D&D 5E Sane Magic Item Prices

[Lanefan]

I don't think dragon speed puts it in much danger of crashing into a city tower in typical night conditions; it's not an aeroplane.

They're the closest thing to an airplane a D&D world usually has, and their listed fly speed is stupidly slow.

 

[Stattick]

If I calculated correctly, Speed 40 ft/round equals ~4.5 mph. Which is the speed of a slow jog. You could double that to 9 mph by assuming a flying dragon not engaging in combat is taking the dash action. Meanwhile, old fashioned, slow as hell blimps cruise at 35 mph, and modern blimps can cruise at 70 mph.

 

[S'mon]

They're the closest thing to an airplane a D&D world usually has, and their listed fly speed is stupidly slow.

Well I guess if you arbitrarily declare your dragons behave like aeroplanes, they can crash into stuff! But there's nothing in the rules to support that.

I noticed I think it was in BX Expert that overland flight speed is x2 combat movement. I think 3e just went with very high speeds. 5e gives low speeds appropriate for in-combat maneuvering rather than for overland flight.

 

[S'mon]

If I calculated correctly, Speed 40 ft/round equals ~4.5 mph. Which is the speed of a slow jog. You could double that to 9 mph by assuming a flying dragon not engaging in combat is taking the dash action. Meanwhile, old fashioned, slow as hell blimps cruise at 35 mph, and modern blimps can cruise at 70 mph.

Looking at a random dragon Roll20 - it has Fly 80' & a 40' move Legendary (2 actions), so it can move 200'/round in combat while maneuvering. That's about 20 mph or so. For long distance straight-line overland flight it's best IMO to double the rates, so 40 mph or so, which isn't exactly fast but looks reasonable enough to me.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Well I guess if you arbitrarily declare your dragons behave like aeroplanes, they can crash into stuff! But there's nothing in the rules to support that.

I noticed I think it was in BX Expert that overland flight speed is x2 combat movement. I think 3e just went with very high speeds. 5e gives low speeds appropriate for in-combat maneuvering rather than for overland flight.

Eh, not really.

If you take the combat speed of 30 ft per round and then look at the overland travel rules...

300 ft per minute -> 1 minute = 10 rounds -> 30 ft * 10 rounds = 300 ft

3 miles per hour -> 1 hour = 600 rounds -> 30 ft * 600 rounds = 18,000 ft = 3.4 miles (really dang close)

24 miles per day -> day of travel = 8 hours -> 3 mph * 8 = 24


So, they clearly rounded down for the travel over an hour, but this shows that they were very much thinking of travel speed in terms of multiplying combat speed.

 

[Lanefan]

Well I guess if you arbitrarily declare your dragons behave like aeroplanes, they can crash into stuff! But there's nothing in the rules to support that.

Wouldn't be the first time the rules got it wrong.

I noticed I think it was in BX Expert that overland flight speed is x2 combat movement. I think 3e just went with very high speeds. 5e gives low speeds appropriate for in-combat maneuvering rather than for overland flight.

I think more of dragons in fantasy/movies where they swoop over towns at a quite decent speed (think Smaug over Laketown)* and then try to translate that into the game; and realize that if a dragon flying and-or attacking at that speed can't see where it's going it's going to have to either a) slow down to walking speed and thus present a much easier target for ground fire to hit or b) risk crashing.

* - never mind the Harry Potter dragons which are even faster...as are the brooms.

 

[Hussar]

D&D characters and NPC's typically move at the speed of plot.

 

[Lanefan]

D&D characters and NPC's typically move at the speed of plot.

This bugs me in movies and it bugs me in RPGs, as I prefer more of a sense of things - including travel - taking the amount of time they realistically should.

 

[S'mon]

it's going to have to either a) slow down to walking speed and thus present a much easier target for ground fire to hit or b) risk crashing.

Sure. So the default speed & AC represents the dragon flying very slowly so it can maneuver, but at the cost of being vulnerable to ground fire.

 

[S'mon]

This bugs me in movies and it bugs me in RPGs, as I prefer more of a sense of things - including travel - taking the amount of time they realistically should.

How far do you think large flying creatures should be able to travel in a day? I generally feel 60-70 miles feels too little; something in the 90-200 miles range seems ok to me. My suggestion above that a 5e adult dragon should have a sustained overland flight rate of around 40 mph might indicate more like 320 miles in a day, though.

I guess a flying carpet doing say 20 mph would be maybe 12 hours of flight before it got too uncomfortable (is a carpet better or worse than a car?) would do ca 240 miles/day.