I think things like that are fine! I've played in games where I've totally understood a DM doing it because of things like that - if flight doesn't work for the vibe and style of play you're imagining then it shows you put thought into it unlike people who just put out blanket bans on things for no reason! 😊
@@StephaniePlaysGames The only thing I put a blanket ban on is resurrection spells, and only because I’ve designed a few quests to take the place of them. An epic race against time to save your companion is better than just casting a simple spell and erasing all that dramatic tension
Session 1: a bundle of post-war Brooms of Flying fall off the back of a wagon into the hands of the PCs Session 2: the PCs use illegal Broom Racing to earn petty cash and cover for a caravan heist. SESSION 8: FAST AND FURIOUS MEMES blended with Silverhawks lore
For sure! Ground traps and puzzles aren’t the only kind that there are though - glyph triggered ones (I think another person even mentioned them in the comments) are a great way to surprise someone who thinks they’re not at risk for example
Also if the ceilings are low enough above the floor/ground traps they may need to make a check (probably Dex/Acrobatics or Athletics) to make it across with the minimal room they have to spread their wings.
Good points! I'm addicted to house rules, so I went with this. Gave them cool things to do with their wings before full flight kicked in at lvl 5. -Glide: At level 1, when you fall at least 10 feet above the ground while not incapacitated, you can extend your wings to glide horizontally a number of feet equal to half the distance you fall (to a maximum of 30 feet), and you take 0 damage from the fall. You determine the direction of the glide. -Limited Flight: At level 3 you gain a fly speed equal to your walking speed. However if you are still in the air at the end of your turn you fall (but you can still glide). -Flight: At level 5, you can fly as written in the species description.
I agree. One thing I make clear when I DM is that the world reacts naturally to what you do. If flying or whatever strategy is too good eventually people will develop better and better counters for it, or they will start using the strategy themselves.
Lol, after watching countless dnd videos they almost aways boils down to, "talk to your players". I like your take on this. Be flexible, and enjoy watching what the players will do with the power of flight. Great vid!
😂 They really do end with that almost every time! Honestly in my experience it's because 1) I personally know some GMs that are very reactionary and don't think about just having a honest and normal conversation about their concerns and 2) we all know players that make weird choices to try to make ttrpgs not fun for everybody else at the table (whether _they_ realize they're doing that or not is an entirely different story). I just think places like reddit scare newer GMs away *from* being a normal person and talking to their players because we tend to assume people giving the advice know what they're talking about - _especially_ in more rules dense games like D&D!
@@StephaniePlaysGames Agreed, you and many of the other ttrpg tubers are trying to take the antogonism away from gaming table. We need to get away from the mind set that it's GM's vs gamers. FYI I am enjoying your channel. Your takes are interesting and I hope you continue to grow.
My last campaign I allowed flight on 3 of my PC’s races. There were a few problems. The 4th PC, the non flyer, felt a bit invalidated and like they couldn’t engage in most encounters, explorations especially, in nearly as interesting or effective of a way. They also automatically ended up being the target of any ground based enemies who didn’t have ranged attacks which was frustrating for them. The other big thing that came up for me was that flight was limiting to my encounter designs. Exploration and scouting became considerably easier for the party, but combat was the bigger problems. Unless the party was underground or in a very limited height space it became a requirement that all encounters needed to have enemies with ranged attacks/spells/flight or some combination of the three other wise there wasn’t a reason to roll dice at all the party just auto won the fight. I don’t know how closely you have looked at monster stat blocks, that might not be the focus of the channel this being my first time, but it meant that without modifying them, most of the stat blocks of official monsters were just taken off the table. Like I would wager around 50% of them. And that just strikes me as a sad thing. I would to use a chained attack Otyugh unleashed by a martial warlord human against my party, but they would kite it and kill it without ever taking a hit. Don’t get me wrong, I worked around it in my campaign, but it did make my job harder as a DM.
Oh man! Yeah if I had 3 players that wanted to fly and 1 that didn’t, that would *absolutely* become a group discussion because that was supposed to be “Oops All Wings”. And you’re right - if you’re by the book AND only using a set amount of potential monsters it’s much harder. I run much looser combat - so I can add a ranged effect to pretty much anything I want on the fly 🤷♀️ I plan on doing a video on how I run combat soon so maybe that’ll be helpful!
I appreciate when a commenter is willing to disagree with the content of the video, especially when adding concrete points to the discussion. Thank you.
Yeah I have a lot of reservations about flying, too. And this commenter points out a big one. And that is that the vast majority of D&D monsters don't have any way at all to deal with flying combatants that have ranged attacks. Especially at the levels most D&D games take place at (1st-7th). So I think one simple way to look at this is just to simply consider flying as a second tier of play (5+) ability. Sure, a character or party that flies is simply going to wipe the floor with something like a group of orcs. But they would do that anyway. So this gives them a means to simply bypass most basic encounters and have fun with the more meaningful and challenging ones appropriate for their levels. Flying for first tier characters is still OP and will lead to problems. But at least this line of thinking means that it's not off the table in general. Low level characters with access to any mid-level ability (such as fireball) is always going to be problematic. Flying is just one of many.
Yeah, once everyone can fly except one character, it turns from "someone has a cool ability" to "someone is missing an essential ability". I would probably give the one character Boots Of Flying or a flying broom, or a giant fly mount or something, to make sure they aren't left out. As for encounters, it does seem like a flying party requires a game catered to their ability to fly, but that's where discussing it in advance comes into play. Maybe that's when you do a campaign set around flying islands, where people have different technological and magical methods of flying like airships and jetpacks. Or i would alternate between encounters in confined spaces, and encounters with flying and ranged enemies. You could also have environmental hazards like strong winds, or magical effects that make flying risky. You can fly if you want but at the end of the turn make a dex save or fall and take fall damage... It definitely adds another thing to consider on top of the standard stuff when prepping...
My High Seas campaign I run has an Air Genasi PC that I've given a feature reward to (whole separate topic). He can cast Fly 1/day for free. Because it is limited, it definitely allows him to feel like the character fantasy is validated and have awesome moments, but it is not overbearing for every encounter's balance. I'm definitely a proponent of limited flight. Always-on flight from level 1 is something that can feel intrusive. As you've pointed out; there are ways to deal with it, but the problem many people have is that over half of DnD enemies are melee-only which means either the flying PC dominates the majority of possible encounters, or you have to edit enemies (which can feel targeted if you're not an expert at balancing) or go digging through options to find options that can take on the flying Warlock raining down eldritch blasts.
My 5e party weirdly hasn't messed around with flying hardly at all and they're about to hit level 7, but based on how my Mork Borg campaign went with the same players, flying allows for a lot of really fun and creative problem solving for both players and GMs. One of my players in the MB campaign was a class called a Pale One that could start with the ability to fly at character creation, and his favorite thing to do was glide around and try and drop a bear trap he fished out a well on enemies. He also loved scouting ahead, but learned very quickly that since he was alone up in the air, he was alone with whatever he ran into. Not even talking about exploring dungeons that aren't big enough to fly in, I believe that if for some reason my entire party was able to fly or teleport as a group, it would just signal to me as the GM to start designing dungeons and encounters around that, in both directions. One to reward them for taking this option as a group, and one to let them know it's not a "solve the dungeon" button. Outdoor locales will have archers, battlements, and basements. Indoor locales aren't 100% giant chasms and atriums, and magical foes will be ready with all sorts of spells to knock you out of the air. But generally speaking, my players are varied enough in their preferences that they'd never coincidentally become a group all capable of flying at once and the drawback of separating yourself from the party is deterrent enough. A lot of people feel afraid of just the potential that they could be saddled with a party full of flyers out of the blue, on game day, when all they have prepared is a dungeon consisting of nothing but jumping puzzles, but in practice it's normally not that black and white. And we can't forget the famous saying "encounter design doesn't stop after initiative is called."
Ohhh my gosh this is such a good example! I *love* Mork Borg and I've played as a Pale One 😂 (I really want to be an Angelic Punching Bag next time I get to play)! And I agree - players both on the ground and in the sky that wander too far from the rest of the party almost always learn pretty quickly that it's not always the best idea. It's very high-risk, but sometimes that reward _is not_ high enough! I'm glad that you've gotten to experience the fun that comes with flying PCs, I really think they help stretch those GM imagination chops and I live for that shit! Also an "Oops All Fliers" party just sounds so cool!
