D&D 5E (2014) Flying Races: Limiting Flight

[Wrathamon]

suggestions

flight requires concentration
disadvantage on ranged attacks
exhaustion at the end of combat when flying during combat (like frenzied rage)
dont allow flying races

 

[Zero Cochrane]

Flying races -- a level progression

I posted the following in another thread, but this one is a better place for it. Here is what I would do.
For most campaigns, I don't think it is a good idea to just give a character the ability to fly, especially when fly is a 3rd-level spell and the draconic sorcerer doesn't gain wings until 14th level. It allows him to overcome many situations that would challange any character who cannot fly.

For player character races that can fly, consider the following progression of flight ability, based on character level:
1st level -- You can use an action to descend slowly as if a featherfall spell were cast upon you.
2nd level -- You can use a bonus action to descend slowly as if a featherfall spell were cast upon you.
3rd level -- As part of a move action, you can cause yourself to descend slowly as if a featherfall spell were cast upon you.
6th level -- You can make a "flight-assisted jump": your minimum horizontal jumping distance equals half your racial Fly Speed.
10th level -- You can fly at half your racial Fly Speed, but must land at the end of your turn or descend as per 3rd level.
12th level -- You can fly at your racial Fly Speed, but must land at the end of your turn or descend as per 3rd level.
14th level -- You can fly indefinitely at your racial Fly Speed.

 

[SxyUncleFlxy]

It is really interesting to hear in this thread how often DMs are manually adjusting rules during a campaign just to ensure that their vision of how the campaign was supposed to go, continues in that expected manner. I think this is a major problem in DMing and should be strongly avoided. If the PCs find a way to break your expectations by following the rules, learn from it and balance better in future, and reward them for their creative method of solving those problems you introduced at the time that they did. In many ways DND can resemble life; there are challenges in your path, now find a legal way to surpass them. Just because the method found may surpass 10 of your obstacles all at once does not mean it should be stopped, but instead the story should adapt to that new change. Yes, that may take a lot more work, but it also will result in a VERY fun and engaging storyline that no one could have expected and becomes extremely organic and treasured.

I really hope the common culture of DMing changes to be less cookie cutter, and I encourage other DMs to be more custom to what the players legally make happen and develop their own story that you all can own together.

 

[Oofta]

It is really interesting to hear in this thread how often DMs are manually adjusting rules during a campaign just to ensure that their vision of how the campaign was supposed to go, continues in that expected manner. I think this is a major problem in DMing and should be strongly avoided. If the PCs find a way to break your expectations by following the rules, learn from it and balance better in future, and reward them for their creative method of solving those problems you introduced at the time that they did. In many ways DND can resemble life; there are challenges in your path, now find a legal way to surpass them. Just because the method found may surpass 10 of your obstacles all at once does not mean it should be stopped, but instead the story should adapt to that new change. Yes, that may take a lot more work, but it also will result in a VERY fun and engaging storyline that no one could have expected and becomes extremely organic and treasured.

I really hope the common culture of DMing changes to be less cookie cutter, and I encourage other DMs to be more custom to what the players legally make happen and develop their own story that you all can own together.

One note - this is an old thread. Nothing wrong with responding to it, just wanted to let you know.

Second, and more important, D&D is based on expectations and balance. I expect that a level 1 PC isn't going to break out a rocket launcher for example. I expect that I don't have to customize a significant percentage of encounters to counter perma-fly abilities. A flying PC can be very difficult to challenge depending on what type of game you play. A lot of my campaigns involve a significant number of street or wilderness encounters.

So if I want each and every PC to feel threatened on a regular basis, I have to take into consideration their build. That sharpshooter archer that hangs out in the back? Well, the bad guys just run around the tank that they can't hit anyway but is doing minimal damage to target the archer, or some of the opponents where flanking. But that works with just about any monster including animals or monsters like zombies that don't fly. But if that archer is 500 feet in he air, I have to have something capable of attacking them. I have to tailor a significant portion of the fights to counter that specific individual it gets difficult to balance.

I don't want to set up encounters specifically to counter a specific individual, I want to set up encounters that make sense for the scenario and the world. If enough encounters have flying monsters (which are quite rare) or every other encounter has a 10 foot ceiling then the person playing the flying PC is quite likely to feel like I'm picking on them and going out of my way to nerf their abilities. Because I would be. It's just a tough thing to balance.

