Tropical Dry Forest

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

By day: Cicadas Field (On Patreon, Raven tier)
In the wind: Windy Cicadas Field (On Patreon, Raven tier)
In a storm: Thunder Cicadas Field (On Patreon, Raven tier)
By the river: Cicadas Field River (On Patreon, Raven tier)
Thirst: Windy Desert (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 1)
Wildfire: Burning Forest (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 2)

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: rich

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.

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.

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

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.
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.
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.
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.