyena Paw, Spotted Hyena Tail, Teak Leaf, Buffalo Hide, Buffalo Milk, African Bush Elephant Hide, Crystallized Honey, Elephant Ivory Powder, Sandalwood, Jaguar Fang, Jaguar Pelt, Lion Claw, Lion Tail, Rhinoceros Horn Powder, Teak Wood, Black Rhinoceros Horn, Tiger Bone, Tiger Pelt, Activated Charcoal, Agave Leaf, Amaranth Seed, Beetle Wing, Snake Venom, Alchemical Resin, Black Powder, Enchanted Sugar Pinch, Eucalyptus Leaf, Fixed Nitre, Moonflower Petal, Opium Extract, Sacred Basil Leaf, Concentrated Venom, First Morning Dew, Lightning Strike Ash

Beneath

Near the surface the rock keeps the year's mean warmth, without seasons; it warms as one goes down.

At the surface
25 °C
100 m
28 °C
500 m
39 °C
1 km
53 °C
3 km
108 °C

A town here

How large a town this land can feed, what it makes and what it must buy. Build it in Hearth

The same milieu, otherwise

Tropical Dry Forest, Primeval Tropical Dry Forest

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