@@StephaniePlaysGames I absolutely adore Mork Borg, I designed a couple classes myself and even wrote my own Mork Borg adventure that briefly was sold on their Kartellian Vaults website. We're heavily considering going back to Mork Borg or one of its variants after we're done with our 5e game, we miss it so much. :P And now I want to create a dungeon for an all flying party!
I wouldn’t ban flying PCs… but as someone who knows how to fly, I know that it’s not easy to do either. You can add difficulty to flying itself, like landing with a changing cross wind, obscured approach or short takeoff clearance. Even if they can hover, there are difficulties there too. But I also like highlighting their strengths too, so they’ll feel badass
I think it’s fine to play with adding in extra things when it doesn’t just nerf flying! Like you said, they’re still going to have the chance to highlight the upside even if it doesn’t come as easily !
For me is like: - give something for them to do that only they can because they can fly - let them get away avoiding land hazards; after all, it is just one dude in a party of 4 or more - inteligent enemies will probably shoot arrows in them when possible, specially if they are making big impact on combat; but not every ranged enemy and not every combat - and, for a change, once in a while, flying enemies in the villains group; and, more rare, maybe only once to give it a good scare, some enemy with Sap Sting. I think it is as you said, it will be the most fun for everyone if you "shoot the monk"; and that goes for any type of unique feat a party member has. They will be happy and have fun, and you'll be happy because they're happy (and if you are a DM that does not get happy when your players are having fun, there is something wrong there). Fighter of my game uses a homebrew subclass with some cool high jump capabilities. So, as i love making my own battle maps, they always have more than one level. Big rock, a cabin, etc. Something for him to jump to if he wants. And enemies there for him to feel like "i can make it there and be useful getting rid of those enemies that my friends can't". In one combat i put a Ogre Howdah. A DnD official creature. An Ogre with a platform in his back where 2 to 4 goblins stays and shoot arrows. Because of Ogre size, the goblin can only be attacked by reach weapons. Or by a specific fighter with a subclass that allows him to make big jumps :) Discovering that creature existed and getting excited to use it because it will be cool for my player surpasses any "extra prep" fatigue i could have with this. The same goes for making maps etc.
I love this! I totally agree - giving players the chance to shine and show off makes them _so_ happy - why deprive them of that? 🤨 It doesn't mean nothing is ever challenging! And like you said - things can both highlight their features AND still be hard! (Also I had no idea about Ogre Howdah's and they look SO COOL! I can't wait to put one of those in a game! 😍)
Great advice! I don't have a specific name for the idea, but for the past few decades i have made an intentional point of targeting the weaknesses of the party and individual PCs. But also leaning into their strengths. An example that still has some value in 5e is the wizard getting fireball at level 5. After spending four levels as the weakest party member who occasionally has the right spell at the right moment to turn the battle, they get fireball. Now its time to put a bunch of low level monsters in fireball formation, and let the wizard kill them all, or at least those that fail the save. But not just any low level monsters. I make a note of which low level monsters almost killed the party, or at least knocked a character, preferably the wizard below zero HP. The satisfaction and joy at getting revenge and showing off the incredible power of fireball lights up even an experienced players face.
Yes, I totally agree! Would this be Slicing Your Monks? 🤔😂 I always think of it in terms of story upbeats and downbeats, you need both! Variety is the spice of life!
І do stupid tactical chose in a part if a monster or even allowed escape fight all together for my players. However the rule of cool is need to be adjusted for challenge. Something my bosses have a several stage so the player can't dispatch them in firs round.
my entire party are str based martial characters and its made so many skill challenge situations amazing, but im sure if one of them could fly it would be just as good
My issue with flying ancestries isn't that they can fly, it's that they can fly from level 1. To me, the first tier of play where the more mundane world and classic pulp adventure tropes like crossing a chasm or scaling a cliff come into effect. Level 1 flight allows characters to bypass a lot of class dungeon design elements and I think they miss out on a lot potential drama because of that. Once they hit level five and have more ready access to fly and other magics of that power level, chances are the types of adventures they are going on have changed so flight from that point doesn't bother me as much then. But I have the same feeling about the teleport spell. The game fundamentally changes once players can teleport as they have the option to just bypass large sections of travel and any drama or danger that would come along with that.
See - I think that's one of those exceptions that's totally fine! I know _so_ many players would agree to temporarily nerf flying if you're running a more gritty/pulp adventure and want them to get that experience of having to really earn cool moments. I think the advice to new GMs to ban/nerf it across the board is so silly though - I play in tons of different types of games but I tend to run very high fantasy (feywild, mythology, etc) based games where flying is totally fine - it's just like any other strong ability. And so far most of my players interested in flying ancestries have been rangers - they deserve something extra cool 😂
@@StephaniePlaysGames Yeah banning flight permanently makes no sense other than as an overcorrection from the POV of "oh the rules say this ancestry can fly from level 1 and I don't like that so I'll ban it rather than change it".
Also monsters. Does it make sense the monsters in the bar have arrows? or the ones in the Dungeon? Mostly my issue comes to combat. For example if the PCs are going after magmin, what do you add with them that can do ranged damage that makes sense for a low level party? Not to mention half the fun of the encounter is the magmin can explode, so if you have flying PCs, you ignore a major part of the encounter.
@@Wiredj Thanks for the kind words! I have pretty bad ADHD so I edit for what my brain likes to see 😂 I will try to be kinder to those without Bad Brain Syndrome and keep that in mind for future videos!
My first PC was an aarakocra rogue in Lost Mines of Phandelver. It was super fun being able to fly, but was rarely OP because of just how much of that campaign is in caves lol
In AD&D and in 3e there were useful rules for maneuvering in flight, but 5e seems to be very rules lite on flying. Maneuverability would be a good way imo to add some real challenge to flight, especially when you factor in conditions like wind speed and direction. I mean, your average pc weighs a lot more than a bee but a whole lot less than most planes, and the humanoid body isn't necessarily aerodynamic. So under stressful conditions, they will definitely struggle at least as much as a bird in a storm. Also, if they have natural wings, they'll have to preen. A LOT. Birds aren't filthy creatures, they're extra clean; they have to be to fly.
😂 I’d love to be the GM who instates preen checks. And I totally agree- I think having some maneuvering rules is a totally fine way to add challenge to flying without nerfing it! 😊
The silliest thing I saw about flying characters is the "tactic" of lifting an enemy into the air and dropping them for fall damage, which quickly stops working if you just remember that carrying capacity exists and even your barbarian will struggle to lift a well built city guard wearing a chainmail.
I agree for a typical DND campaign. In those type of games, I allow all PC species. I really like the end of your video. I think that’s really solid device for any PC ability that you have concerns about. Good work and keep it up.
Thanks for the kind words! 😊 I think vast majority of players don’t want to “break” the game, they want everyone to have fun! If we talk to them like the human beings they are before any issues we’re worried about pop up, 99% of them are incredibly understanding. Imagine that! 😂
One of the players ran a Pixie character for a campaign. Perhaps the most overt thing I did was provide the PC with some giant bats (re-skinned Winter Wolves) to fight while the rest of the party dealt with a somewhat suped up Werewolf. Later in the campaign, he flew down a corridor and tripped a glyph which did a lot of damage to the party. If he hadn't flown through, they could've found the glyph fairly easily and dispelled it.
Heck yeah! That’s a great way to give them an equal combat challenge and still make use of traps! I can never understand why people act like ground traps are the only kind! 😂
The issue I had with flying in my game was that the power gamer made a goblin artificer with a broom of flying that could fit in nearly any reasonably sized space (and would argue forever if he wasn't able to), and had ridiculous stealth due to his goblin heritage, and only ever flew, and he went out of his way to negate a ton of challenges just by flying ahead. So then it was an issue of challenging just him, or having to force solutions to challenges that required more than one party member, even if it didn't feel natural narratively appropriate. As a person who runs narrative games that don't focus on strictly mechanical challenges, it sucked the joy out of planning and running the game for me. I won't outright outlaw flying in my games, but I do side-eye players who demand it, because that tends to be the player who wants to just cheese everything, and i won't tolerate that kind of player in my games anymore.
I spent years trying to talk one my regular GMs into allowing flying PCs and I always failed. Somehow after over 20 years as a GM he's still convinced that a flying character won't feel as threatened as their ground walking companions. And I gave up.
