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

[dave2008]

It's never too early, so long as it is compensated for in the rules. I'm down with flying heritages.

What do you mean by the bolded part?

 

[Xeviat]

I've had flight as early as 1st level. But I make winged flight a little more complex. Minimum forward movement, turning angles, space requirements, and a defense penalty for having big honking wings unfurled. Flight is only a problem when the whole group can fly, which starts to be achievable around 5th level.

 

[GMMichael]

I'm working on some homebrew and I'm trying to decide how early is too early for PCs flying around.

I say, let them fly as early as they want. The ability to land safely is a different story!

 

[Micah Sweet]

What do you mean by the bolded part?

I mean that whatever is giving you flight is similar in power to what other theoretically equal beings get. A heritage with flight likely doesn't have much in the way of other heritage abilities, for example. If a spell or magic ability is giving it, equal level creatures should have access to similarly powerful abilities, assuming we want all PCs of equal level to be...equal.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Re: flight-- Flight impacts the game in two main ways --

1. Eliminating challenges that can be solved simply by being avoided (melee only enemies in the way but not guarding something important, a canyon).
2. Eliminating challenges caused by being unable to access a location (the lever to open the dungeon gate being across a neigh-bottomless pit or sea of fire, etc.).

The former is only an issue if the flier's ability can be applied to all relevant people (they can carry the whole party, etc.), and for the relevant period of time. This is why flying carpets (whole party, always on) are rarer magic items than winged boots (one person, 4 hour max). The later issue can be solved by a single flier with limited flight, but is also the one with any number of other solutions all the way from level 1 (mage hand, summon critter spells, etc.). It's also something of a diminishingly common situation, as the game moves away from dungeons that only make sense as challenges to treasure-hunters.

Re: unserious games -- whether Faeries, Kender/Tinker Gnomes, or Dark Sun post-apoc aesthetic are more/less serious than the other is always going to be a matter of perspective. Just like whether Ravenloft is D&D with a scariness upgrade or D&D wearing Halloween costumes. The default game treats elves, dwarves, and goblins as serious creatures, there's no specific reason that faeries can't be as well (faeries can wear combat boots, after all). Dark Sun likewise is either brutal serious survivalism (hampered a little by no edition having great rules for such) or I guess I'll call in Mad Max posturing* again exclusively based on how one internally frames them. Kender/Tinker Gnomes I think are inherently silly, but whether designated comic relief makes the whole of a thing less serious or not, I think, is where the matter of taste aspect comes into play. *I consider the term 'edgelord' to be itself nonsensical. Tantamount to that childhood insult 'they think they are so spe-shul!'

Exactly how serious the game is supposed to be is likewise always up for grabs. EGG hiding dad jokes in the spell components communicating "only as serious as you want it to be".

 

[Horwath]

I mean that whatever is giving you flight is similar in power to what other theoretically equal beings get. A heritage with flight likely doesn't have much in the way of other heritage abilities, for example. If a spell or magic ability is giving it, equal level creatures should have access to similarly powerful abilities, assuming we want all PCs of equal level to be...equal.

yeah,
if species get, IE 7 trait points and skill is 1 pt, cantrip is 1pt, darkvision is 2pts, origin feat is 3 pts, then flight should be 5pts

 

[dave2008]

I mean that whatever is giving you flight is similar in power to what other theoretically equal beings get. A heritage with flight likely doesn't have much in the way of other heritage abilities, for example. If a spell or magic ability is giving it, equal level creatures should have access to similarly powerful abilities, assuming we want all PCs of equal level to be...equal.

For setting reasons, I thought this (the bold part), like me, would not be a concern for you. I make the races in my game based on what makes sense for the setting, not what is balanced.

 

[dave2008]

I've had flight as early as 1st level. But I make winged flight a little more complex. Minimum forward movement,...

No hovering?

 

[Xeviat]

No hovering?

Depends on the ancestry's theme. Birds and bats cannot hover without extra training (feat), as they're beeg. My bee-ple and fairies can, because their little. Birds have to circle

 

[Micah Sweet]

For setting reasons, I thought this (the bold part), like me, would not be a concern for you. I make the races in my game based on what makes sense for the setting, not what is balanced.

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.