How can an aarakocra fly in heavyarmour?

[Wizard_Lizard]

someone in my group made an aarakocra paladin. He started with chain mail. Which is heavy armour. Yheoretically he could get plate layer in the game. I ask you, HOW CAN HE FLY?

[Aett_Thorn]

someone in my group made an aarakocra paladin. He started with chain mail. Which is heavy armour. Yheoretically he could get plate layer in the game. I ask you, HOW CAN HE FLY?

RAW, he can’t.


You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.

He can only fly in light armor, so no chain mail or other heavy armors.

[hymer]

I ask you, HOW CAN HE FLY?
A Fly or similar spell from a friendly caster should do the trick. Vengenace paladins can fly in angel form at 20. Other than that, there are various magical items that grant flight.

[Zhorn]

How can an aarakocra fly in heavy armour?
Same way gnomes fly in heavy armour :smallbiggrin:

[Wizard_Lizard]

RAW, he can’t.



He can only fly in light armor, so no chain mail or other heavy armors.

I must have missed that.
He will be so annoyed when I tell him.
It means that the warlock (me) will tank more than him.
And we will all have an ac of 14

[nickl_2000]

How can an aarakocra fly in heavy armour?
Same way gnomes fly in heavy armour :smallbiggrin:

The raging barbarian throws them?

[Willie the Duck]

I must have missed that.
He will be so annoyed when I tell him.
It means that the warlock (me) will tank more than him.
And we will all have an ac of 14

I suspect most DMs would allow some level of re-writing if the whole group missed a rule that basic to a characters concept/race choice.

Regardless, if the guy who flies was also going to tank, it sounds like perhaps they had a kind of mixed concept. Not that flight isn't useful to tanks or brawlers (given the prevalence of flying opponents), the most-often usable advantage of constant flight is that you are out of reach for 50-90% of opponents. Again, nothing wrong with it (excepting, as we've discovered, that they were missing an important rule), but for that flight they've given up a significant opportunity cost.

[Sigreid]

A DM could choose to include in the game aarakocra heavy armors enchanted in such a way as to allow flight. They dont have to, of course.

[King of Nowhere]

so, in this game you have a barbarian that can easily lift a small car without magical help while raging, a giant fire-breathing flying lizard that totally violates the square/cube law, and people who fall ffrom skyscrapers and take mild damange.

And your suspension of disbelief chooses to get hung up over something like that?

You seriously need to get your priorities straight :smalltongue:

By the way, I don't know what an aarokocra is, but it sounds like a winged humanoid. such a creature could not fly in any case because of the square/cube law, regardless of armor

[Sigreid]

so, in this game you have a barbarian that can easily lift a small car without magical help while raging, a giant fire-breathing flying lizard that totally violates the square/cube law, and people who fall ffrom skyscrapers and take mild damange.

And your suspension of disbelief chooses to get hung up over something like that?

You seriously need to get your priorities straight :smalltongue:

By the way, I don't know what an aarokocra is, but it sounds like a winged humanoid. such a creature could not fly in any case because of the square/cube law, regardless of armor

It's a bird man, and I think someone just decided that heavy armor and 50' flight was too much.

[Hytheter]

By the way, I don't know what an aarokocra is, but it sounds like a winged humanoid. such a creature could not fly in any case because of the square/cube law, regardless of armor

That seems a bit of an oversimplification considering there have been real life creatures far larger than humans yet still capable of flight. Given appropriate anatomy, a winged humanoid hardly seems less plausible than a quetzalcoatlus.

[darkrose50]

The Field Museum in Chicago has a model of a pteranodon the size of a giraffe. That thing flew (I take it).

D&D has a fear of flying. Evidently DMs are too stupid to figure out how to deal with flying PCs.

D&D also assumes that armor makes you slow and clumsy.

Wizards with armor? Sure!

Cartwheels in armor? Sure!

Flying in armor? Sure!

Base how well on STR, DEX CON, skills and feats.

[TyGuy]

someone in my group made an aarakocra paladin. He started with chain mail. Which is heavy armour. Yheoretically he could get plate layer in the game. I ask you, HOW CAN HE FLY?