Also, if they are deliberately trying to cheese specific builds like "Spell Sniper + Eldritch Lance" for hundreds of feet of range then playing like an orbital laser, Maybe give the enemies some canopy cover so they have to be a certain distance from trees or you have disadvantage against them. Or the enemy faction has started putting roofs over their watch towers. So you can snipe still, but have to think more about your positioning. Give the player challenges to overcome that let them change up their gameplay. But that's still likely to upset someone deliberately building for that. It's one of the few times I'm tempted to just say "no" because their goal is exploiting a combo. I get wanting to have a power fantasy, but that's specifically a fantasy that's disruptive. Like casting darkness on your weapon and having Devil's Sight. It really screws over the rest of your party if they don't also take that ability. Too disruptive.
@StephaniePlaysGames so 2 of 2 flying characters died in the first 2 sessions of my new campaign... one of them because they lost consciousness at 30ft in the air... splat. My players have now sworn off flying characters. 😅
I have some great ways I've found to moderate flight in combat and at lower levels. However, I have found flying characters are especially difficult to moderate with problem players.
For sure! Aaaand that’s exactly why I hardcore vet the people who sit at my tables 😂 There are people that I’d love to play board games with but would be miserable playing TTRPGs with.
You took the words right out of my mouth dms are so afraid to give players the opportunity to actually use their strengths I’ve seen soo many times where no one shoots at the monk or the rouge can’t stealth or how you won’t let players fly it makes no sense
Right! 😂 Like there should be up and down beats just like in real life - sometimes they’ll struggle with things, other times they’ll get to have a blast doing really awesome things! I don’t know why some people are so adversarial about group play 🤨
There's also the issue of, well, how flight actually works with most animals. Unless we're talking about hummingbirds and some insects, the flyer just can't stop and hover. It has to keep flying in a given direction. Hitting targets with a bow precisely while doing a flyby, especially if the bow is fired from arms that are attached to the wings doing the flying, is hard. And they also can't turn on a dime. Take a look at how 2e handles aerial combat with its maneuverability classes if you want to inject a bit of realism into your game. The players might damn well decide to fight on the ground most of the time. 😂
Of course characters should be able to fly in a superhero game, like 5e. Practically every one of the Justice League and most of the Avengers can fly. Every goblin tribe in my campaign as a king on a giant bat, laughing maniacally and throwing pumpkin bombs! Excelsior!
If they’re flying over the forest looking for bandits, those trees get in the way. A tree trunk doesn’t conceal half as well as the canopy does. The smoke from a campfire dissipates before it gets above the canopy of the trees. It has to be a really big fire to see smoke at any distance. Wings cause armor to cost more and encumbrance sucks for flying. Races like the aarakocra don’t have arms, so their combat changes entirely when flying, but at least they can wear a backpack. AD&D 2nd had all of the rules for flying characters laid out. They were just the right level of hindrance to compensate for what you could do. That got lost somewhere between then and 5e. I once played a half-celestial goblin who could fly, but almost never did because he was trying to avoid attracting attention. After dying and finding himself in the upper planes instead of the lower planes, he promptly escaped. The DM loved the backstory idea so much that he let it fly, pardon the pun. Just the idea of Elysium, home to most of the nature gods, being a prison to a lonely goblin druid was just too delicious to let that 60’ flight speed get in the way, even though he usually prohibited flying characters. Let them fly. Adapt your game. There are drawbacks to every advantage.
I love that you've played one! I was really shocked at how judiciously my players used their powers of flight and I'm glad you've experienced the upsides/drawbacks! That sounds like SUCH a cool character and as a DM I would've greenlit it too 😊 You can almost always tell who just wants to power game vs who really thought about a character concept and story based on the backstory alone haha
Not to be rude but... uhmm... "Wings cause armor to cost more and encumbrance sucks for flying. Races like the aarakocra don’t have arms, so their combat changes entirely when flying, but at least they can wear a backpack. " They do have arms... are you thinking of the correct race?
@@TierDvik They have four limbs. Are you sure you’re thinking of the right race? Aarakocra have manipulating digits in the middle of their wing, with the two small fingers away from the thumb being the bones in the outer half of the wing. They fly the same way bats do only they retain manipulating digits, whereas all of a bat’s fingers form the wing. That creates a difficulty in wearing armor, because the wing is skin that attaches along body from the tips of their “flight fingers” all the way to the small of their back. Any armor they wear has to accommodate the full range of motion of the wings. We dealt with this back in AD&D 2nd edition, when Aarakocra was first added as a playable race for Dark Sun.
@@TierDvik And as for encumbrance, you probably don’t have the maneuverability classes for flight in 5e. A hummingbird is a maneuverability class A. A flying squirrel is a maneuverability class D or E. Encumbrance was unencumbered, light load, moderate load and heavy load. The encumbrance that slowed most characters walking reduced the maneuverability class of flying creatures. A heavily encumbered aarakocra would be an E or F maneuverability, meaning they could pretty much only glide. Sure, they moved their full movement, but because they were devoting so much to staying in the air, they had trouble turning and they lost altitude for every 5’ forward they moved. I had a buddy who played an aarakocra in a Dark Sun game. One of his favorite tricks was to drop my halfling fighter/thief on rooftops, but he had to drop most of his gear to do it. I had to drop mine too. In one particularly memorable session, I escaped by climbing up when the guards were trying to stop me from coming down. All he had to do was get me off that roof and back down to street level a couple of blocks away so we could get out of the city. The rules were tough, but he made it work.
@@almitrahopkins1873 I think I found the issue. They are not the same as the Dark Sun ones. The only ones that do not have arms are Aarakocra of Coliar. All others have 2 legs, 2 arms and 2 wings. Your information is outdated sadly. Not a bad thing, play what makes you happy. But when discussing this as modern DND you must use the modern version. As far as encumbrance yeah. But the issue is flight on players characters unless ALL of them have it... or its extremely limited in usage... makes a massive issue for the game. One player is either just far more capable if he is the only one with flight, or one player without is useless. Its a case of all or none is really the only way to go.
"Shoot your monks." ... ... ... Uhmmm you mean because they are close combat specialists, just spam them with missile attacks so they die without having a chance to use their abilities. ... ... ... This is what went through my head, and I was so confused, because it didn't sound at all like advice you would give. Now I did watch the video, so I know what you were actually going for. On the other hand if you wanted to target monks, sniper attacks or archery companies launching flights of arrows at them would be effective methods. But that isn't the point of the video. The point of the video was flying characters. Specifically characters that are of a race which has a natural flight ability. ... Which was not what I was expecting, I figured this was about characters flying through magical means, so that is a completely different topic altogether. I have never run, or played in, a game where flying humanoid races were common enough that this would even be a thought. This just isn't something that I have ever even considered. The question of mechanics, or if the ability was problematic, isn't the first thing that comes to mind. The first question that would have to be answered about a PC from a flying race, would be "Where did they come from?" followed closely by "Why are they here?" then the ever popular "How freaked out are the local yocals?" since humanoid flying races aren't a common thing. I actually had a situation in one campaign were this would have become a question regarding some NPCs, but things never progressed very far in that direction before the group fizzled out. While there are advantages to flight, there are also limits, and risks, and as long as everyone recognizes this, and is willing to deal with it, I don't see running a game with a PC of a flying race as problematic. Note I tend to run games that heavily feature dungeon crawls so a flying PC may have limited chances to shine, or have to be more creative.
Haha I remember the first time I heard the phrase I was confused too 😂 I definitely play in settings where there aren't flying humanoids and where they don't fit the flavor of the world! I think it's absolutely fine when people don't just allow any type of ancestry because it shows they put thought and effort into crafting the world. I run a lot of homebrew feywild stuff so there are actually several flying humanoids that exist and it makes sense that they're there - so to me banning those would be silly since they'd run into a bunch of NPCs like this! I think you're absolutely doing it the right way - which is putting thought and intention into your choices! 😊
The only time when flying seems actually broken, is when you are fighting a bunch of land-locked melee-only monster. But that's not a problem with flight, that's a problem with encounter/monster design.
That’s exactly how I feel! I remember reading through all of the reasons to ban flying ancestries and getting very confused because … I’m the one that designs the encounters so I can just not screw myself over? 😂
That's almost all of the Monster Manual. You can say that is the designers fault, for making most monsters like real-world creatures (no flight or ranges attack), but I think that is unreasonable. The problem is with adding a game-breaking supernatural ability that trivializes 2 of the 3 pillars of the game unless the GM works super hard to overcome it by catering to and challenging that/those players.
Not only can I say it's the designers fault, I will go on the record for doing it. The amount of monsters that are trivialized by the simplest of strategies (Moving & Shooting) is absolutely perplexing! Horse Archers, the Expeditious Retreat spell, even Wood Elves with their 5' bonus speed can absolutely trivialize basic melee brutes while literally running circles around them. Fortunately, they are rewriting the Monster Manual as this conversation is happening! Monsters from modern books tend to be much better designed.
