jleonardwv
2019-02-24, 08:32 AM
I fail to see how at-will flight breaks games.
1. I played an Aarakocra in a one-shot. Although he could fly over forests and over ground obstacles, he couldn't see details of things under the canopy, so had to land at critical times. Of course, going underground negates the advantage of flight mostly.
2. I'm DMing an adventure where I gave PCs a choice of magic items and three chose winged boots. Ground traps are bypassed by those three, but the rest of the party still has to travel by ground so traps still must be dealt with. Also, at critical junctures when the adventure says "stepping here does this," I just allow the same effect when the fliers pass the vertical plane where stepping would normally activate the effect.
3. Winged boots are a little more flexible for PCs, since I would rule that a winged PC like Tiefling or Aarakocra couldn't hover for long and has a 10 foot wingspan, which makes in-dungeon flight more difficult or impossible at times. But even winged boots aren't game breaking IMO.
4. Certain things become trivial with at-will flight, but some wouldn't be that difficult anyway. In the adventure I'm DMing, the PCs are about to come upon an item to be retrieved. Normally, they'd use rope to bridge an air gap. Now, they'll fly I'm sure. So what?
5. Ranged weapons can be trained on the flying PCs while melee would apply to the grounded ones. This isn't a lot different than when the mage hides 30 feet away in a traditional game to cast ranged spells and avoid melee.
In my mind, most adventures can't be broken as-written since nearly all require being in buildings or underground much of the time. In addition, a little creative DMing can go a long way to leveling the playing field.
Can someone explain how at-will flight has broken your game or has the potential to do so? Am I missing something?
1. I played an Aarakocra in a one-shot. Although he could fly over forests and over ground obstacles, he couldn't see details of things under the canopy, so had to land at critical times. Of course, going underground negates the advantage of flight mostly.
2. I'm DMing an adventure where I gave PCs a choice of magic items and three chose winged boots. Ground traps are bypassed by those three, but the rest of the party still has to travel by ground so traps still must be dealt with. Also, at critical junctures when the adventure says "stepping here does this," I just allow the same effect when the fliers pass the vertical plane where stepping would normally activate the effect.
3. Winged boots are a little more flexible for PCs, since I would rule that a winged PC like Tiefling or Aarakocra couldn't hover for long and has a 10 foot wingspan, which makes in-dungeon flight more difficult or impossible at times. But even winged boots aren't game breaking IMO.
4. Certain things become trivial with at-will flight, but some wouldn't be that difficult anyway. In the adventure I'm DMing, the PCs are about to come upon an item to be retrieved. Normally, they'd use rope to bridge an air gap. Now, they'll fly I'm sure. So what?
5. Ranged weapons can be trained on the flying PCs while melee would apply to the grounded ones. This isn't a lot different than when the mage hides 30 feet away in a traditional game to cast ranged spells and avoid melee.
In my mind, most adventures can't be broken as-written since nearly all require being in buildings or underground much of the time. In addition, a little creative DMing can go a long way to leveling the playing field.
Can someone explain how at-will flight has broken your game or has the potential to do so? Am I missing something?