Flying Monsters and Characters CRASH! Help Needed!!

[Thakkar Rogsnar]

An issue in our Sunday gaming group has me a little confused. I honestly cannot remember ever reading this in any of the 3rd edition books, but for some reason (possibly 2nd edition) I recall the rule. When a flying character or monster reaches 50% of its hit points it is forced to leave the air and glide down, at 25%, if still in flight, it crashes. Have any of you ever heard of these rules concerning aerial combat or is this a figment of my imigination. Any help and rules references you can provide would be most helpful. Thanks!

 

[maddman75]

That rule existed in 2e. It does not in 3e.

 

[S'mon]

3e doesn't give many rules for flying combat; this can be abused eg by the evil GM having the great red wyrm with 3/800 hp left take off from a standing start and fly away so the PCs can't kill it...
I generally rule that badly injured winged flyers can't take off from a standing start, and if flying would have their flight class decreased, but the 2e crashing rule was too harsh and I don't use it.

 

[LuYangShih]

No such rule exists in 3E, and I appreciate that. If you are going to enforce rules like that, why not enforce fatigue in combat, or called shots, or any number of other needless and complicating extra rules?

 

[S'mon]

I use fatigue in combat - only for fights of at least 50 rounds (100 with Endurance) so it's rarely a problem...
I also allow called shots as a cinematic thing, but not as a standard tactic that allows a major benefit - eg to chop someone's leg off, you have to reduce him to 0hp, but you might be able to wound them in the leg (at a to-hit penalty & reduced damage) and reduce their movement rate. Most called shots can be dealt with via the trip & disarm rules.

 

[Thakkar Rogsnar]

I'm not trying to enforce unfair rules on any of my players in combat. The players are the ones who wanted to include this rule and I myself do not think it is realistic or fair. But there needs to be some threshold where a aerial opponent cannot remain in the air due to damage sustained. If the flight is magical in nature then I believe they should be able to remain flying. I may implement a house rule where a naturally flying character or monster has to leave the air when 75% of their hit points are lost and crash at 90% lost. The crash would cause, and this is in "preliminary thought" stage, 50% of the normal fall damage due to the somewhat still intact manuverability of the combatant. Any intelligent being would surely flee the combat at this point or land if combat appears to be in their favor. Of course, this is in MHO.

 

[Thakkar Rogsnar]

I have also been running this same post on Wizard's boards and one person was kind enough to look through the Arms and Equipment guide and stated there was a rule in there concerning damage and flight. I have not looked this up yet myself but it indicated that at 50% hit points, an aerial vehicle's speed decreases by 5'.

 

[shilsen]

I'm not trying to enforce unfair rules on any of my players in combat. The players are the ones who wanted to include this rule and I myself do not think it is realistic or fair. But there needs to be some threshold where a aerial opponent cannot remain in the air due to damage sustained. If the flight is magical in nature then I believe they should be able to remain flying. I may implement a house rule where a naturally flying character or monster has to leave the air when 75% of their hit points are lost and crash at 90% lost. The crash would cause, and this is in "preliminary thought" stage, 50% of the normal fall damage due to the somewhat still intact manuverability of the combatant. Any intelligent being would surely flee the combat at this point or land if combat appears to be in their favor. Of course, this is in MHO.

I thought about using similar rules, but it actually seems a little unrealistic (as realism works in D&D terms) considering a PC with 1 hp can function at full normal capability (movement, combat, etc).

 

[Thakkar Rogsnar]

Update for this thread. After a vote of the players in my campaign, we have elected to use the rules indicated in the original post. This was the election of the players and not the DM. Most, if not all, of the players in this campaign originally started in 1st edition with myself and several others starting in the basic set during the the 1970s. Seems to me old rules don't die with a bunch of old hats like those.

P.S. Four of the thirteen characters in the campaign can fly and all of these voted to use the rule of 50% & 25%.

 

[maddman75]

I'd make an exception for 'natural' fliers. THings like beholders and elementals. Doesn't make sense that a living whirlwind can't fly because its hurt .