Is it too late for him to redo his character as an Aasimar? If it's mostly the flight he's after, a protector Aasimar has flight at level 3 (without armor restrictions). Along with better paladin stats and an angelic theme that dovetails nicely with a protector paladin.

[Dalebert]

I must have missed that.
He will be so annoyed when I tell him.

In your defense, it's on him to know the rules that apply to his character. As the DM, you have enough on your plate. Having built-in, non-concentration flight is a huge feature. Not being able to do it in heavy armor is both common sense from a fluff perspective and balanced.

[Frozenstep]

Mithral armor is lighter then the usual version. I don't think it works RAW, but I feel like it would make some amount of sense if it was possible to fly in Mithral versions of heavy armor.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Mithral armor is lighter then the usual version. I don't think it works RAW, but I feel like it would make some amount of sense if it was possible to fly in Mithral versions of heavy armor.
Mithril half plate would work.

[Imbalance]

Mithril half plate would work.

Or any half plate? Chest protection is one thing, but is weight the biggest factor when any amount of back protection would greatly inhibit the range of motion for his wings? It could be plate in name only, functionally improving AC by the equivalent of light armor.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Or any half plate? Chest protection is one thing, but is weight the biggest factor when any amount of back protection would greatly inhibit the range of motion for his wings? It could be plate in name only, functionally improving AC by the equivalent of light armor.
By RAW, their flight only works in light or no armor. Half Plate is medium armor; making it out of mithril makes it count as one category lighter.

As a potential alternative, the Dragon Wings feat from UA: Feats for Races lets Dragonborn fly with medium armor.

[Willie the Duck]

By RAW, their flight only works in light or no armor. Half Plate is medium armor; making it out of mithril makes it count as one category lighter.

Mind you, I am working off of online resources, but I'm not finding that effect associated with 5e Mithril. That seems to be a 3e thing (and even there, where the armor qualifies as a lighter category is limited to certain qualities).

[Imbalance]

By RAW, their flight only works in light or no armor. Half Plate is medium armor; making it out of mithril makes it count as one category lighter.

As a potential alternative, the Dragon Wings feat from UA: Feats for Races lets Dragonborn fly with medium armor.

Yeah, no argument, I'm just extrapolating for the thought exercise. Maybe I should say quarter plate, meaning the material is less relevant than the fact that the pattern of coverage is greatly reduced due to the gap afforded to the extra appendages. Mechanically, the bonus can't be any higher because you can't both cover your back and fly, no matter what "weight" of armor. Ergo, flight only works in light armor or none.

[Maan]

Mhm. Actually, if he wants to stay a Paladin without multiclassing, a DEX based Paladin in light armor is a perfectly viable build.

Since you weren't aware of the full implication of that rule, you could just allow him to rework his stats so he can just drop Strength and go with Dexterity.

[PopeLinus1]

Very Carefully.

[intregus]

In the SCAG there's a winged tiefling that gets flying speed equal to their walking speed, no restrictions on armor. Maybe just reduce the flight speed to 30ft and just allow him to wear heavy armor and fly.

[DracoKnight]

In the SCAG there's a winged tiefling that gets flying speed equal to their walking speed, no restrictions on armor. Maybe just reduce the flight speed to 30ft and just allow him to wear heavy armor and fly.

This has since been Errata'd to restrict heavy armor.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BnU-ok_28cLF97EpMFFUIQzHyqaqKoPb/view?usp=sharing

[JackPhoenix]

By RAW, their flight only works in light or no armor. Half Plate is medium armor; making it out of mithril makes it count as one category lighter.

It does not. Making half-pate out of mithral removes the disadvantage on Dex (Stealth) checks. It doesn't even weight less.

[Sigreid]

Armor of the Sky Guardian: Very Rare

Type: Full Plate
Bonus: +1
Special Features:
This armor is forged from rare metals found only where the elemental planes of air and land meet, and specifically shaped to fit the aarakocra body. Forged only for the greatest champions of their people, this armor is infused with elemental energy that provides lightning resistance and a buoyancy and articulation that allows an aarakocra with a strength of at least 16 to fly while wearing the heavy armor.