So that's the main reason I limit flight*. If you can fly and if I don't build encounters to specifically counter that in my campaign, at least 80% of the time there will be no threat whatsoever to the flying PC. I don't want a PC that is effectively invulnerable to attack that often.

* Races are already limited for other reasons, but I also limit items.

 

[Norton]

I don't want to set up encounters specifically to counter a specific individual, I want to set up encounters that make sense for the scenario and the world.

Absolutely. Workarounds also take extra prep time that contributes to the drag. I was lucky that I had two longbow users against my flier in the past two encounters, but it was really that: luck. They fit the scenario and the setting. At least he got shooed out of range for a bit but boy did he complain when he got hit.

 

[Oofta]

Absolutely. Workarounds also take extra prep time that contributes to the drag. I was lucky that I had two longbow users against my flier in the past two encounters, but it was really that: luck. They fit the scenario and the setting. At least he got shooed out of range for a bit but boy did he complain when he got hit.

Maybe that last bit is a big part of the problem. There have been certain people I played with in the past that just wanted to "win" the game. They complained if they were ever hit, if some exploit did not work, if there was even a hint that I had put something in to counter their build. The only time they were happy was if they were dominating combat.

I generally don't care too much about what makes the game fun for a specific player, but at a certain point it makes it not fun for the other players at the table.

Not saying all people that want to play flyers are like that, just that I've seen the correlation frequently in the past.

 

[Norton]

Maybe that last bit is a big part of the problem. There have been certain people I played with in the past that just wanted to "win" the game. They complained if they were ever hit, if some exploit did not work, if there was even a hint that I had put something in to counter their build. The only time they were happy was if they were dominating combat.

I generally don't care too much about what makes the game fun for a specific player, but at a certain point it makes it not fun for the other players at the table.

Not saying all people that want to play flyers are like that, just that I've seen the correlation frequently in the past.

He does have a bit of that, plus some Main Character Syndrome where he always needs to fly in with some master plan that will save the day or impress everyone. I know he annoys at least one of the other players because he starts every turn with, "Okay..." and ten minutes later he actually gets the courage to try something. I'll speed it up when possible for pacing and realism, but if it's an important fight I might be more lenient with it.

If I'm in a real charitable mood, I'll see his play as wanting to follow through with a clever plan and getting hit threatens the plan. If I'm tired or see the others waning, I'll see it as trying to "win" or go for glory and getting hit is a blow to the ego. Either way, it can be a drag.

Lately, I've had the idea to give him all the attention he's seeking and have a special weapon devised especially for him. I made something homebrew on DnD Beyond called a Bola Crossbow. Wait until he spots one of these on an NPC.

 

[Adamant]

Whenever I see a thread on flying it seems to me that it's a clash of expectations rather than flight being the only problem. I agree on pretty much all of the points made by Erechel in the old part of the thread. In addition, I have played several flying characters and while they get some advantages there are many times when flying doesn't help. This was actually in Adventurer's League, shortly after they lifted the ban on flying races, and even with the limits on how a dm can modify things I almost never felt invulnerable. Part of it may be that despite the concerns about flying over 100 feet it takes several rounds to get there unless you're an aarakocra with a bonus action dash, as well as the very real possibility of visibility problems.

My current flying characters are a winged tiefling barbarian(level 3), a fairy land druid(level 4), an aarakocra paladin(level 5), an aasimar paladin with permanent wings(they were an option to take at level 5, she's level 7 now), an aasimar light cleric(same wings as before, level 11), and a winged tiefling archer of some sort(realized I wasn't happy with rogue, so I'm rebuilding him, he's level 12). Out of those only the last one even has the capability of flying that high and still being an effective fighter, so class and fighting style is a limit already. Only the first 3 had flight at level 1, since first they gave aasimar and tieflings special flight at level 5, then lifted the ban completely, but of those none have seemed too powerful. I will admit some old module adventures don't take flight at low levels into account, but those are fairly undertuned in general and I'm not aware of a similar problem with hardcover adventures.

In short, I don't think flight is that big a problem unless combat is in an area that gives the flyer a ton of room to move and the flyer is an archer. In exploration it makes things easier, but the only thing I can think of that can't be replicated with a familiar is the already iffy idea that a flying character can catch a climbing character before they fall. The one caveat to all this is that I personally stick with the party so my character can communicate with them and be in a position to help on round 1 rather than having to spend a round diving down. As for splitting the party, just send the familiar. They're a lot easier to replace if they get ambushed.