Some questions on flight

[Blasphemonkey]

I have a player who is a Tiefling, and he took the Outsider Wings feat to get wings. His flight stats are 30 feet/Average. I have several uncertainties regarding how to handle flight, but two in particular:

How much could he carry when in flight? He has a Strength of 14. Somehow I don't think the normal Max Load figures would apply in flight, since you are using the ground to push against when lifting. But when flying? Does anyone have an idea?

Say he is bullrushed off of a cliff while not in flight. His usual answer is, "Well, I'll just start flying before I hit the ground and get back up there." Wouldn't he have to roll something to determine this? And how far would he fall before he wouldn't be able to pull himself out of it? I would think that a 20 foot fall would be too quick for him to react...but what about 50 feet? 100 feet? Plus the longer he is falling, the faster he is going, thus the DC for his roll to pull out of the fall would increase as he falls. But what would be the DC anyway? And what kind of check are we talking? Sigh. Anyone out there have any answers?

Thanks to anyone who can help me.

- Blasphemonkey

 

[Steve Jung]

In 3.5:

A creature with a fly speed can move through the air at the indicated speed if carrying no more than a light load; see Carrying Capacity, page 161 of the Player's Handbook. (Note that medium armor does not necessarily constitute a medium load.)

As far as how to adjudicate the bullrush situation, check out the Tactical Aerial Movement section of the DMG. I don't have the 3.5 ed DMG, so I can't quote it.

 

[AuraSeer]

A creature with Average manueverability must move at least half speed in order to fly at all. For your tiefling, half speed is 30'.

The only rule about flying out of a fall has to do with a wing stall, but I'd use the same rule for falling off the cliff. The flier drops 150' in the first round, and must make a DC 20 Reflex save to gain control. If he fails that save, each subsequent round he falls 300' and has another chance to recover.

So, if the cliff is 30' or less, the tiefling hits the ground before he gets enough airspeed to fly at all.
If it is between 30' and 150', he gets one chance at a DC 20 Reflex save in order to pull out before crashing. Between 150' and 450', he gets two chances to save (in two separate rounds). And so on like that.

The aerial movement rules are in the "Carrying And Exploration" section of the SRD.

 

[Blasphemonkey]

Thanks!

Thanks for the input. This really does help me out.

- Blasphemonkey

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The minimum speed doesn't necessarily mean that he has to fly them straight down. He could drop 10 feet and then fly away from the cliff (he wouldn't fly straight down anyway)

 

[AuraSeer]

Good point, if he reacts quickly enough he could pull out even from a very short fall. I'd probably allow the same Reflex save, with a -2 penalty because he has less time to gain control.

 

[DiFier]

I wonder if he could use his wings just to slow him down. not exactlly flying but sorta gliding or parachuting.

I think that if you have him get knocked off a cliff and the drop is less than 150' say 30' he shouldn't take 3d6 pts of damage. I'm not sure about rules.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I wonder if he could use his wings just to slow him down. not exactlly flying but sorta gliding or parachuting.

I think that if you have him get knocked off a cliff and the drop is less than 150' say 30' he shouldn't take 3d6 pts of damage. I'm not sure about rules.

The rules don't say it afaik. But it should be OK. Possible with avg man or better.

 

[AuraSeer]

I wonder if he could use his wings just to slow him down. not exactlly flying but sorta gliding or parachuting.

It doesn't seem to work that way. If he doesn't maintain minimum speed and actually fly, he will lose all lift and begin to fall. Hitting the ground will deal normal falling damage.

Only a creature with Perfect or Good maneuverability could drift downward, because they can hover and have no minimum speed. Such a creature could fly straight down arbitrarily slowly, say 5' round or whatever.

 

[Blasphemonkey]

This is all very useful information. Thanks everyone!

- Blasphemonkey