D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 use of fly spell questions

[Doomherald]

Ring of feather falling solves that problem for 2200 gp.

A leather harness attaching your saddle to your armor solves this problem for a few silver.

 

[Doomherald]

2. I would say that the Paladin could fly since the spell grants the mount the ability to use the spell and its effects. Though depending on how stingy the DM is, the Paladin might or might not need to make Ride checks to stay on it.

Agreed but ride checks seem silly unless you are doing "stunts" on it. I believe that riding a flying mount in the normal directions that you would a ground mount (level or up a hill vs up 45 degree flight, etc.) is actually quite a bit easier to stay on. Think of a flying horse more like a motorcycle than a horse since there is no bumpy riding and terrain to cross. You just glide smoothly through the air.

 

[Eman Resu]

isnt there a feat for flying combat? or a feat to ride a flying beast? Riding horses can be hard enough in combat but add on flying! I would give a penalty to the ride ck for sure.

 

[Doomherald]

isnt there a feat for flying combat? or a feat to ride a flying beast? Riding horses can be hard enough in combat but add on flying! I would give a penalty to the ride ck for sure.

Read the ride skill please:

RIDE (DEX)
You can ride a mount, be it a horse, riding dog, griffon, dragon, or some other kind of creature suited for riding. If you attempt to ride a creature ill-suited as a mount (such as most bipedal creatures), you take a -5 penalty on your ride check.
Check Typical riding actions don’t require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem.

Cant be more clear than that, no ride check required for simply riding a creature. Now I know a flying horse is not what they intended by horse but obviously if you can ride a flying (Griffon fly speed 80 average maneuverability then you can Fly a horse with Fly spell (60 speed and GOOD maneuverability) without a check.

 

[Dross]

isnt there a feat for flying combat? or a feat to ride a flying beast? Riding horses can be hard enough in combat but add on flying! I would give a penalty to the ride ck for sure.

There probably are feats for combat flying or riding a flying horse (I don't know of any personally), but they might provide bonii or change something (allow you to take 10 on ride chacks for instance) rather than allowing you to fight on a flying mount.
Personally I imagine that they would be like the charging feats, modifying some aspects but still allowing someone to perform the action without such feats.

RIDE (DEX)
You can ride a mount, be it a horse, riding dog, griffon, dragon, or some other kind of creature suited for riding. If you attempt to ride a creature ill-suited as a mount (such as most bipedal creatures), you take a -5 penalty on your ride check.
Check Typical riding actions don’t require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem.

Cant be more clear than that, no ride check required for simply riding a creature. Now I know a flying horse is not what they intended by horse but obviously if you can ride a flying (Griffon fly speed 80 average maneuverability then you can Fly a horse with Fly spell (60 speed and GOOD maneuverability) without a check.

That is half right, the important bit missed is:
PHB123: Warhorses and warponies can be ridden easily into combat. Light horses, ponies, and heavy horses are hard to control in combat (see Mounted Combat, page 157, and the Ride skill, page 80).

The paly's steed is a (as a "base") warhorse so no need to skill check riding during combat.

 

[Doomherald]

That is half right, the important bit missed is:
PHB123: Warhorses and warponies can be ridden easily into combat. Light horses, ponies, and heavy horses are hard to control in combat (see Mounted Combat, page 157, and the Ride skill, page 80).

The paly's steed is a (as a "base") warhorse so no need to skill check riding during combat.

I am unsure which part you mean to say is "half right". The Ride check is taken verbatim from the 3.5 PHB. I was wondering if you mean about combat? This is outside the scope of the discussion on Fly spell affecting a Paladin's mount. Please clarify if you will. Thanks.

 

[Nomnath]

Also remember, 6 int is the same amount possesed by certain half-orc barbarians. If you gave one of those fly, would he be able to? Probably. Honestly I'm a lil surprised a paladin mount isn't able to speak... maybe if you polymorphed it into a race with proper speech equipment...

 

[Doomherald]

Also remember, 6 int is the same amount possesed by certain half-orc barbarians. If you gave one of those fly, would he be able to? Probably. Honestly I'm a lil surprised a paladin mount isn't able to speak... maybe if you polymorphed it into a race with proper speech equipment...

I do not understand at all where this came from. Intelligence has about as much to do with Flying as charisma does. If Intelligence was needed to fly then birds would have a serious issue doing it with their 1 or 2 intelligence.

 

[Dross]

Why is it out of scope of the discussion? Isn't how you deal with a flying paly mount during combat something to be considered (even if it ends up: no different to when not in combat)?

I am unsure which part you mean to say is "half right". The Ride check is taken verbatim from the 3.5 PHB. I was wondering if you mean about combat? This is outside the scope of the discussion on Fly spell affecting a Paladin's mount. Please clarify if you will. Thanks.

I also feel that the conversation has expanded slightly from the original post.
We have, bolded

isnt there a feat for flying combat? or a feat to ride a flying beast? Riding horses* can be hard enough in combat but add on flying! I would give a penalty to the ride ck for sure.

So while I did take this to mean a paly's mount flying while in combat, I also took it as riding any horse (or creature as you mentioned) in combat in general.

You replied:

Read the ride skill please:

RIDE (DEX)
You can ride a mount, be it a horse, riding dog, griffon, dragon, or some other kind of creature suited for riding. If you attempt to ride a creature ill-suited as a mount (such as most bipedal creatures), you take a -5 penalty on your ride check.
Check Typical riding actions don’t require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem.

Cant be more clear than that, no ride check required for simply riding a creature. Now I know a flying horse is not what they intended by horse but obviously if you can ride a flying (Griffon fly speed 80 average maneuverability then you can Fly a horse with Fly spell (60 speed and GOOD maneuverability) without a check.

Simply riding a creature* needs the bit I quoted because without proper training riding a horse in combat requires skill checks. I saw it important to note the requirement of a beast trained for battle (warhorse v a riding horse, or a "creature" as you said).

Which was why I added the "The paly's steed is a (as a "base") warhorse so no need to skill check riding during combat" comment

* Maybe pedantic, but this to me extends the discussion beyond simply a paly's mount.

 

[Nomnath]

I do not understand at all where this came from. Intelligence has about as much to do with Flying as charisma does. If Intelligence was needed to fly then birds would have a serious issue doing it with their 1 or 2 intelligence.

I think it orinally has to do with the horse realizing it can fly. Just because the horse is given fly doesn't mean it will use it or that you can get it do fly. An int 2 creature acts instinctually, and I'm fairly certain that a horse's instincts dictate that it can't go up, and trying to go up a certain amount will cause it to freak out and refuse. It's like what happens if you gave it water breathing/gills, just because It can breath underwater freely, doesn't mean it would dive into the ocean.

This brings up the next point about whether or not we should use int or wis, I figure wis would allow a creature to recognize that something supernatural/magical is going on, but int is needed to parse that info and realize what it means.

Causing a mount (int 2 or less) without it being pretrained to fly should be an epic ride check or a handle animal over 25, maybe 40 ("push" animal says physically capable but what if the animal doesn't know it's physically possible?). You could prolly train it to fly over time with a 30+ check HA.


Of course we're talking about a paladin mount so the above is a moot point. The animal should be wise enough and smart enough to know that a spell was cast on it and with a lil prodding from the paladin, realize it can fly as a result, and then do so. A flying horse is no more difficult to ride than a flying mount (ex. large bats), so that shouldn't result in harder ride checks. As long as you don't freak out over the fact that your horse is flying, a flying mount should actually be easier to ride since you don't have to deal with it jostling up and down.