Flying while indoors

[meltinbradley]

Are there any rules for flying inside? By inside I mean tighter than usually spaces.
I had a mild argument with one of my players who is a half celestial. He's medium sized and has big ass
angel wings. He was beneath the city in a place where most of the alleys were 5ft wide and no more than 10ft
and celings ranging from mostly 10ft in height. I failed to describe this accurately as I wasn't expecting
a fight. Well, he got in one, and got his ass kicked and wanted to fly away. I said that it would be very
difficult to do that as you have big ole angel wings and some spaces are only 5ft wide.
He has good maneuverability, so in some instances I can see giving him some freedom while flying in tight spaces. We also have another character who has an item that lets her fly with good maneuverability, and I don't really see a problem with her flying in areas like that as she doesn't use wings.
Anyone have a system for this? Or is there one in place?
Thanks!
MB

 

[Sunseeker]

Typically I require 5' in either direction for unrestricted flight. Actual humanoid sized wings would require more space (like 10-16' in each direction and at least 5' up and down), but I'm here to play a fantasy game, not simulate a giant bird.

But I'll always let people try with a Fly check.

 

[Eltab]

Show the airborne players the scene from Return of the Jedi where the Millennium Falcon is flying through the piping maze heading towards that reactor core, and loses the sensor dish. Tell them the alleys are small like that. Every turn, they must to make a DEX check or something to fly - on a failure (a) goes nowhere or (b) crashes or (c) takes some damage. The wings are 10 feet across and the alley is only 10 feet wide - you have to get this JUST RIGHT.
Flying via magic item might get advantage on the check, or avoid the check altogether if it is more compact and will fit in the confined space.


Of course when they get out of the confined space (fly up?) they can just go like normal.
What was that silly disaster movie where the earthquake-induced rip in the ground chased a car all over through several twists and turns; later a pilot, reacting instead of thinking, flew between not over the skyscrapers of Los Angeles as they fell?

 

[TBeholder]

IDK, maybe just check Dexterity when doing something that shouldn't automatically succeed, like flying next to the walls, under branches, landing in areas with obviously turbulent winds, etc.
Or better add Aerobatics skill and check that.

 

[Greenfield]

Part of the problem with a hard-rules approach is that the Half Celestial Template write up in the 3.5 Monster Manual says that they have wings, and have a fly speed, but it never says how big those wings are (or if it does, I can't find it.)

That being said, I'm pretty sure that they are wider than his/her normal space. Avariel Elf, from the Faerun setting, might be used as a sample for comparison of a winged medium sized humanoid. Their wing span runs from 12 to 16 feet.

In any case nothing medium sized (five foot base) is doing any winged flight in a five foot wide alley. At most I'd allow the wings to give a Feather Fall effect in that tight a space.

In a 10 foot wide alley, with a 12 foot wingspan, I might allow flight at half speed, with no Dex to AC while doing so. (No maneuvering room, and full attention given to not hitting walls.)

For a Half Celestial that means fly at normal ground speed, which may defeat the entire reason for flight in the first place.