D&D 5E On fairies and flying

[Charlaquin]

My approach is that if players think of something I didn't anticipate and overcome a challenge easily, well done them, they get a gold star.

Just as often they make big mess of something they could have resolved easily though.

Yeah, but picking a race that can fly isn’t really “thinking of something I didn’t anticipate.”

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Flying is so OP they needed to keep the drakewarden from gaining access to flight until 15th level. But it's so nothing burger that the aarakocra, fairy, and winged tiefling can have it from 1st level. Make up your minds guys.

Right. They should have let the drake fly right from level 3.

A Wizard school that gave the Wizard nearly-at-will flight with some limitations at level 2 also wouldn’t be OP.

Also what is too strong as a class feature isn’t always the same as for a race. They do different things.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I definately felt that way about counterspell. It changed my entire approach to enemy spellcasters so much that I finally just banned it after several attempts to houserule it. I of course was able to find ways around it....but over and over and over again, eventually I just didn't like being constrained by that one spell.

I’m curious what changes you had to make to account for the spell?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This is literally the point I have made in several posts prior to this. In games where the DM plays a tit-for-tat with players,

It's not tit-for-tat, because those things where always there. The nazgul always had access to flying mounts, Saruman always had a dungeon, the dark lord always had crebain, giant vampire bats and who knows what other flying minions he could have thrown at a flying fellowship.

If the party travels by land the have land-based encounters, if they travel by sea the have sea based encounters, if they travel by air they have air based encounters.

It's no different to a dungeon, where the party can choose the left passage, the right passage, or straight ahead. Whatever they choose they will likely have different but roughly equivalent encounters.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, but picking a race that can fly isn’t really “thinking of something I didn’t anticipate.”

True, flying is pretty obvious, and should be anticipated by the DM, and any intelligent NPCs.

But just because the party doesn't have flying it doesn't mean they won't come up with a cunning way to bypass a hazard. It does become "tit-for-tat" if the DM tries to ban everything the PCs might come up with. It escalates from banning flying to banning creative thinking.

 

[Argyle King]

Flight tends to be a force multiplier.

The basic functions of a combat unit are to shoot, move, and communicate.

Flight allows the movement part of those functions to be multiplied into an entirely new plane of movement. Through that, the others are likewise enhanced.

Does that matter in 5E D&D?

I'm not sure. In general, the game approaches combat in a very different way (and with a very different mentality) than other games I play.

I still believe that flight acts as a force multiplier, but at this point it's somewhat lost among options which grant greater power to PCs.

I think something overlooked is that hold person (and other options mentioned upthread to counteract flying) doesn't work on a faerie PC because they're not humanoids.

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, I'll put it this way. If you have characters who move super quick, it matters, because they want it to matter (and maybe it should). When most PCS move the standard? Not so much. Even a slight bonus is easy enough to handle as a tag rather than something I need a protractor and a battle mat for.

Edit: I will say this. Flying PCs in a game where that wasn't the idea? That gives me the pip.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

grant greater power to PCs.

And NPCs. I find it's much more common for ground based PCs to be fighting flying enemies than visa versa.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

PCS move the standard? Not so much.

Unless the DM insists that the only monsters they can possibly use are gelatinous cubes.

 

[Argyle King]

And NPCs. I find it's much more common for ground based PCs to be fighting flying enemies than visa versa.

I think that's somewhat true for D&D, especially in official adventures.

Do you find that PCs have a tougher time against more mobile enemies?