I was DMing a campaign that eventually led the PCs to Icewind dale. Two of them were flying fairies. But it was so cold that they had to wear heavy skin coats. They were alien to the region so there were no fairy compatible clothes and it was very fun to play. Still, there was a challenge were they climb a wall and after failing twice, she dramatically dropped her coat and flyed. It was glorious.😂
I've seen games where people can teleport at level 1. Flying isn't a big issue for me. I've had flying PCs in four of my last five campaigns, and the only one I have where no one can fly just started. Then again I've let my players cast Earthquake in a spaceship, so I may not be the best example of limiting player power.
Here's my go-to list of things to occasionally throw at flying PCs. 1. Drop Bears. There's a dozen stat blocks that fill this niche. Giant spiders, cloakers, chokers, dark mantles, ropers, etc... Put them on your dungeon ceilings and in your forest canopies and drop them on the PCs. Dark Souls games do it all the time. 2. Put pit traps on the ceiling and fill them with reverse gravity wells. Dex save or your flyer hits a gravity well and falls 60 feet upwards onto stalagtites. 3. Ranged attacks. Always mix up encounters by adding ranged and melee enemies. I told a guy to do the third one once, and he fired back with, "I'm not ruining my game by giving all the wolves crossbows!" I just had to laugh. Why are random wolf packs fighting heavily armed and armored humanoids to the death? That's not a behavior any wolf has ever exhibited. You smack a wild animal with a sword once, and it's going to run away. I don't care how many times a random table throws 3d6 wolves at a party. I never use generic real-world animals in fights. When I use those stat blocks, they come with a twist. They're mounts and at least a few of them have saddles and pixies or imps on their backs who use fireball and tiny arrows. They have breath weapons because they've been twisted or enhanced by something the players need to investigate. They're Awakened, working for the Big Bad, and smart enough to have staged Ewok style traps that will cause trouble to both flying and non flying PCs. They're twisted far realm abominations disguised as wolves and bears, and they summon 1d6 Fathomless Warlock tentacles per PC each round as a bonus action. 4. Wingspan. If your flying PC is medium-sized, then their wingspan is probably too wide for them to actually fly through the standard ten by ten dungeon corridor. Give them a reason to play small characters some of the time. 5. Artificers. Have the party fight the occasional mad scientist with minions wearing mechanical wings. Give the party artificer blueprints for wing suits that give the non flying PCs the manta glide ability from the simic hybrid. Hell, be a cool the DM and run a Sky Pirates campaign where the party starts with an airship and flying mounts.
All of these are great suggestions! Also I love the fact that that guy said that “wolves with crossbows” bit 😂 that kills me but is simultaneously so annoying!
1-2 seems unlikely to happen as I would definitely be flying near the ceiling. The gravity well just screams "I am screwing with you because your PC can fly, I really didn't want you to take flying so now I'm going to mess with you until you change characters." 4. I think the rules don't allow for that because you are medium you are within a 5ft. space. Sure it makes since your wings leave that space, but the rules don't seem to indicate they do.
@bradleyhurley6755 1. That's what perception checks are for. If you're flying so close to the ceiling that you auto succeed all perception checks for drop Bears, then you are going to scrape and bump into stalagtites and start taking bludgeoning damage. 2. Gravity traps on the ceiling are for dungeons created by mad wizards. They get used alongside gravity traps at ground level that shift the gravity ninety degrees to the side without warning. 4. No. Wingspan is a function of height contrasted with weight. The wingspan on a medium sized creature will always be double the distance between their fingertips when their arms are held straight out to either side. If your wings work then they need to be a minimum size. If you're gonna make a "rules as written" argument that idiotic I'm going to either hit back with so many giant spiders and Web spells that you'll be grounded anyway, or just say the cave or dungeon doesn't have enough flowing air to support your flight and everyone has to make periodic con saves as if they were at super high elevations.
@@CitanulsPumpkin yeah I would just think you are being a jerk at that point. The rules specifically state a medium sized creature is within a 5ft box.
@@bradleyhurley6755 What's so hard to understand? There are consequences and trade offs to all player choices. If you choose to play a wizard then there will be spell scrolls and wizard tomes in the loot pool more often than for parties without wizards. The consequence of playing a wizard is the party may run into more wild magic and anti magic zones than if they lacked a wizard. If you choose to play a monk then the first waterfall or rope bridge the party comes across is going to have a master of some school or style who will challenge the monk to a one on one duel. If you choose to play a rogue and you put one of your expertise bonuses in thieves tools then every chest the party comes across will have a lock on it. If you make the choice to play a character with a natural fly speed there will be consequences. There will be some cases where the flyer breezes through a minor obstacle, and there will be other cases where the flyer gets in trouble because they are choosing to isolate themselves from the rest of the party by a minimum of ten to twenty feet. There will be cases where they just can't fly, or they shouldn't fly without taking some precautions and expending some resource.
It's not that they are broken or overpowered, it's that it shifts things around. For some DMs, particularly those who are counting on the shift, it isn't a big deal, for others, it becomes a nightmare. Even moreso if only some PCs can fly and others cannot. The most difficult abilities I've dealt with are ones you don't really consider, like a creature that has nonstandard senses, whether that is scent, detect magic, true sight, etc. Super hard to take under consideration in all of your descriptions.
Flying is high risk/high reward in my view, which is the sort of choices you want your players making. Falling damage, including an instant lost death save if knocked unconscious, is a constant possibility. There's a lot less cover in the sky. And you can forget stealth unless it's foggy or something like that as the higher you go the more distant enemies can see you clearly. Enemies don't really have to be intelligent to counter their flying too, as even insects know to hide under things when exposed with so many birds that eat them. It's true that players could fly over most challenges with flight and GMs could force every fight into narrow tunnels, but it's just important to keep in mind the question Am I making this mechanic or reaction to the mechanic more interesting or less?.
I love 3 dimensional scenarios, so flight has never been an issue. Given that eventually every character can achieve flight, having a few players gain flight at lvl 1 has never been a challenge. Got into several arguments with people that were dead set against flying PC’s, but none of them could articulate why it was a problem except in one edge case in Adventure League when a homebrew race with flight and intangible ignored entire scenarios due to the DM not being willing to adjust the scenarios because apparently that’s not allowed in Adventure League, but a homebrew race was. After I stopped laughing, I pointed out that the example was such an edge case that it demonstrated why flight wasn’t the problem, it was allowing a broken homebrew race the was intangible into a structured league that was the problem for one anonymous DM that probably never existed.
I totally agree! So many of the potential issues are completely under the GMs control so I’m always confused about why people act like they can’t change things to account for flying? 😂 And I think flying PCs have made me think much more dynamically about encounter design even when I don’t have any!
@@StephaniePlaysGames I know, right? They complained about an encounter with wolves being bypassed, I suggested “just add spear throwing goblins riding the wolves”, which got countered with “but you can’t change Adventure League scenarios!” Then don’t play Adventure League?
Flight is not the end all be all. It has a number of disadvantage. A flying creature can not easily benefit from cover or stealth. Flying players can stray too far from their party and get over whelmed. Flying creatures are at the mercy of the weather. Strong winds and harsh rain or snow can count as difficult terrain for flyers. Flyers are at the mercy of ranged attackers. Most creatures can be given a ranged attack either through weapons or spells. Its not uncommon for bandits to have slings, short bows and crossbows. Weapons with the thrown property are also effective. Larger creatures can hurl rocks. If it does not make sense for it to have a ranged attack then use cover and stealth. Enemies can take advantage of the same things players can. Flight usually has some kind of restriction. Either in armor type or number of uses. A DM should always look for subtle ways to burn through a parties resources. Scenarios can be created to eat through limited uses for flight. As for armor type restrictions, as per the rules of flight a character that has their speed reduced to zero, can't move or is knocked prone falls. I believe its as a rate of 10ft a turn, but I might be wrong about that. My point is fall damage exists at a rate of 1d6 per ten feet for a max of 20d6. Magic exists. Earth bind is a second level spell that is tailor made to stop flying creatures. Tasha's hideous laughter can be a death sentence for low level flyers. Same with hold person, sleep, web and levitate. Those are only first and second level spells. Spells like fire ball, bestow curse, lightning bolt, sleet storm, ice storm, banishment, polymorph, resilient sphere, I could go on. There are a large number of spells that can either cripple of out right kill flying targets. Flight is common place in dnd and should only take some minor considerations to counter. Weather, terrain and local wild life are good ways to hinder flyers. If your party starts to abuse their flight then you can always give them a reason to walk. Or start handing out flight to the enemy. If one of your players is a flying race then make that race a more prominent fixture in that part of the world. Having your campaign turn into an air war might but fun.
