D&D 5E Flying Races: Limiting Flight

[Xeviat]

Most of the ideas come from the race being 7 feet tall, and a 7 foot tall bird would have a gigantic wingspan. That's why they can't fly while squeezing. We're not talking a lot sparrows; an albatross couldn't fly though a five foot wide hallway.

As a very large bird, they're gliders, not flappers. The restrictions are supposed to better model them, and allow for a more realistic flight speed than 120 ft per round with a dash (which is about 12 mph).

Combining slow fall, fly action, restrictions on gaining height, and a minimum stall speed would help package a lot of those restrictions into an easier to understand bundle.

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

I would be careful about using real-world biology to justify it. For the DnD world, magic not only exists but is an inherent part of biology for quite a few species (including humans, to a degree). If a dragon or roc could fly so easily, why can't a bird person?

If anyone asks for an explanation, just say this species has always been a more ground-based avian. It would explain away everything without needing to be complex.

 

[Sunseeker]

Most of the ideas come from the race being 7 feet tall, and a 7 foot tall bird would have a gigantic wingspan. That's why they can't fly while squeezing. We're not talking a lot sparrows; an albatross couldn't fly though a five foot wide hallway.

As a very large bird, they're gliders, not flappers. The restrictions are supposed to better model them, and allow for a more realistic flight speed than 120 ft per round with a dash (which is about 12 mph).

Combining slow fall, fly action, restrictions on gaining height, and a minimum stall speed would help package a lot of those restrictions into an easier to understand bundle.

Thats...something I guess. Not an answer to anything I asked though. If you feel a winged humanoid is too biologically complicated for D&D I will first question why you are playing a game with far more fantastical creatures, and second I will ask again: if this is such a big deal, why are you bothering to include it at all?

The weird biological argument you're making here I'm not even going to engage with. If what you are really asking is: how do I rationalize fantastical creatures with biological arguments, then the answer is: dont.

Look i dont disagree with certain wingspan restrictions, that makes sense magical creature or not. The rest of your "rules" are just real world baggage that has no bearing in a fantasy game.

 

[jgsugden]

Level 1: You can fly up to your (ground) speed, but must land at the end of your movement or you fall. You can't hold anything in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 3: You can carry objects in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 5: You can hover while flying.
Level 7: Your speed increased to 40/50/80 whatever is appropriate based upon race.

Works fine to keep the PC from being too strong for a given level.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Level 1: You can fly up to your (ground) speed, but must land at the end of your movement or you fall. You can't hold anything in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 3: You can carry objects in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 5: You can hover while flying.
Level 7: Your speed increased to 40/50/80 whatever is appropriate based upon race.

Works fine to keep the PC from being too strong for a given level.

Actually this is not a bad idea. You already have races such as tieflings and drow that gain additional abilities as they level. While those are usually spells, this is not as bad way to handle it either.

My one suggestion would be to give the race a minor bump, since most flying races have a majority of their power invested in their flight and usually don't get much else. If they can't take advantage of full flight from level 1, I would consider adding something like an additional proficiency, or a minor cantrip such as gust.

 

[Yaarel]

Hi everyone. I'm getting ready to run a game in my own setting again, and I have an avian race. I'll probably just give it the Aarakocra stats, but I'd like to give them a little more to round them out. In turn, I also want to limit their flight. Here's some of the ideas I'm milling over:

*Flying is an action until higher levels. Swinging a weapon of firing a ranged weapon is hard while flapping.
*No flight in tight quarters. Size increases to 15 by 15 while flying and no flying if you have to squeeze.
*Grant advantage to hit on rounds you fly. Since your wings are so big, it's easier to hit you.
*3E maneuverability rules. These are complicated and could be simplified.
*Glide speed at low levels. Every round you descend X ft.
*Enhanced jumps. A trade off for these restrictions is the ability to use your wings for larger jumps.

I could have some of these restrictions fade with level, or with a racial feat.

Any thoughts? I won't be running premade adventures, so I won't have to worry about challenges that weren't designed with flight in mind, but one of the players is liking the bird race and wants to play one.

Requiring an action to stay airborne keeps flight out of combat, mostly. A player might spend an action to hop up to some tactical perch, but that seems fine.

The wings still find lots of use for outofcombat challenges.

The wings still make sense.

 

[Sunseeker]

Level 1: You can fly up to your (ground) speed, but must land at the end of your movement or you fall. You can't hold anything in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 3: You can carry objects in your hands/claws while flying.
Level 5: You can hover while flying.
Level 7: Your speed increased to 40/50/80 whatever is appropriate based upon race.

Works fine to keep the PC from being too strong for a given level.

This is a perfectly fine way to do it. It keeps out a lot of the little nitpicky rules, while giving players something to look forward to.

 

[77IM]

I'd make flying "pseudo-tiring;" not using actual exhaustion rules, just making it time limited. For example:

While flying, you can ascend for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 round). The rounds don't need to be consecutive; a round in which you gain no altitude (just gliding on the level or descending) doesn't count towards this limit. Once you have reached your limit, you can no longer fly upwards, only horizontally and downwards, until you finish a short or long rest.​

Very few PCs ever get Constitution up above +3, so you're basically talking about 1-3 rounds of upward motion. If they have a fly speed of 50, that's at most 150 feet up, but probably only 50-100 feet for most PCs. This should keep the typical PC within range of enemy ranged attacks most of the time.

 

[Satyrn]

I like the increased space bit. Though really it does just simply boil down to "you can only fly if you have enough space to flap," a ruling any DM can - and perhaps ought to - make with the aaracokra as written. You're just setting the space needed to 15 ft wide.

And the action bit is cool, too.

I think those two things will help you and your players get a good sense that this race's flight is - not the right word, but let's say it - a little cumbersome.

The maneuverability rules will probably just be irritating pile on after those; would be for me, anyway, as a DM.

I could have some of these restrictions fade with level, or with a racial feat.

Except for the bit about the flight requiring an action, I don't think you should have the restrictions fade by level or feat. You may wind up creating the impression that all the decent fliers of the race are high level NPCs.

 

[Rhenny]

Like some of the others, I don't think it is necessary to limit flight. I had an aarackokra pc in one of my games and his ability to fly was cool. He could scout ahead and catch up to fleeing foes, which benefitted the entire party and made him feel good as a player.

Inside a dungeon he was far less capable, especially since the rest of the party had darkvision.

He was also a clear target when he was in the air during combat and he had to worry about being wounded to 0 hp while flying because if he fell from the sky, he'd take at least one more failed death save when he hit the ground, and if he fell from high enough, he could die from massive damage when he hit the ground.

If you have an aversion to flying PCs it would be better to not allow the race as a pc rather than limiting the abilities. Just my thoughts.