Movement question

[Dragon Mage]

I have a PC in my epic game that has a speed of 90 on foot. He often has a fly spell cast on him (60' speed) and tries to combine the 2 modes of movement in one round. Are there any rules to cover this? How much can he move if he tries to fly 20 and move the rest on land? It does not seem right to allow full 90ft of move if he used Fly for 20ft.

Any suggestions?

 

[Infiniti2000]

There are no rules on combining modes of movement, but the most obvious choice to me is to use fractional movement. If you use 1/2 speed in one mode, then you get 1/2 speed in another.

Another undefined portion is the action required (or speed used up) in switching modes. As for flight as an Ex or Su ability (not just a speed): "A creature with this ability can cease or resume flight as a free action." Landing is not given an action type, but presumably it's free or even not an action (part of moving).

So, if the character flies (can take note on the maneuverability class as for penalties in climbing, turning, etc.) for 20ft, I would say he used up 1/3 his speed, and then gets only 60ft more to move along the ground.

 

[shilsen]

I think Infiniti2000 nailed it.

 

[Nail]

I think Infiniti2000 nailed it.

Agreed.

 

[Dragon Mage]

Thanks

That is what I have tried to do but the calculations slow down the game too much. He oftens goes back and forth during a single round from land speed to fly speed and back. Also his land speed changes from one round to the next making the calculations more difficult. It's not a big deal to figure but I try to avoid anything that slows down the Epic combat.

I have considered making him use the slowest speed for what ever mode of movement he uses. ie. If he flies at all during a round the total move he can do is 60. If he does not fly he can move his full 90. Do you think this is to harsh a rulling to just speed the game?

By the way he is a Dervish so move is important to him.

 

[frankthedm]

I think Infiniti2000 nailed it.

Yep.

Remember he uses up 5 feet of flight if he moves backwards or turns in place while flying and if he move up 5 feet that costs 10 feet of flight movement.

Reverse -5 ft.
Turn 90°/5 ft.
Turn in place +90°/-5 ft.
Maximum turn Any
Up angle Any
Up speed Half
Down angle Any
Down speed Double

 

[Infiniti2000]

That is what I have tried to do but the calculations slow down the game too much. He oftens goes back and forth during a single round from land speed to fly speed and back. Also his land speed changes from one round to the next making the calculations more difficult. It's not a big deal to figure but I try to avoid anything that slows down the Epic combat.

It's not really easy if he does it a lot, I agree. I can't think of an easy way to speed it up without limited (i.e. nerfing) it. One option is like you presented, but I dislike it. Another one would be to limit the change in movement mode to once per Move Action. That would require only the one conversion. Make sure to round up in this case (5ft of flight at 60ft consumes 10ft of ground movement at 90, although 10ft becomes 15ft).

Hmm, that looks an awful lot like the diagonal rule. With 60/90 movement rates, the first 5ft flight takes 10ft ground, but the second 5ft flight takes only 5ft ground. So, every other 5ft flight requires 10ft ground movement, starting with the 1st.

That might be easy enough to calculate as you go, if you always just use ground 'units'.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

It would have been nice to have something about switching modes..

I think the above by Infiniti2000 is reasonable and useful if there is not much switching of modes going on. In your case perhaps simply claim that any change in movement mode after the first costs 5' of movement, counted towards the new mode.

e.g:
{90' Ground/ 60' Air}
- Character starts moving {ground} for 10' {80/60 left}
- Takes off flying {free}
- Flies 20' {60/40 left}
- lands, burning 5' of ground movement {55/40}
- Hustles 20' {35/20}
- takes off again, burning 5' of flight {35/15}
- flies 15' and either must land or end his movement
- - if he lands, this costs 5' ground movement leaving him with 15' ground movement


Keep in mind that the above represents travelling in a straight line with no up/down angled movement...


The same rule could be applied to mode changes to climbing, swimming, etc..