Eagle's Flight ritual duration question

[not_me]

Hi all,

The Eagle's Flight ritual states a) that the duration is 12 hours and b) if an eagle is hit by an attack, it descends to a solid surface to drop off the creature it carries, then flies away. Eagles who have flown away during combat can be called back as a standard action outside combat.

My question is this -- can a character voluntarily dismount an Eagle and then summon them back at another time within the duration? Given that it doesn't say either way this question is really more of a "would you allow it in your campaign?" And if not, would you let the characters hang out on the eagle's back and try to get hit in combat quickly such that they can keep the eagle for later on?

(As way of further exploring the reason I'm asking is I have a druid in a campaign I run and I am contemplating letting the druid cast the ritual and be able to wild shape into a giant eagle. This gives him some benifit (for one it's a better disguise than riding the back of a spirit eagle) but I think that would be alright and not create an overpowered situation (since he'll be wild shaped he'd have to only use beast powers, and if he gets hit he'd still have to land, and he'd still get the -4 penalty while flying). But! The ritual lasts 12 hours... if he were to cast the ritual in the morning if the above question is allowed then he'd have access to a bird wild shape all day. I still don't think that's a problem, but I want to crowdsource a larger answer

not_me

 

[Kinneus]

Well, personally, I'd definitely allow anyone carried by the eagle to stop the ride whenever they wanted. Otherwise, what would happen when they arrived at their destination after only six hours of flight? Would the eagle just circle around aimlessly until the ritual's duration expired? Of course not, that's silly.

As for letting your druid wild shape into an eagle, as per the ritual... I don't know. I'll have to think about it some more.

 

[not_me]

True that... though my question isn't so much can they dismiss the ritual early, it is if they step off the eagles (even to hit an inn for lunch) can they then re-summon the eagles?

The ritual is specific as to what happens if you get into combat (the eagles drop you off, leave, and come back later) but not if you simply want to stop for a bit. For 10 mins a morning, a party could have flight available all day if this is allowed -- for those with experience in the Paragon levels is that fair/useful/too powerful/etc?

Thanks!

not_me

 

[yesnomu]

By RAW, you can just hit your eagle--the ritual doesn't give them feelings to be hurt. RAI certainly seems to be that they can drop you off and pick you up later.

By mid-to-late Paragon, enemies are generally expected to be able to deal with flight, either by flying themselves, or by having sufficiently powerful/controlling ranged attacks. There are several flight-related level 16 powers and PP features, Favored Soul's 16 and Fly being two prominant examples.

 

[Tuft]

By RAW, you can just hit your eagle--the ritual doesn't give them feelings to be hurt. RAI certainly seems to be that they can drop you off and pick you up later.

By mid-to-late Paragon, enemies are generally expected to be able to deal with flight, either by flying themselves, or by having sufficiently powerful/controlling ranged attacks. There are several flight-related level 16 powers and PP features, Favored Soul's 16 and Fly being two prominant examples.

You also have Ebony Fly (the Magic Item), which is available quite early. (It's level 9, so it can theoretically appear in treasure parcels by level 5)

The Lyrandar Wind-Rider Paragon Path gets sustain-minor flight at level 12.

 

[Saagael]

Hi all,

The Eagle's Flight ritual states a) that the duration is 12 hours and b) if an eagle is hit by an attack, it descends to a solid surface to drop off the creature it carries, then flies away. Eagles who have flown away during combat can be called back as a standard action outside combat.

My question is this -- can a character voluntarily dismount an Eagle and then summon them back at another time within the duration? Given that it doesn't say either way this question is really more of a "would you allow it in your campaign?" And if not, would you let the characters hang out on the eagle's back and try to get hit in combat quickly such that they can keep the eagle for later on?

(As way of further exploring the reason I'm asking is I have a druid in a campaign I run and I am contemplating letting the druid cast the ritual and be able to wild shape into a giant eagle. This gives him some benifit (for one it's a better disguise than riding the back of a spirit eagle) but I think that would be alright and not create an overpowered situation (since he'll be wild shaped he'd have to only use beast powers, and if he gets hit he'd still have to land, and he'd still get the -4 penalty while flying). But! The ritual lasts 12 hours... if he were to cast the ritual in the morning if the above question is allowed then he'd have access to a bird wild shape all day. I still don't think that's a problem, but I want to crowdsource a larger answer

not_me

I'd let the druid do this. It's cool, and creative, so why not? I'd make sure that the player had all the same penalties as the eagles, and could only use it outside of combat. Furthermore, I think I'd require a 5-10 minute "prep" time before the druid in question shifted (IMO, it's easier to call the eagles than shift into one). The time requirement would be to avoid the player abusing the limitless flight (can't think of a situation where it would happen, but better to be safe I think).

 

[not_me]

Alright, awesome, thank you all. I'll let him cast it in the morning and go nuts all day, keeping the same penalties as the ritual and also using Saagel's 'prep time' requirement of a few mins.

This'll make him quite happy, it duplicates much of the functionality he had with wildshape in 3e (I'll also be doing the same with the water breathing rituals).

game on,

not_me