Handling PCs with wings

[dreaded_beast]

So you have now reached a point in the campaign where a few of the PCs either have wings or can fly at will.

How do you handle it, create "challenging" encounters, etc., while keeping mind the non-flying PCs in mind?

 

[shilsen]

No biggie. Just make sure to sometimes include things which will challenge a flying PC (specific environments, ranged weapon users, tough flying critters) and things which a flying PC will get a chance to feel especially useful against (obstructions, tough but ground-bound opponents, fast but weaker fliers). Most of the time, no big change is necessary.

 

[dreaded_beast]

No biggie. Just make sure to sometimes include things which will challenge a flying PC (specific environments, ranged weapon users, tough flying critters) and things which a flying PC will get a chance to feel especially useful against (obstructions, tough but ground-bound opponents, fast but weaker fliers). Most of the time, no big change is necessary.

Sounds reasonable.

However, do you sometimes think that a PC being able to "fly at will" gives you more work as a DM than you really need to?

Do you find yourself starting to give most of the PC's enemies ways to counter-attack a "flying PC", even if they normally wouldn't?

 

[mirivor]

Something that I make sure to enforce, although it is a big pain in the tuckus, is the maneuverability rules. They can take a powerful flying character and really knock him down a notch if you go from ignoring the rules to enforcing them.... They are a little clunky though...

 

[shilsen]

Sounds reasonable.

However, do you sometimes think that a PC being able to "fly at will" gives you more work as a DM than you really need to?

Do you find yourself starting to give most of the PC's enemies ways to counter-attack a "flying PC", even if they normally wouldn't?

For the first question, not really. This is especially true when PCs don't involve a "naturally" flying character but are doing so through magic. By the time they can regularly fly through magic, they have more than enough powers and abilities to keep track of that it isn't any more onerous (at least for me as a DM) to track flight as well. I do track maneuverability issues, as mirivor mentioned, but again that's not a big addition to my usual DM duties.

For the second question, definitely a "no". Something which really bugs me as a player is when a DM allows a PC to have/use a special ability and then coincidentally every enemy has a way to deal with it or negate it in some manner. So as a DM I make sure that I don't fall into the same trap. As mentioned in my previous post, I make sure to have some elements which challenge the flier(s) as well as allow him/them to shine, and that's it.

 

[Sejs]

Remember that wings big enough to bear a medium-size humanoid aloft are:

A) BIG

and thus

B) Require alot of room to operate.

If you're in open space, sure - you're fine. In restricted terrain of any significance you arn't flying at all. Inside most buildings, no flying. Most forests, no flying. Most swamps, no flying. Small creatures have less of these problems, and of course if you don't need wings to fly you're just dandy.

 

[The_Gneech]

Time for some dungeon crawling! Just make sure to have some nice open caverns so the flyer can have their time to shine.

-The Gneech

 

[shilsen]

Remember that wings big enough to bear a medium-size humanoid aloft are:

A) BIG

and thus

B) Require alot of room to operate.

If you're in open space, sure - you're fine. In restricted terrain of any significance you arn't flying at all. Inside most buildings, no flying. Most forests, no flying. Most swamps, no flying. Small creatures have less of these problems, and of course if you don't need wings to fly you're just dandy.

The description of avariel in RoF specifically says that they need at least a 12 ft wide area to fly in. Someone at WotC decided to make sure that they couldn't do it in all those 10 ft corridors out there

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, in a dungeon/cavern/ruin environment, flying is less useful. Also true of a forest environment, when things can fly. In an open field, flying can help you escape, but bows and crossbows have very long ranges...

Do keep in mind the nature of the opponents. While random encounters might let a flier get away, any group that knows of the PC's power or ability in a vague way is going to prepare for flight -- flight is a reality of the D&D world, and things are built taking flight into account in the more populous or magically powerful or air-elementally related zones.

Flight is no real worse than, say, a monk with ungodly movement speed. The same strategies work against them -- things that limit their movement, things that slow them down, things that weigh them up (many fliers cannot fly with anything more than a light or medium load). If there's a critter with wings in the open, bust out nets, bolas, tanglefoot bags, ranged weapons, and your own spellcasters with fly.

 

[UniversalMonster]

In my campaign I have a flying character (anthropomorphic raven) and a character that can glide (anthro flying squirrel).

In general it does sometimes make a difference to encounters, and I have to admit that the Ravenfolk often gets away from encounters or foinds someplace to avoid damage during a battle.

Then again, sometimes they encounter air elementals or something else winged, and I can get a chase going. That is- a chase that involves me isolating a single character away from the group- which is dangerous for that player.

They also have a flying ship, and on a couple of occaisions, they've crashed it. The flying squirrelfolk can usually glide to the ground in this situation (he also has insane balance ranks, so when they get hit by violent winds or weather he usually volunteers to stand on deck). However, one time I had a treasure chest suspended 100' down into a 500 foot deep pit. The pit was something like 40' in diameter. Anyhow, at one point he was disarming the trap on the chest, missed the prsismatic spray trap, and triggered the beam that turned him to stone.

And then the statue of a flying squirrelfolk dropped 400'.

They eventually used a wish to patch him back up.

Ok so yeah- in general- I don't think about denying the PCs anything. They exist in a world where winged characters are somewhat common, so in certain situations, there are places where flying is hindered. And there are also some places where flying is required- like doors or switches or things set up in high areas.

PS. If you are frustrated and feeling spiteful, use web against a flyer at a high altitude. And get out all your six-siders.