[ProsecutorGodot]

It does not. Making half-pate out of mithral removes the disadvantage on Dex (Stealth) checks. It doesn't even weight less.

Expanding on this, I believe the reason for the confusion is that is also takes away the Str requirement attached to some heavy armors. It's "lighter" mechanically, being significantly easier to wear effectively but it's still the same weight for encumbrance.

I think the restriction on Aarakocra is stemmed from the idea that their wings need space to freely articulate so that they can fly and medium/heavy armor might restrict that. I don't see any issues with homebrewing a set of heavier armor later on, either as a quest reward, an heirloom from a family of Warrior Aarakocra or simply something they can have commissioned.

Don't make it too simple but try to work with the player to make it work for them. I like to give players the benefit of the doubt but the cynical part of me thinks that the player was perfectly aware that their character had this limitation and simply hoped ignoring it (or finding out about it "inconveniently") would allow them to bypass it.

An alternative solution, though a bit complicated, is to give them a "glide speed" like described in Morgrave Miscellany:

you can use your bonus action to gain a flying speed of 30 feet until you land. At the end of each of your turns, your altitude drops by 5 feet. Your altitude drops instantly to 0 feet at the end of your turn if you didn’t fly at least 30 feet horizontally on that turn. When your altitude drops to 0 feet you land (or fall), and you must use another bonus action to gain the flying speed again.
I'd probably just cut out the "as a bonus action part" and make it so that the player must make an active effort to stay airborne in the armor they're wearing, perhaps expending half of their speed to maintain their flight or counting flight as difficult terrain until a suitable set of armor is acquired.

I don't know if I'd recommend this solution though, even to me it seems like an arbitrary penalty where there's not a whole lot of consequence (assuming your table is okay with this) to simply allowing them to fly normally in heavier armor.

[Mercurias]

someone in my group made an aarakocra paladin. He started with chain mail. Which is heavy armour. Yheoretically he could get plate layer in the game. I ask you, HOW CAN HE FLY?

Your player can't. The rules for Aarakocra can only fly via their wings in light or no armor.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I kind of feel bad because I helped him build his character.
But hopefuloy the dm will let him rework his stats or give him some special armour.

[King of Nowhere]

The Field Museum in Chicago has a model of a pteranodon the size of a giraffe. That thing flew (I take it).



i checked. pteranodon are estimated to have weighted around 50 kilos, so less than an average men. the wings are huge because that's what it takes to provide lift for that mass.

it's not that something man-sized could not fly with his own wings, but it would need far larger wings than are shown in any fantasy representation.

that said, it's magic. you can justify pretty much anything you want with magic, and since d&d already uses a lot of blatant violation of physical laws, it may as well keep this one too.

[Dalebert]

Since you weren't aware of the full implication of that rule, you could just allow him to rework his stats so he can just drop Strength and go with Dexterity.

I think this is your best option if he really wants to stay the same race. Of course it means giving up his dreams of Polearm Master, if that was a dream of his.

[Maan]

I think this is your best option if he really wants to stay the same race. Of course it means giving up his dreams of Polearm Master, if that was a dream of his.
Though to be honest a character with at-will, non-dispellable fly makes for a pretty sweet archer.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I think this is your best option if he really wants to stay the same race. Of course it means giving up his dreams of Polearm Master, if that was a dream of his.

I am sure he will be fine.
Considering our dm isnt playing with feats.

[Dr. Cliché]

i checked. pteranodon are estimated to have weighted around 50 kilos, so less than an average men. the wings are huge because that's what it takes to provide lift for that mass.

it's not that something man-sized could not fly with his own wings, but it would need far larger wings than are shown in any fantasy representation.

They also tend to have other weight-saving modifications - hollow bones, beaks instead of teeth etc.

Something of an aside but I actually think a flying-humanoid race with hollow bones (making them much more fragile) would make for an interesting concept.

[Wizard_Lizard]

They also tend to have other weight-saving modifications - hollow bones, beaks instead of teeth etc.

Something of an aside but I actually think a flying-humanoid race with hollow bones (making them much more fragile) would make for an interesting concept.

but emulating the bone weakness would probably make the race not play too well.