Actual
flying with hovering and actions mid-air is what I'm hoping to achieve by Epic. I kind of DO like the hopping gargoyle + knockdown flavour of the early levels when your wings are fresh out of the cocoon and still weak. But by Epic I expect them to grow strong to do some serious fighting in the air. If 4e powers aren't well balanced for that, well, so what? Why not balance them. A clever DM should have no trouble having a few archers in every battle, some flying creatures to keep him busy, and some traps and special vulnerabilities (thinking of the sort : net + falling damage).
If I can't hit with a ranged attack more than 5-10 squares (hand ax or dragon breath), then they can certainly hit me within that range too. Although, I hope to have combat advantage when aiming from above. Let's say you fire arrows down from a rooftop, do you get CA? Same thing here. I'm actually fine with the overland flight thing too, come to think of it, so long as there is an Epic path that continues the Scion of Arkhosia line of thinking. Being able to fly over large bodies of lava and carry over a line for your friends to scurry across is a very huge non-combat advantage, for a party with no Wizard. I'm thinking of all the tons of non-combat things I would do with this, and maybe combine it with some feather fall items to reduce falling damage if I ever get knocked out of the sky some how. I just love the kocking enemies prone on a charge bit, though.
Too bad wizards didn't think of that. I have a hard time convincing my DM to let in much that's not in a core rulebook and sufficiently non-uber. Thing is, I was kind of set on taking ranger paragon multiclass (for twin war axe action), and I'm really not sure if this is a worthwhile tradeoff. Especially with new items, feats, classes coming out, etc.
I currently have Hurl Breath from the Dragon magazine, and I love it. Taking this PP would allow me to drop that feat and take something else (probably Empowered Breath). Although it vexes me to think the d10s wouldn't affect the lvl 11 power of this class, or that Enlarged Breath wouldn't increase it from burst 2 to 3. It's just so frustratingly silly wrestling with these rules that don't synergize with each other. (on purpose, it seems). I really liked the Arcana Unearthed way of doing racial levels (say, going from pixy to sprite, or going Large when playing a Giant). These things are spectacular and fun. Spending a year of solid playing time in real life and then getting "fully-formed" wings that don't really work is quite a frustrating prospect indeed. Why can't you hover in air as a move action and take an attack? It makes no sense.
I like your clumsy flight idea where you take negatives and have to move at least two squares, but at least you can do other stuff. I mean, does overland flight mean you can't even unsheathe your weapon while descending on your foes or down a healing potion? (it's free actions only) I mean, how lame is that? People in the real world can jump out of airplanes and do backflips with surfboards (repeatedly). Dragonborn with wings should be able to do that too, with sufficient years of practice and strengthening. (IMO)
