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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 5964583" data-attributes="member: 3192">Flight isn't an all or nothing category. That's the most important point. I'd say come up with difference throughout all the levels. D&D has already done this for generations.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Feather Fall</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Levitation</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fly</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Improved Fly</li> </ol>That's only 4, but plenty to cover the basics for flight and still leave enough room for player ingenuity to create new custom flight spells for their character (or more culturally / racially specific ones for NPCs).Long duration? I love powerful spells and one of the ways to make spells actually useful outside of the dull 60 seconds of combat is to up their length and applicability. (P.S. it's also how we increase their creative use) So I say have the option for different kinds of flight begin with long durations (but not absolute). A Feather Fall ring is a nice, cheap, powerful magic item that breaks my rule of "no absolutes" and is great for low levels. Drop Control. The last thing I want to have to do is make flight checks, if I'm trained at flying. Improved skill should come with increased options. Longer durations, increased speed, better maneuverability, and so on.Also, the action economy should be dropped for flight outside of the Move action. Performing a 360 spin or a full forward loop should not cost an action or require a check. That's boring game design as any flight game can show. Leave the Action portion of the action economy to casting spells, swinging swords, using magic items, and other actions which allow everyone to show off their class abilities. Do not make another "you lose because you didn't take this mini-game's feats" game where only the related feat abilities matter because of the situation.It depends on the magic. Are you flying on a broom? That has drawbacks. Are you flying on a living creature? Different, but yes again. How about growing wings from your back? Okay, but not space and facing matter as do clothing and fatigue comes up more often. Yeah, it's all going to matter as magic without drawbacks is more infinite at-will design that removes the game element from play.Good question. I imagine most folks who know AD&D's aerial movement and maneuverability class rules would say N.O. immediately as it is very complicated and very time consuming as written. - However, I beg them to listen for just a moment. The original flight rules were based off of the great Mike Carr's "Fight in the Skies" game (as "Battle in the Skies" in the OD&D booklets), who may be better known in D&D circles for B1 "In Search of the Unknown". If you don't know F.I.T.S. is basically the game <a href="http://www.dawnpatrol.org/" target="_blank">Dawn Patrol</a>, which is still one of the best flight games around all these years later. - In terms of high end aerial battle modules, this is not only one of the best WotC could offer, but also one of the most true to D&D. It can be quick, highly detailed, fast paced, allow for plenty of non-aerial action within it, finish a whole combat in under an hour, and work with ground battles. Needless to say, it has a very customizable means of defining maneuverability.<img src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic455745_md.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />A basic, light, quick and easy set of rules for flight should be in the core game - unless they want to drop flight and other non-surface movement throughout the game. Weather is more in the campaign and magic realm of design, but I can understand the inclusion of some basic wind direction and speed rules. And yeah, falling everything that goes into that.Mundane is really just well known magic. So it is the baseline. Everyone having flight means it does quickly become mundane. Starting the game as D&D does, within a practical human set baseline, we would want to account for mundane counters to flight before adding in magic and fantasy elements. Birds in core? Yeah. Flying mounts? Why not? Irrelevant to genre? I'd say no. I know gunpowder and ray guns get included in the "expanding the campaign scope" section, but let's keep that stuff for later inclusions. I like it, but a trim core book could do without 'em. Magical airships? Heck yeah! We could use some good vehicle combat and movement rules, if only to start with wagons and carriages at first. Magic castles and ships cost $$$.</blockquote>

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