Flying creatures taking damage

[RedMage125]

So...I seem to remember a rule about creatures that fly via mundane means such as wings needing to remain above a certain hit point threshhold in order to fly. At half hp they must descend, but can do so without harm as they glide to the ground. At one-quarter hp, they drop like a stone.


However, I can no longer find those rules. Am I remembering something from a different edition?

I ask because I'm running a pre-published module right now, and it says that the dragons besieging the city will flee if brought to 20 hp or less (which is less than a quarter of its hp).

Anyone know the rules on this? Am I mixing edition rules, or am I just crazy and this was never a thing?

[Tiri]

So...I seem to remember a rule about creatures that fly via mundane means such as wings needing to remain above a certain hit point threshhold in order to fly. At half hp they must descend, but can do so without harm as they glide to the ground. At one-quarter hp, they drop like a stone.


However, I can no longer find those rules. Am I remembering something from a different edition?

I ask because I'm running a pre-published module right now, and it says that the dragons besieging the city will flee if brought to 20 hp or less (which is less than a quarter of its hp).

Anyone know the rules on this? Am I mixing edition rules, or am I just crazy and this was never a thing?

I don't recall this ever being a thing in 3.5.

[Necroticplague]

I don't know about previous editions, but that was never a thing in 3.5. General rule of thumb: any HP over 1 means you're at 100% operational capacity.

[Inevitability]

I'd say that if it were a thing, it'd have been mentioned at least once in the years that I've been on this forum. It seems unlikely for such a rule, which radically changes how the game works, to not be mentioned anywhere.

[RedMage125]

Maybe it was a different edition thing...2e, 3.0, or 4e, maybe...every so often I get rules from different editions crossed.

Actually relieved to know I was wrong.

[erok0809]

The only instance of anything like that I can think of is the dragons in Skyrim falling when below half health.

[Duke of Urrel]

So...I seem to remember a rule about creatures that fly via mundane means such as wings needing to remain above a certain hit point threshhold in order to fly. At half hp they must descend, but can do so without harm as they glide to the ground. At one-quarter hp, they drop like a stone.


However, I can no longer find those rules. Am I remembering something from a different edition?

I ask because I'm running a pre-published module right now, and it says that the dragons besieging the city will flee if brought to 20 hp or less (which is less than a quarter of its hp).

Anyone know the rules on this? Am I mixing edition rules, or am I just crazy and this was never a thing?

I believe you are remembering 2nd-edition rules. I can't verify this, because I haven't kept my ancient AD&D books. Maybe you can ask somebody in this forum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?60-Older-D-amp-D-AD-amp-D-and-Other-Systems) if nobody in this forum knows the answer for sure.