The Many uses of Kites

[Kyramus]

I'd go to congecture that a kite master could eventually build an ornithopter.

One man gliders. IF he has any arcane magic, or arcane 3rd level magic, he might enable a person to fly as long as he is using the ornithopter.

Aerial troops have a whole new meaning once you attach lightning bolt or magic missle turrets.

The dragon is probably going to think that they are humongous flies, annoying and meddlesome.

 

[Fast Learner]

Kites may have been used by ancient peoples to erect large stone structures such as obelisks and the pyramids. Here's an article from National Geographic about it.

 

[Meds]

You beat me to it Fast Learner! Here's another article on using kites for construction:
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=101322

 

[Iron Sheep]

Kites could be used like barrage balloons to get in the way of flying enemies or get wings tangled up in the control lines. Imagine a city with hundreds of kites flying above it as a dragon tries to attack.

Indeed, rather than calling down lightning, wire lines could lead electricity up to flying creatures from the ground. In D&D terms, you could perhaps deliver touch attacks through a kite.

Kites obviously have close ties to wind and air, but what if you could make kites tied to other elements? Perhaps an earth kite which can fly through the ground the same way a kite flies through the air? A water kite seems pretty boring, but there may be some sort of cool concept based around a fire kite.

Perhaps a small kite could be a sort of familiar: I have a mental image of an adventurer walking through a dungeon while a tiny kite bobs along behind their shoulder, fluttering in some unseen breeze...

 

[Tonguez]

I like these ideas - especially the idea of a Kite familiar and using them as weapons and traps (a group of kites entangling a Dragon - kewl.

so Kites can range for small to huge 12 foot wingspan things hmmm and using them to lift waits works well here. I also read something about Kite powered 'carriages' being experiemented with in the 17th Century - sort of early Land-Yatchs.

So we could have a whole culture using Kite-driven technology...

Okay NPC design underway and thanks everyone for the ideas

 

[the Jester]

Some eastern cultures (like the Thais) play kite-fighting games. Basically, two people try to cut each others' kites' strings with the sharp edges of their own kites and stuff. Extending this to a fantasy game, you could makie an adamantite-foil kite with razor edges to help repel fliers in a siege and the like.