Optimize this vehicle 2: the cargo kite from races of the wild p.169

[daremetoidareyo]

Optimize this Vehicle!

Here's the stats

Actually something like a glider, a cargo kite can lift up 250 pounds when towed forward. The cargo is slung in a basket or net under the kite. A collection of five or so 30-foot-long hemp cords allows one or more creatures to tow the kite. The kite itself is as big as a Large creature (10-foot space).
To tow a loaded kite through the air, a creature (or several creatures) must be able to drag the weight of the kite and its cargo. Material carried in the kite doesn’t count as weight the towing creatures carry, but the towing creatures move at encumbered speed (see page 162 of the Player’s Handbook and page 20 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) unless they are capable of dragging at least twice the weight of the kite and its cargo.
A towed kite has poor maneuverability and a minimum forward speed of 40 feet. If it does not maintain its minimum forward speed, the kite descends at the rate of 60 feet a round.
A strong wind (see page 95 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) can lift a loaded kite, provided someone stays on the ground to steady it.

Although treated as "gear," for the purposes of this thread, this contraption also counts as a vehicle and can be treated as those they can be modified as one.

So let's hear your ideas!!


Optimize this Vehicle 1: Iceberg (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494813-Optimize-this-vehicle-1-Iceberg-from-Frostburn)

[Palanan]

That’s an awkward contraption, indeed.

The only places I can imagine where this could be feasible would be level, open terrain with no trees—steppes, prairie, tundra, maybe desert. And in steppes and prairies, it’s level and open enough that wheeled transport and/or horses would be easier. In tundra, sledges are more practical, and better-suited to deal with the frequent gale-force winds.

That just leaves desert, and unless it’s a level stony desert, it would be too much of a struggle through the sand to make it worthwhile. And of course, simply dragging something across the ground is completely different from getting it airborne in the first place. I’m honestly not sure how this could work.

[daremetoidareyo]

I think you get it flying like a kite, then load it by hand as a flier. Then tow it. I could see it working on a beach archipelago. Or... There might be a need for landing strips....

[Jormengand]

Each kite seems to be counted separately, so it allows you to carry multiple instances of half your maximum dragging load, plus your maximum light load, without being encumbered. Annoyingly, you probably have to be a barbarian or monk to move it fast enough that it doesn't collapse.

There's nothing technically stopping you from climbing up the rope of the kite you're holding, because it only drops if it can't move forwards on its turn and I'm pretty sure it doesn't get one if it doesn't have a driver. So it's a neat way of having a firing platform 30 feet in the air which just floats there - and if you pull the rope up with you then no-one else can climb up into it with you. Plus, if you're large (or block three spaces with medium objects), no-one can fit in it with you in the first instance.

[daremetoidareyo]

It floats there like a kite and then falls because it has no momentum. One person with a climb speed of 30 or a flight speed could deploy one in a round with a double move

[Jormengand]

But do vehicles even fall for not flying if they don't get a turn? Here's the relevant rules on flying:

"If a flying creature fails to maintain its minimum forward speed, it must land at the end of its movement."

But a vehicle with no driver doesn't have a turn, let alone any movement. It's the same glitch that lets you stay in place forever even if your manueuverability isn't normally good enough: so long as you don't move, you don't have to move the minimum forward speed.