D&D General How early is too early for flight?

[Xeviat]

It isn't, for me. But I am very much in the minority here.

For aesthetic reasons, I also prefer not to have all the PCs be bird-men. Less fun to play for me and it distorts the setting.

I ran a game where the players were expressly asked to all be dwarves in a mercenary troup. Samsies can be fun.

 

[Xeviat]

I think campaigns where many of the opponents are humanoids with ranged attacks flight is going to be less of a concern, especially outdoors in an open area. Flying around just might draw a lot of attacks to the one flying.

I don't think you should also put too much in hazards and obstacles that can be overcome by flying over them. While not as effective in such situations, many PCs do get climb speeds which can also allow them to circumvent such obstacles.

I ran a game from 3rd to 12th level and one of the characters had flight. Since most of the enemies were classed hobgoblins or dragons, the flight was never a problem.

 

[Micah Sweet]

yeah, Fly spell might be bumped to 5th level, maybe with starting 1hr duration and 10 targets, but 9th level seems good to gate it.

3rd level could be Swift flight:
Bonus action, 1 min duration, no Conc, walk speed as flight.

I'm fine with flying being 1st level. I just prefer aesthetically that flying creatures not be mechanically superior to all other heritages, because then every PC's a birdman.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I ran a game where the players were expressly asked to all be dwarves in a mercenary troup. Samsies can be fun.

I like dwarves more than birdmen.

 

[Horwath]

I'm fine with flying being 1st level. I just prefer aesthetically that flying creatures not be mechanically superior to all other heritages, because then every PC's a birdman.

yeah, until we come with party of 5 winged tieflngs and then DM has to rewrite half of prepared campaign.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Flight is not a power consideration.

It is a genre consideration. Like a mount.

It's not too powerful to have flight at 1st level, it just changes the kinds of adventures and challenges the party faces. For a homebrew, if you don't mind the change, slot it in wherever it makes sense. For a published product, I might include a bit of an acknowledgement of the change for folks who might be using the option (a sidebar on flying characters or something would be fine - they can't be threatened with pits, they make scouting easier, difficult terrain less impactful, etc.), but ultimately folks will either be on board or not and as long as you stick it where it makes sense in the design, I don't think anyone's gonna object.

If you were writing the next PHB or something the consideration might be different, but you can feel safe giving out flight whenever it makes the most sense for it, without worrying too much about the power of it. Peg 5th level if you want to be conservative.

 

[Micah Sweet]

yeah, until we come with party of 5 winged tieflngs and then DM has to rewrite half of prepared campaign.

Don't want five flying demons either. Make them pay for that flight, and you'll find that not everyone will do it.

 

[S'mon]

As a general rule, for a typical campaign, I'd go with Tier 2/Level 5 as the threshold for flight. Level 1-4 are for the mud-bound mortal heroes. 5-10 is where it starts to feel superheroic.

 

[Bushviper]

It is a genre consideration. Like a mount.

This.

I'm not the least bit concerned with the power level of flight. The part that annoys me is that I have to take it into consideration and that's why I avoid giving my players access until later on in the campaign.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As a general rule, for a typical campaign, I'd go with Tier 2/Level 5 as the threshold for flight. Level 1-4 are for the mud-bound mortal heroes. 5-10 is where it starts to feel superheroic.

So no flying heritages then?