I'm sorry but I think that limitless flight for players really is problematic. Flight is huge advantage in too many situations and it's not like picking a flying race gives you any drawback. Even if a lot of the campaign takes place indoor it's not like the characters won't have any other ability to fell cool. So players whithout flight might feel less useful, important or strong (especially if they don't have access to magic). Giving up on passive traversal hazards is a lot to ask to a DM that likes enviromental encounters: no object is too far to reach, no tower too tall, no jump too long or chasm too deep for that one player (but it is for the rest of the group). Traversal hazards can be an easy way to force casters to burn slots: the Fly spell only lasts 10 minutes and takes away a fireball from the wizard, so more goblins are left for the barbarain to cleave trough. Also Feather fall, Rope trick, Spider climb, some Wild shape forms and many more thigs become useless if you can just fly on your own all the time. I'm also afraid that I'm going to hear "I fly up/ahead to do [X], what do I see/happens?" every other minute. It's a rational strategy but it splits the party: One player gets to see and do stuff while the rest of the table has to wait (this also applies to high Stealth PCs and people with familiars that want to always scout ahead alone). I don't want to have a "main" character that can get a scene to act in alone anytime they want, one guy that can easily get close to the action while the rest of the table has to tag along, running to catch up or waiting for them to return. Maybe I'm just too afraid that some players might feel bad if I talk to one person more that the others or if they are not dealing as much damage as everyone else. I don't even know if my players would even realize those things are happeing, but when I play I hate feeling like a secondary character and try to make sure no one else does.
See, those are all things I read before I allowed it aaaand - basically none of them were really all that relevant as fears for me and any of my groups so far. Like I said in another comment - some campaigns that are more gritty/grimdark/realistic of course won't have flight - they're the ones that are most likely to have these types of concerns. But for the rest of us? It's a good ability - but so is rage, and channel divinity, and smite 🤷♀️ And yeah - when players are interested in flying they're usually telling you they want to be good at scouting things and dealing with environmental hazards. That doesn't mean there's no challenge - especially if they're traveling with players that can't deal with them. Now _they_ have an opportunity to try to help them past - maybe between the other players skill checks they can investigate for rope, etc. Or it's a great opportunity to showcase dangers of splitting the group if they're doing it too often. I've had players pull of really cool thing utilizing flying and spider climb and other things _together_. Because again, these are a group of adventurers, not just one person dealing with tiny inconveniences. Also worrying about people using flying to constantly scout ahead means you also probably need to nerf your rangers and rogues - because I have most of them go to scout ahead of their groups in games without flying PCs. Just like any other action, you ask them to roll, and then you can extend the rolls to the rest of the party to see what they notice - maybe the flying person couldn't see through the thick foliage but the rogue at the back noted they're being tailed. This fear around flying players being the focus is more about not understanding how to help players share the spotlight than anything. And again, sometimes experience is the best way to deal with players that split the party. Sure, they might find out what happens, but maybe they're ambushed. If it's a player you've talked with about abusing flight and it's become an issue - they can sit there quietly in ambush jail while you play out time with the rest of the party until they discover the flying PC is missing. That's boring and they'll see how it feels. You're the DM, so you control where the spotlight is and how much time is spent on something. And just because they go ahead to scout to see if there's any bandits doesn't mean nothing is happening in the meantime near the rest of the group. But again, most of this is solved by being upfront with the player and telling them your concerns and seeing what parts of flying they're interested in. A lot of the advice about flying out there is just very fear based. I've had several flying PCs with no issues other than me slipping up once in a while and not seeing how a creative player could more quickly solve something with flight. But I think it's awesome when they thwart a plan of mine, and it almost always involves teamwork between the flying PC and someone else's cool ability. I think DMs just need to learn to trust their ability to be creative and fun and switch to a more _opportunity_ based style of thinking. After all, Superman couldn't solve everything with flight, nor could Iron Man, nor could Daenerys and her dragons. Once you go through past games and think about how many things it *couldn't* solve or could only slightly improve, it really helps make that shift.
@@StephaniePlaysGames The video is an effective push that says "You are overthinking it, other players won't mind and will have fun regardless" and it's a hard pill to swallow for me. I know am insecure about my DMing, that's the root it. I don't know my current group as much as they do each other because I joined last as the sibling of friend of friend. I doubt they'd tell me what they think is going wrong to my face, and asking "Did you have fun?" at the end of a session was a guaranteed "Yes, it was fine". I've played before in games that sometimes made me feel like I said in the other comment and I stayed quiet because I'd rather play "good enough dnd" than risk hurting the DM's feelings telling them I wasn't having fun sometimes. I am scared the same could be happening when I master. The other thing is that I hate the idea that people could be enjoying the game without realizing that their character is ineffective, that they are just happy to be there and don't mind if another player is doing all the talkling, taking all the decisions or killing every monster on their own. I feel like that if that's the case I'm failing at giving them the true/best dnd experience and they don't know it because they have never had any better.
@@federicoghezzi1261 Well, the problem there has nothing to do with characters being able to fly! 😄The problem is a lack of communication about what the players & GM want out of the game, and what they will or will not enjoy When you ask for feedback on your game, and no one feels comfortable saying: "Actually that combat was kind of a slog, I only got a turn every 45 minutes and I was stunned so couldn't do anything" "I didn't really enjoy the arguments between our characters this session" "that NPC was so fun to roleplay with! we need more of them!" *That* is the problem. There is no ban on player options, no re-write of classes or spells, *nothing* that we can do inside our games that will solve this. But it *can* be solved! It feels awkward initially, but then it gets super easy and my GOODNESS it can lead to a much more comfortable experience for everyone. All you've got to do is park the session for a bit and run an exercise in open, honest communication - if you're already able to run a D&D game, boy howdy you've already got the skills to run this! My suggestion (and all of this is of course a suggestion based on my strong opinions) is to use an online retro board or just a blank map in Roll20, and mark three columns for: 'Things we're loving' 'Things that aren't clicking' 'Things we'd like to see' Give them a few minutes to jot down some things in each column. Some people will feel anxious about giving feedback. Let them know that this is the moment where they can contribute to the game of their dreams, and that nothing will change if nothing is said. Facilitate a discussion - mainly that means making sure no one gets defensive about any topic, that you're all just *talking* and getting excited about how to make the game better, to get the most fun out of every minute dedicated to this game That's my unsolicited advice, I hope it finds you well 🙇♂
@@federicoghezzi1261 One of my favorite things to do is send out an anonymous questionnaire every handful of sessions! It can absolutely be hard when you know people will definitely put up with “good enough D&D” - I’ve been there too! Pointy Hat actually has a really great format for asking players questions like this, the anonymity really is key because some people don’t like having what they perceive as hard conversations!
@@armorclasshero2103 I absolutely have. As the GM you literally have all tools at your fingertips, so learning to deal with different types of players is part of it 🤷♀️
Seriously, flight is not a big problem. Just take that into account for your planning. Usually fliers need space to fly, in a dungeon corridor they won't have the room to fly, so they will have to walk. Most creatures cannot remain airborne indefinitely. Flying for prolonged periods will exhaust you just like running for prolonged periods. Flying characters are often isolated from their friends. A hold spell on a flier drops them like a stone. If the flyer takes a rope across a chasm, they will be all alone when whatever is waiting on the other side leaps on them. If the flying character is buzzed by a pair of wyverns, their ground bound friends are not going to be able to offer much aid. Utilised properly, flying makes both Gamemasters and players more creative. I've been playing the rpg Earthdawn for 2 1/2 decades now, and one of their core races you can play starts with the ability to fly. It isn't gamebreaking, you just have to take it into account.
