Give me a D&Dish answer to this riddle.

[Glyfair]

I've been toying with this riddle from a Genesis song. I'd like to eventually use it as a riddle in my Eberron game, but I want just the right answer for it.

"Clothes of brass and hair of brown
Seldom need to breathe
Don't need no wings to fly
Ooh and a heart of stone
And a fear of fire and water
Who am I?"

The assumed answer isn't very D&D at all (and that's mostly guesswork, as the writer didn't even remember the answer when he was asked over 10 years later), so any intriguing answer could be just right.

 

[demiurge1138]

Some sort of combined elemental. Since it's Eberron, perhaps its some sort of experimental Orien transport (powered by both an air and earth elemental). Maybe it's been stolen by an Orien heir with hair of brown?

Demiurge out.

 

[Steverooo]

You are...

"Clothes of brass and hair of brown
Seldom need to breathe
Don't need no wings to fly
Ooh and a heart of stone
And a fear of fire and water
Who am I?"

...that brazen, cold-hearted, brown-haired girl in the painting that I crumpled up and threw away!

"Clothed in brass" because you're brazen.
You seldom need to brethe, but I used to let you out of the picture frame to "breathe", once in a while.
You needed no wings to fly away, once I crumpled your picture up and tossed it into the wind (not that you needed wings to fly away when you left)!
You always had a heart of stone!
And, being a painting, you fear both fire and water (may the rain wash you away)!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The apparatus of Qualish (sp?)

It's made of brass, and because of its underwater travel, it will accumulate sea-weed "hair"
You can stay down with it long times, without the need of regular resurfacing to "breathe"
It "flies" through the water, without wings.
It's "heart" is a magic stone that powers it.
And if you're underwater with a small supply of air, you don't want water to get in there, and you don't want a fire to consume your air.

 

[Glyfair]

The apparatus of Qualish

You "cheated" and looked up the answer, didn't you?

(The assumed answer is "Submarine." Most of the reasons are the same, but the key was a song called "Submarine" that seemed to follow musically from this song, even though it didn't appear on the album).

I don't really like the explanation for "hair of brown" though, otherwise the Apparatus clearly could work.

 

[wmasters]

A warforged witch? My Eberron-fu is a bit lacking, but clothes of brass and hair of brown seem easily satisfied. It flies with magic, so no wings, and witches have faced trials by fire and by water....

The heart of stone I'm not so sure about that. That makes me think of plums instead, or all sorts of other fruit-based answers

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You "cheated" and looked up the answer, didn't you?

Of course. I'm meant to cheat, or else I wouldn't be so smart, amoral and devious as I am.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Double post. See below.

 

[Vrecknidj]

"Clothes of brass and hair of brown
Seldom need to breathe
Don't need no wings to fly
Ooh and a heart of stone
And a fear of fire and water
Who am I?"

A vampire can sometimes fly without wings (gaseous form; though the bat transformation could be a problem), could easily be seen as having a heart of stone, often takes damage from fire, cannot cross running water, doesn't need to breathe. Figure out the brass part (maybe a vampire leader?) and this could work.

Dave

 

[green slime]

"Don't need no wings to fly"?

In other words, you do need wings to fly. Or isn't that what you were trying to say?