Half-dragon

[Celeres]

I was looking at ways to make martial characters less sucky. In particular, the biggest problem i came across was Spellcasters who fly. How do i get around that? The answer came to me in the half-dragon template. become a big creature, grow some wings, no more flying wizard bothering you.

then i thought back to an old half-ogre charger build i had, and i was wondering.

can you charge in flight?

and i guess cause i have to know, is the half dragon template worth the 4 levels of no BAB or saves? and explain why.

[AslanCross]

Flying spellcasters are best neutralized with other spells. If they use wings to fly, web can nail them.

There are also a few wondrous items you can use as rocket launchers. The necklace of fireballs is usable by anyone, and makes pretty explosions.

In any case, I find the best way to fix Martial characters is to simply use Tome of Battle. Not everyone likes it, but I find that it works well.

I'm pretty sure you can charge in flight. Diving also allows you to move at double your speed.

Finally, half dragon is not worth it. At all.

[Temp.]

and i guess cause i have to know, is the half dragon template worth the 4 levels of no BAB or saves? and explain why.

No way. At low levels, you have 4 fewer HD keeping you alive and keeping you hurting things. At higher levels, new methods of flight are hawked at every street corner. And you might spend all your time Polymorphed (depending on your group's attitude toward the spell), making the benefits disappear completely.

You might want to take a look at Dragonborn in Races of the Dragon; they take another race, strip it of its abilities and add some Dragon features to it, including flight (which develops as you gain HD like the Raptoran's). Same schtick, less expensive (no LA).

[Maltore]

If it's just the flying thing you're looking for, consider the 'winged' template from Savage Species. +2 LA, +4 dex, +4 wis, fly speed based on land speed, manoeuvability based on total dex score. I have never regretted it.

And yes, you can charge while flying. Keep in mind that unless you have 'good' or 'perfect' manoeuvrability you have to keep flying (=> no full attack) or you fall down.

[Iku Rex]

is the half dragon template worth the 4 levels of no BAB or saves?

(3 levels).

[Tempest Fennac]

If you want a flying character, Raptorans, which are detailed on http://crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf , are good from level 10 onwards (they are a bit limited before then, and they can't fly at all before level 5).

[Tsotha-lanti]

Potion of fly 750 gp
Winged boots 16,000 gp
Cloak of the bat 26,000 gp
Wings of flying 54,000 gp

All infinitely better than taking any LA to be able to fly at will.

[Starbuck_II]

I was looking at ways to make martial characters less sucky. In particular, the biggest problem i came across was Spellcasters who fly. How do i get around that? The answer came to me in the half-dragon template. become a big creature, grow some wings, no more flying wizard bothering you.

then i thought back to an old half-ogre charger build i had, and i was wondering.

can you charge in flight?

and i guess cause i have to know, is the half dragon template worth the 4 levels of no BAB or saves? and explain why.

I'd rather have 6 levels have Warlock and fly with Good/perfect manuverability at will than average as a 1/2 Dragon at will.

You lose 2 more levels, but you gain 4-5 BAB.

[Draz74]

I love getting nonmagical flight on my melee characters through Winged or being a Raptoran, but we're all missing the most direct answer to the OP's question: magical flight. (Edit: ninja'd somewhat!)

Have the arcanist cast Fly on you, or the cleric cast Air Walk. Mid-levels, buy Winged Boots. At high levels, upgrade to a Phoenix Cloak (MIC, similar to Wings of Flying but a little more efficient with your money).

If you're worried about getting dispelled a lot, go back to the nonmagical plan. But most groups, in my experience, do just fine with the magic version.

And yes, you can charge while flying, though some DMs may rule, if you are flying by magic and without wings, that you can only charge if you are moving downwards during the charge. (That much is explicitly allowed.)