I came here to say "Yes" "Finally someone gets it" and proceeded to agree with most of your video until you suggested the DM share with their player how they might be concerned and might give the flyer a broken wing until players can get 'fly' etc etc.. so which is it? Is fly harmless or no? I'd say no need to circle back (so long as the player doesn't meta game and abuse the flying) and no need for temporary nerfs or gates, just allow flying. Flying could be common in your world. Or, flying could be rare and that's the one thing that make the PC unique and cool. Or, make it like you said where it isn't super common but also isn't rare and enemies probably know how to deal with it, so in that last scenario flying is less novelty or op and more just another dimension of the game that sometimes comes up. So, overall loved your video, but don't compromise like you did at the end! Flying's just cool. PS: Another commenter did make a good point I had to think about though. Other than abusive meta-gamers, the only other time I could see flying not being cool is if everyone in the party and many enemies fly but one player's character doesn't fly. Imagine being in an awesome game that you just have to watch fly by while you don't get to participate. In that case, then yes flying wouldn't be good and you'd either have to give the non-flyer some magic item that gives flying or ground the flyers.. so best to avoid that situation unless you're generous with magic items in games and want an all flying game.
Hey! I think you may have missed some of the context around the broken wing thing. I was saying if you still _don't believe me_ about flying being totally fine even at low levels - *talk to your player* about what you guys might do if you think it's causing issues. That way GMs are more likely to try it out because they're not scared they planned a long campaign where everything will suddenly be invalidated (because as we both know, unless it's a gritty low-fantasy game, it won't be 🤷♀️). It's just an Emergency Exit - you'll probably never use it, but it's there just in case. Because I do 100% agree - flying is really awesome and it's really fun to come up with challenges and triumphs for these PCs! 😊 Also I think in the case of a campaign with literally only 1 non-flying PC I'd either 1) be like "Hey, why don't we change your character to fit this party?" or 2) give them either a really cool magic item that allows flight by the end of that first session or have them come up with a background story reason why they have access to the Fly spell. But I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like if a GM does any planning with their party this would never happen?
When I started playing D&D 7-8 years ago, I heard about how "OP" flying PC's were and I ran with it without thought. Then I became DM and gained a different perspective. Online and in so e groups I've been part of, people would say the same thing and highlight how its even worse at low levels. But then those same DM's throw flying enemies at their players, and I would ask why? What makes a monster different than a player? The ability to fly can be just as crippling to players, so why is it okay to hit players with flying enemies but PC's can't do it themselves? Its neither fair nor fun them.
This was interesting. My thought is that flying adds too much of the supernatural. It's like suddenly the players are superman. I think the more magic you put into a story/game, the harder it is for real people to relate to. The fantasy is that you could almost see yourself doing what's happening in the story, and when people start flying around, you lose that relatability. It might be fun for the players if they want to see the game as a video game, but if they're seriously interested in roleplaying and connecting emotionally with their character, I think taking flight kills that.
Yeah! I think it’s fine to not include flying races if you’re going for realism. I run more high fantasy settings and give my players options for theme appropriate flying ancestries (like Owlin for the feywild). When you give your players options that make sense in the setting, flying doesn’t hurt roleplay one bit.
It's down to the energy you have to cater to one player. Shooting the monk involves the bad guys already in the campaign. Making flying useful but not OP for early levels takes lots more work just to cater to one player. If you do the extra prep and you all have a great game, that's fine. If you don't want to do the extra prep and just tell the players no flight species that's also fine.
Honestly I’ve rarely had to even changed any enemies I’ve used - those enemies just now also have arrows as a weapon option or that monster has an effect that has some range on it 🤷♀️ Once I wasn’t so freaked out about it ruining my game I realized that it takes 5 seconds to do that stuff, not to mention all of the non-combat things flying doesn’t help with at all
@@StephaniePlaysGames1) That's purely combat. If your games are mostly combat, fine. It's already evident in a "shoot the monk" approach that already you can't run prolonged dungeons with a flyer as its a straight nerf. You can't do climbing and leaping challenges to the same extent. You can't do tracking challenges anywhere near as well. 2) Are your players not nerfing minions by dropping directly down onto casters? Are your players not nerfing extra attacks by flying in and out of reasonable range?
@@StephaniePlaysGames I agree you shouldn't freak out about it as it's totally doable. Saying it's 5 seconds to adjust is not true for every campaign (especially published adventures) and not for every player group, as some will automatically use flying in the optimal tactical way.
Thank you for this video! I’ve been trying to make people understand this very simple ideas for a while, yet they won’t listen. Maybe now they will, who knows 😅
I think so much of it boils down to experience! That's literally why I almost did it - *so* many people give this advice that I thought they obviously knew and understood something I didn't! But I've had several flying PCs now with no issues (other than my occasional absentmindedness not realizing something could be easily solved by flight - but I chalk that up as a creative player win! 😂).
F§$% R. Kelly ;P A am GMing sytems with a lack of flying characters. But if my players wanted to have flying characters who am I to stopp them from living their fantasy. If it would get annoying I would just talk to them, that they pretty please should stopp bothering me or else .. like a normal grownup person would handle that situation 😸
As soon as I realized he wrote that song I was SO MAD 😂 Gotta drop boulders on people sometimes! And right? I really think that some advice to GMs is so weird! Like you can really just talk to people and let them know how their actions are affecting you - it's okay! That's how friendship works!
When we play trail of equestria : Yes. But they wanted to play as licorns or earth poney. Most classic or pulp fictionnal univers don't have MC that fly. It's truly only asked when playing a super hero game like Marvel Super Heroes or D&D 5e. I don't play those games because I don't like corporation led RPG publications. Btw : Players options is a bad predictor of how good a game is. Most games with dozen of source books end up expensivse and hard to learn. It sells well tho. P.S. : Yes it truly sounds silly to design a TTRPG game as a bunch of QTE where your plyaer have point at their charracter sheet at the right moment. It's not even role playing since the solution is predetermined. Kinda railroady tbh.
Like I said, it's totally fine to not have PCs that fly in settings where it makes no sense for the theme and style of play 🤷♀️ I curate the list of races for each of my games, and I include flying ones where it makes thematic sense (like the feywild). Most advice is to do a complete blanket ban on flying and most GMs follow that advice without any trial and error or thought put towards it because it's repeated so often.
Oh look the evil wizard is in that Tower, so we have to fight through it to reach them. OOOR we could fly to the top where they resides? Oh look we need to throw this MacGuffin into the Fire in enemy territory. Just fly over there and drop it in? Flying on low levels is absolutely broken, since it bypasses many hazards and become untouchable by enemies.
Counterpoint: Why is the evil wizard in a tower when your PCs can fly? Why didn't he hide his lair in a labyrinth of tunnels? Oh look - here's a macguffin that the PCs need to convince Noble McNobleton to give up (or fight them for) so they can bring it as evidence to the council of the atrocities the evil wizard committed. It's a shame flight can't fix that. It's not broken, because we _the GMs_ design the encounters and _don't need_ to make things that would instantly be solved with flight.
@@StephaniePlaysGames Why not? Because the World doesn't exist just to cater to the Players Characters. Say for example the Players hire a flying Adventurer and one of them decided to take over that NPC (or on other note one of the player characters died and that player decided to play a flyer now). Should the Evil Wizard now suddenly move their home from which they were able to do the evil magic the best just because the players now have a flyer?
@@CathrineMacNiel The World isn’t this nebulous and static thing - it’s built and brought to life by the GM. If you designed a bunch of giant adventure arcs that can be easily overcome by flight, that obviously fits into the exceptions I listed right at the start of the video. It’s okay if that’s what you want to play 🤷♀️ Because yeah, you could make an Evil Wizard evading the party and moving his operation underground a ton of fun if you felt like it. It just doesn’t mean that flying is broken if you don’t.
If I get no concentration flight, I can totally break the game... I would never do it, I'm not proud that I can do it, but it's definitely within my powers. 😂 Nice video anyway!
Yeah there’s tons of different ways to break it if a player is insistent on doing that - buttt it’s literally no different than them doing it with any other allowed build 🤷♀️ I’m glad you wouldn’t do it, but for the people that would it’s a player-GM relationship flaw, not a flight flaw!
@@StephaniePlaysGames Flight with no concentration is easily exploitable, so it is a problem by itself, even more on early levels. As a DM I wouldn't allow it freely
@@Bernardonogmo I have and it’s literally cause 0 issues except for a brain blip I had where I forgot said PC could fly 🤷♀️ But that’s on me because I run 3 games and play in 4 and sometimes my brain turns to mush if too many of them overlap
Gravity is a major element in most worlds. Falling from things or into things is a major element of gameplay. Let's look at one of the greatest escape scenes in nerddom: Frodo and the Fellowship fleeing the goblins through the mines of Moria. They're running down those stairs and suddenly the stairway collapses! Can they make the jump? Doesn't matter, Frodo is a cool Arakokra, he just flies over. Gandalf plumits into the darkness, pulled down by the Balrog. Does Frodo scream "NOOOO!!" and we feel that emotional impact? Nope, Gandalf spreads his wings, flies back up, and they move along. And why the hell are they walking to Mordor anyway? This whole quest can be avoided by just spreading their wings, flying over Mt. Doom, and tossing the world's tiniest basketball through the world's largest hoop... there's no great war, there's no heroic moments, Frodo is home in time for dinner and Aragorn doesn't even need to come. I'm sorry, Stephanie, I know you're trying to appeal to the players here who want easy wins over compelling stories, but letting Frodo's player choose "Arakokra" changes the whole 18 hour trilogy to a single after school special with plenty of time for Hot Pockets commercials.
