Do flyers fall at low hp?

[RangerWickett]

I could swear somewhere I read that if a creature is reduced to less than half its hit points, it cannot fly. Maybe it's a holdover from 2nd edition. Can anyone help me out?

 

[rhammer2]

To the best of my memory, you are remembering an old rule from 1st and 2nd edition.

I could swear somewhere I read that if a creature is reduced to less than half its hit points, it cannot fly. Maybe it's a holdover from 2nd edition. Can anyone help me out?

 

[Al'Kelhar]

Indeed, a 1st edition rule. A creature which supported itself in the air with bat-like (skin) or insect-like (membrane) wings could no longer do so when reduced to 50% or less hit points, while a creature which supported itself in the air with bird-like (feathered) wings could no longer do so when reduced to 25% or less hit points. I personally used a house rule that a winged creature could continue to fly until reduced to 0 hit points, in just the same way that a creature could run or swim without any apparent difficulty until that point. I have not seen any equivalent in 3E or 3.5E, and given the abstract nature of hit points, it's a silly rule which has no place in 3E (not that I'm saying that 3E doesn't have any silly rules...).

Cheers, Al'Kelhar