Falling with Wings

[Warehouse23]

I'd have to rule that any creature with a fly speed begins flying immediately upon entering the air. Mind you, if the cavern is tight enough, those with poorer manuverability will smash into walls before they are able to come about at right themselves.

Put it this way, if you knocked a creature with a move speed of 30 and a swim speed of 30 off of a bridge and into a lake, would you make the creature make a reflex save to begin swimming?

 

[Infiniti2000]

With a maneuverability of Perfect or Good, I would let the winged creatures hover. With any other maneuverability, I would treat it as a stall. If they are higher than 150ft, then they might survive.

 

[werk]

Yeah, I'd treat it as a stall too. If he has 150' to fall, he can make a reflex save to recover and start moving forward.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm#movingInThreeDimensions

 

[Len]

Yeah, I'd treat it as a stall too. If he has 150' to fall, he can make a reflex save to recover and start moving forward.

So hawk falling from the top of a tree would die before it could flap its wings.

 

[werk]

So hawk falling from the top of a tree would die before it could flap its wings.

A hawk jumping out of a tree would launch himself forward. He would need to achieve his minimum speed of half his movement rate. A hawk's move is 10, so he'd only need to move forward one square to start flight. It is unlikely that a hawk would not be able to start flight any time he is allowed a move.

 

[Infiniti2000]

A hawk jumping out of a tree would launch himself forward. He would need to achieve his minimum speed of half his movement rate. A hawk's move is 10, so he'd only need to move forward one square to start flight. It is unlikely that a hawk would not be able to start flight any time he is allowed a move.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. The hawk could just fly from the top of the tree, but must fly at least 30ft of distance. He does not need to make a running start of any type before flying.

If he falls out of the tree (say he was sleep-walking), then yes, he'd likely fall to his death. I see no problem with that. Hawks don't normally 'fall' out of trees, though.

 

[Vraister]

Under the entry 'Minimum Forward Speed' stands that you have to succeed on a Reflex Save against DC 20 when you fail to maintain the minimum forward speed. Therefore I would require a Reflex Save DC 20 for all flyers with average or worse maneuverability.

Cheers
Vraister

 

[griff_goodbeard]

Have you actually seen a Raptoran in play? I didn't think so. I have two in my current campaign and those advantages are nice, but they rarely come into play. They are probably worth the feat and 21 skill points your 18th level human rogue has, but maybe not. Raptorans are a classic example (*cough* Mystic Theurge *cough*) of a race/class that everyone complained about on paper but those that have seen them in play think the opposite.

Agree 100% with this. I have seen a Raptoran played and have played one myself and there no way they're "broken". If you want to talk about a race being grossly overpowered look no further than in the PHB at the Dwarf.

Back on topic, the raptoran accually states why they slowfall, and I wouldn't appy that to your baddies. I'd probably give then a reflex save, or maybe a dex check to start flying. I agree with Infiniti2000, their manuverability should factor in. Maybe a bonus to their check based on their MC.

 

[werk]

I'm not sure what you are referring to. The hawk could just fly from the top of the tree, but must fly at least 30ft of distance. He does not need to make a running start of any type before flying.

If he falls out of the tree (say he was sleep-walking), then yes, he'd likely fall to his death. I see no problem with that. Hawks don't normally 'fall' out of trees, though.

Yeah, it just sort of implies fly speed, so that was my bad, not land speed.

Odd that there is no mention of take-off or landing at all...

 

[Infiniti2000]

Odd that there is no mention of take-off or landing at all...

Flight is already somewhat complicated (if you don't believe me, join us in the Battle of All Alignments), so adding take offs and landings would be too much. I agree it's not 100% realistic, but I think it is sufficient.