Why did you choose to build and run an encounter for your PC that could simply be overcome by flight? Why didn't they have a str save for falling debris from the ceiling that knocks them prone? Why didn't they have a dex save to see if they could help Gandalf before he plummets? Why does it matter if they fly vs walk - they're going the same speed, it's going to take them the same amount of time to do it? Again - why can they simply fly up and toss the ring into Mt. Doom? Why is there nothing else in the world that will possibly complicate that? How about some epic Nazgul boss battle? I'm sorry that I enjoy creativity in my games and planning compelling stories WITH my players in mind. Just because they have a cool ability doesn't mean that everything is an instant win 🤷♀
@@StephaniePlaysGames If they fly vs walk, they don't have to deal with ANY of the hazards they encounter in the entire journey. They didn't need to save Gandalf because he's also a cool Arakokra. Specifically countering player abilities like dropping rocks on them just because they can fly is exactly the opposite of what you said to do... "shoot the monk." Are you also dropping those rocks on the grounded players? What happens when a half ton rock falls 200 feet onto a half elf? The paradigm over the last few years has been for GMs to never say "no," but to always say "Yes, and." But that's pie-in-the-sky thinking. Your players want to win with as little struggle as possible, because they don't realize that the struggle IS the game. They want to play Halo on godmode, they want to install the cheat-room patch for Skyrim, but all that happens is they find the game boring, because there's no way to challenge a player in godmode. The goal of game design should be to make the players weak, and give them ways to overcome it, not to make them superman and try to find ways to challenge him. Oh, look, more kryptonite, man, are they selling this stuff at the corner store? I appreciate your video, and I appreciate the work you put into it, and I do appreciate your channel. I've been GMing games for more than 20 years at this point, though... players want to be gods, not realizing that gods don't have fun games to play.
@AJBernard I think you’re turning the topic of flying into 20 different things while missing the entire point of this video. You - the GM - create the scenarios. If you don’t want it to be easy, design the scenario in a way where it’s not easy. If you want to give a player the chance to shine, design it in a way where they get a chance to shine. This isn’t a movie, this isn’t a novel, this is a TTRPG. I specifically gave you examples of how you could complicate flying in your LOTR scenario, which is again, a book/movie, not a game of D&D. You wanted the players to have to deal with the staircase crumbling under their feet, so they’d also be making saves like the flying PC dodging rocks. And again - why do they have to get hit by a half ton of rocks??? Also if you really think that all players want is to win with no struggle after 20 years of playing, you either need to find a group that’s actually into playing TTRPGs or you need to reframe things a bit. What people want when they play games is to have _fun_ . Sometimes this means struggling to do something and beating or succumbing to the odds. Other times it means coming up with a really cool and unique idea and passing with flying colors. It’s all about putting obstacles in the way of the PCs and having them attempt to overcome them. The cool thing about Superman is that yeah, he’s super and he can still feel weak and struggle just like any person even without kryptonite. Players want to enjoy their time at their table with their friends, and this can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Like I said right at the top of the video, if gravity is the most important flavor of the type of game you’re running, you don’t have to include flying. But rarely is flying OP in the way they believe it is because we, the GMs, are the ones designing the encounters and the world they’re in 🤷♀️
I think the real issue of flying for DMs is that it limits encounter or setting design. For example, if the DM wants to run an airship campaign or battle where the risk of falling is very real and deadly, then they might ban flying races because it gets in the way of the level of risk.
See, I think this is super scarcity mindset because those flying characters are at just as much risk of falling! Giving someone a ranged attack that could potentially knock them prone if they fail a save or something would take care of that if they really wanted to introduce that risk 🤷♀ And like I said right at the start of this video - if it doesn't fit the theme of the campaign someone wants to run, then don't do it.
The issue that flying characters pose isn't that they ruin the game for the DM, its that they ruin the game for the players. Many DM's will find creative solutions to challenge and reward flying PCs. The issue is that the "true flying speed" options in 5E (Aarakocra, Owlin, Fairy, and Variant Tiefling) all gain flying at little cost, (they all can't use heavy armor and medium armor while flying. RAW the VT can use medium armor). This becomes such a hard choice for the players not to pick you will have some players choosing one of these even if they don't really like them THAT much. It becomes an even larger issue when 3 out of 4 of your players chose flyers, the grounded person is going to get left out, no matter how hard you try (or you give them a magical flying item, and just invalidate everyone's choices anyway). If taking flying came with a drawback that made players weight the options it would be a bit better. I'm also not saying that flying should not be allowed at all. I've never ran DnD game where my players didn't fly at some point, either from spells, vehicles, or magic items. What I am saying is that if you are a new DM running your own game or something like a starter set do not let your players bully you into letting them pick a flying race. If you are a new DM your life will be 100 times easier if you just tell your players that for this adventure we will just be picking from the base choices in the players handbook. The always on flying is for the birds. (also if you do have a power gamer in your group flying is SUPER broken, this is only an issue for like 10% of the players that pick flyers tho, see the rules for dropping things on other things for a taste).
I see a relative capability imbalance when PCs are able to fly from level one. The human wizard can’t do that until they get a 3rd level spell slot (and even then have to forego fireball to use it). So it moves what had been a tier 2 ability down to first level *for some PCs*
This is why I stopped watching Professor DM of Dungeoncraft. His old videos on rules-lite D&D were extremely useful, but moving forward he started posting more and more videos about "BAN FLYING PCS!" and "THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO PLAY D&D AND IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THIS WAY YOU'RE WRONG!" I'll admit that he was molded by earlier editions of the game, but gatekeeping how to play the D&D based on "That's how we've always done it" is poor advice. Long live flying PCs!
Right! Like I _totally_ get it if you’re running low fantasy or gritty/grimdark stuff! But blanket bans are so weird because like you said, there are tons of different ways and styles of play!
I like him well enough. But when he describes his players playing it's like "they run through this area and into the next area and then run from that area" and it's like, is that actually enjoyable for everyone? To skip over everything because there could be a secret timer that just ends the game if you don't get to THE THING.
I unsubscribed from his channel. First of all, he alters core game mechanics (often in ways I don't like) such that it is unrecognizable as D&D. Then, yes-his style of asserting there is only one right way to do things is too obnoxious for me to listen to.
I don't disagree with your larger point: if flying races are allowed at the table, players should be able to pick and enjoy them. However, I've never run a 5e D&D game that allowed anything other than PHB race options, so I've never had the "issue" of a lvl 1 flying PC.
I understand the spirit of this, but I disagree completely. Yes-all problems in gaming can be solved through high level GM skill, great communication and the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!! But that is banal. As a challenge for gaming, flying characters is a top tier issues as it 1) separates the characters and 2) trivializes most of 2 of the 3 pillars of play (UNLESS the hard-working genius GM constantly comes up with ways to challenge the flying PCs yada yada). It's HARD MODE for the GM, and most GM's don't have the GMing skill to handle it well. And most gaming groups don't have the communication and POWER OF FRIENDSHIP to handle it well, either. So while there ARE ways to deal with it, I think that being dismissive of this famously hard GMing challenge was a mistake. But it's just a YT video, so not important.
