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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8754440" data-attributes="member: 58172">I am wondering what to do about the reallife "cruising speed". The examples of Quentzalcoatlus and the Otis reach cruising speeds of up to say 60 to 80 miles per hour and, I didnt know this, the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on the planet reaching dive speeds of about 240 miles per hour. The falcon typically flies about 50 mph, but its upper speeds are crazy.These kinds of numbers translate into D&D as fly speeds, in round numbers, of fly 520, fly 700, even fly 2130.(100 mph ≈ Speed 900)(10 mph = 14.66667 feet per second = Speed 88 ≈ Speed 90)(1 mph ≈ Speed 9)How to make sense of the large numbers for cruising?First, it isnt a property of the flying animal, whose muscles can only do so much. It is a property of the environment that the animal is flying in.When flying in the vacuum of space, but also to some degree when flying in midair, one can continually accelerate ones speed, by adding new speed to the inertia that one already has.This actual speed deserves serious aerodynamic physics calculations, but guestimating, the cruising speeds are something like the following.At each round while flying in a line, one can add ones speed to the current speed, up to 30x the fly speed, depending on how aerodynamic the flying creature is. 10x is a safebet. Many creatures can reach 20x.Creatures at these speeds are less maneuverable. And like a motorcycle going 160 mph on a highway, are at risk.Decelerating cruising speeds can be gradual and precise, or else require an Athletics-Acrobatics skill check as a kind of stunt to stop or land abruptly.</blockquote>

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