D&D 5E On fairies and flying

[Leatherhead]

If anything, allowing flight to work in heavy armor would actually help STR focused Melee characters keep up with Ranged builds somewhat. After all, light armor + full DEX is only one AC behind heavy armor, and functionally better than medium armor due to the lack of a stealth penalty.

As for encounter design, flight would totally decimate ground-bound enemies in a "white room" featureless-plain-with-no-roof deathmatch. But on the other hand, who actually designs real encounters like that? You can include things like enemies with ranged attacks, a celling, trees, strong wind currents (for difficult terrain), hazardous gasses, raised wire traps, an ally that also needs to get across that pit, or a city that is going to be eaten by the Tarrasque if you don't stop physically impede them.

Furthermore, if you are flying and stopped somehow, you fall to the ground and take extra damage. Which makes it dangerous, Like if an arrow knocked you out, you are automatically down one death save from the fall damage, and possibly far away from any allies who could save you.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But on the other hand, who actually designs real encounters like that?

The majority of enemies in the Monster Manual have both melee and ranged attacks. Unless your DM's idea of an epic fantasy encounter is a dozen wild goats flying isn't going to make much difference.

I have come across players who don't carry a ranged weapon - some min-maxers can't tell the difference between "not as good with a bow" and "can't use a bow". They deserve what they get.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

With flight the PC can cross the hall without touching walls and floors, avoiding the most of traps. You don't need climb skill to go to the window in the top of the tower and from there to throw a rope ladder to the rest of the team, or to use a teletransportation rune. You shouldn't worry about most of pitfall traps. Or go to over the roof and from there to use ranged attacks against the enemies.

 

[Lyxen]

With flight the PC can cross the hall without touching walls and floors, avoiding the most of traps. You don't need climb skill to go to the window in the top of the tower and from there to throw a rope ladder to the rest of the team, or to use a teletransportation rune. You shouldn't worry about most of pitfall traps. Or go to over the roof and from there to use ranged attacks against the enemies.

Exactly. Yes, there are certainly lots of countermeasures that a DM can take against permanently flying characters, but flying is certainly a plot-breaker in many situations, and an extremely strong advantage to have for exploration and combat phases of the game, way stronger than most racial benefits.

 

[jasper]

The only MAJOR problem I have with flight is some Tier 1 modules used lack of flight with environment obstacles. These will need to be updated for free.
The Private problem is some players are flighty.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

At my table I just say no to permaflight abilities in tier 1, and consequently doesn't allow races that start with it. IMHO it's not balanced.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Environmental obstacles have always been trivial in 5e. Jump, Spider Climb, Wildshape, Misty Step are all readily available at low level. The average adventurer can jump 10 feet completely unaided!

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Environmental obstacles have always been trivial in 5e. Jump, Spider Climb, Wildshape, Misty Step are all readily available at low level. The average adventurer can jump 10 feet completely unaided!

Jump and Misty Step etc are all fine, since you have to spend limited resources on it. It's not permaflight.

 

[Lyxen]

Environmental obstacles have always been trivial in 5e. Jump, Spider Climb, Wildshape, Misty Step are all readily available at low level. The average adventurer can jump 10 feet completely unaided!

And you compare jumping 10 feet with permaflight ?

 

[jgsugden]

PCs are the heroes of the story. They're supposed to do cool things that separate them from the crowds. Flight is one of those things for some PCs. Celebrate, don't hate. Use the flight to help the player, and PC, feel cool and special.

Your PCs are able to overcome a physical obstacle with flight? Good! That makes flight feel cool and special. It is working just as intended. DMs need to be prepared for PCs to overcome obstacles. If you put a river in your adventure and assume PCs can't pass it, you need to be better prepared.

Your PCs can fly up out of danger and attack from range? Cool! That makes flight feel special and cool. It is working just as intended. Set up situations in which it benefits them to make them feel cool!

And even if you want to put aside the elements where the PCs are supposed to feel cool - remember that it is not a solo game. If some PCs are hard to target, the targets get redirected to the other PCs. That depletes their HPs faster, and results in the party needing more rest. I find that when I've used a flying PC, I need to swing into the battle to intentionally absorb some targets to keep the hp depletion balanced! (Speaking of which, we didn't mention the flying variant tiefling yet).

Also - flying is dangerous! If you drop to zero hp while flying you're going to start 'down' a death save from your ground impact. Maybe 2 if you're dropping into dangerous terrain. When you add that to flying PCs often being separated from the party as they exercise their mobility, it is pretty common for 'downed' flying PCs to die.

Additionally, there are a lot of situations in which flight does nothing for you. 10 foot ceilings, yo.

This is much ado about nothing.