I mean - in a game that generally requires quite a few social skills I don't think it can be overstated enough that communication is really really important 🤷♀️ Also these are issues of flying creating separation and trivialization are touted as universal truths - but this is really just fear based thinking on the part of a lot of GMs. PCs separate from each other _all the time_ without flight - if you have PCs that are rogues or rangers I guarantee that they'll try it. And then they usually learn through experience why they shouldn't do that. Easy peasy. As for the 2-3 pillars I'm assuming you're talking combat and exploration? Because again, I heartily disagree with that assessment and think it's just been repeated so often that it's taken as gospel which is exactly why I almost fell into that trap. I was literally a first time DM and let a PC choose a flying race and I'm not a genius - it really just took small tweaks to keep things interesting. With combat you literally can reskin tons of things to be flying creatures, not to mention there are casters, arrows, etc. like I mentioned in the video. So that takes all of 2 seconds to create even just basic enemies that can reach them so they can't rain down arrows with impunity. Another totally separate issue is what people think the exploration pillar is vs what it actually is. You're talking about travel which isn't what exploration is (although it can be!). Yes, flight can invalidate a lot of routine, kind of boring travel roadblocks - for the flier. Guess who's friends still need help dealing with them? Yes, flight can help that person scout - guess who still needs to make checks all the same just as if they were a character on foot scouting ahead? So if the DM can't use communication and THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP - that's not flight's fault 💁♀️ And blaming things on flight as opposed to having an opportunity mindset and learning and growing as a GM so that we can make cooler game experiences for ourselves and our friends is doing ourselves a disservice. Again - I actually don't think it's famously hard, I think that people just parrot advice they hear without trying things for themselves.
@@armorclasshero2103 You know that’s not true right? High CR flying creatures have more ranged attacks, higher level abilities and stats. There are sub 1 CR flying creatures and the best part of being a GM is that you can reflavor anything you want to fly including low CR creatures.
Flying is very op at early levels which is where most campaigns take place. Most of your encounters are going to be ground monsters and any trap is rendered useless. It makes the flyer seem very mary sue powerful compared to the rest of the party. There is a reason druids don't get flying creatures to turn into until high levels. Any low lvl module u are running would need completely rewritten and not just a few nano seconds like you make it seem so trivial. Which would defeat the main reason most people use modules to begin with because they don't want to spend the time doing it.
Actually you can make your early monsters and encounters anything - so you really get to decide how OP it is yourself 🤷♀️ Like I said in the video, it takes 3 seconds to alter existing things from modules
@StephaniePlaysGames but it doesn't. Sure give those monsters in the prewriten adventure flying when they didn't have it. Ow now only the one magic user and the flyer can hit them woops now need to figure out how to fix that so the other 4 players arnt just standing around for the combat. Again would just make the flyer the main character syndrome. It is so much more than a 3 second fix and other things you need to take into consideration. If you are homebrewing already you can easily take it into account but if using something pre-written then it's more of a headache than is necessary.
Obviously flying isn't broken, although I'm sure the title gets you a lot of clicks. What's OP is having it at first level, as an aarakocra does. There's a reason Fly is a 3rd level spell. As they advance in lvl it's natural they get more powerful, flying being one of many powers gained.
@@shadomain7918 New GMs are literally told constantly that flying ancestries are broken by people who’ve never run a game with one in their life 🤷♀️ It’s really only as OP as you, the GM, make it.
@@StephaniePlaysGames There's nothing I can do as a GM to make abilities over or under powered, that's not what the term means. The system is the system. An ability is overpowered because the PC that can fly at 1st level has far more power than all the PCs that can't. And not in a "magic missile is better than a long sword" way. Flying at 1st level, RAW is more powerful than any other PC ability.
@@shadomain7918 You 100% can because you literally are the one making every encounter?? Like the encounters you make and run determine how relevant allllll of the PCs skill sets are. This isn’t a static board game, the system is scaffolding.
Actually flying is a big deal. It makes a huge part of the game irrelevant. Walls, rivers. Tons of exploration. I agree, it can add a cool dimension to the game.
Apologies for my bluntness. Please don't use vocal fry on YT videos. Otherwise, your content is good. Again, I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the style choice doesn't work well on recorded media. I'll gladly delete this post if it offends anyone.
Do you let characters in your games fly? 🤔
Sadly in my first non family game, I did ban flying PCs. Just couldn’t come up with a way to make primarily Zombies and Beasts a threat to them.
I think things like that are fine! I've played in games where I've totally understood a DM doing it because of things like that - if flight doesn't work for the vibe and style of play you're imagining then it shows you put thought into it unlike people who just put out blanket bans on things for no reason! 😊
Yes! With 1 pixie and 1 winged devil in the party, so many scenes/encounters become even more dynamic.
@@StephaniePlaysGames The only thing I put a blanket ban on is resurrection spells, and only because I’ve designed a few quests to take the place of them. An epic race against time to save your companion is better than just casting a simple spell and erasing all that dramatic tension
Yes. But first I spent an afternoon stewing about how to represent flight height on my battle maps.
Session 1: a bundle of post-war Brooms of Flying fall off the back of a wagon into the hands of the PCs
Session 2: the PCs use illegal Broom Racing to earn petty cash and cover for a caravan heist.
SESSION 8: FAST AND FURIOUS MEMES blended with Silverhawks lore
Okay- that truly sounds like SO MUCH FUN 😂 I would have a blast with something like that haha
It's about family and this party is a family
From my understanding one of the main concerns was the capacity to effectively skip traps and puzzles.
For sure! Ground traps and puzzles aren’t the only kind that there are though - glyph triggered ones (I think another person even mentioned them in the comments) are a great way to surprise someone who thinks they’re not at risk for example
Also if the ceilings are low enough above the floor/ground traps they may need to make a check (probably Dex/Acrobatics or Athletics) to make it across with the minimal room they have to spread their wings.
Good points! I'm addicted to house rules, so I went with this. Gave them cool things to do with their wings before full flight kicked in at lvl 5.
-Glide: At level 1, when you fall at least 10 feet above the ground while not incapacitated, you can extend your wings to glide horizontally a number of feet equal to half the distance you fall (to a maximum of 30 feet), and you take 0 damage from the fall. You determine the direction of the glide.
-Limited Flight: At level 3 you gain a fly speed equal to your walking speed. However if you are still in the air at the end of your turn you fall (but you can still glide).
-Flight: At level 5, you can fly as written in the species description.
Heck yeah! That’s a fun way to let them “earn” their wings! 😊
I agree. One thing I make clear when I DM is that the world reacts naturally to what you do. If flying or whatever strategy is too good eventually people will develop better and better counters for it, or they will start using the strategy themselves.
Absolutely! I’m a big fan of “living world” strategies!
Lol, after watching countless dnd videos they almost aways boils down to, "talk to your players". I like your take on this. Be flexible, and enjoy watching what the players will do with the power of flight. Great vid!
😂 They really do end with that almost every time! Honestly in my experience it's because 1) I personally know some GMs that are very reactionary and don't think about just having a honest and normal conversation about their concerns and 2) we all know players that make weird choices to try to make ttrpgs not fun for everybody else at the table (whether _they_ realize they're doing that or not is an entirely different story). I just think places like reddit scare newer GMs away *from* being a normal person and talking to their players because we tend to assume people giving the advice know what they're talking about - _especially_ in more rules dense games like D&D!
@@StephaniePlaysGames Agreed, you and many of the other ttrpg tubers are trying to take the antogonism away from gaming table. We need to get away from the mind set that it's GM's vs gamers. FYI I am enjoying your channel. Your takes are interesting and I hope you continue to grow.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words! 😊
My last campaign I allowed flight on 3 of my PC’s races.
There were a few problems. The 4th PC, the non flyer, felt a bit invalidated and like they couldn’t engage in most encounters, explorations especially, in nearly as interesting or effective of a way. They also automatically ended up being the target of any ground based enemies who didn’t have ranged attacks which was frustrating for them.
The other big thing that came up for me was that flight was limiting to my encounter designs. Exploration and scouting became considerably easier for the party, but combat was the bigger problems.
Unless the party was underground or in a very limited height space it became a requirement that all encounters needed to have enemies with ranged attacks/spells/flight or some combination of the three other wise there wasn’t a reason to roll dice at all the party just auto won the fight.
I don’t know how closely you have looked at monster stat blocks, that might not be the focus of the channel this being my first time, but it meant that without modifying them, most of the stat blocks of official monsters were just taken off the table. Like I would wager around 50% of them. And that just strikes me as a sad thing. I would to use a chained attack Otyugh unleashed by a martial warlord human against my party, but they would kite it and kill it without ever taking a hit.
Don’t get me wrong, I worked around it in my campaign, but it did make my job harder as a DM.
Oh man! Yeah if I had 3 players that wanted to fly and 1 that didn’t, that would *absolutely* become a group discussion because that was supposed to be “Oops All Wings”. And you’re right - if you’re by the book AND only using a set amount of potential monsters it’s much harder. I run much looser combat - so I can add a ranged effect to pretty much anything I want on the fly 🤷♀️ I plan on doing a video on how I run combat soon so maybe that’ll be helpful!
I appreciate when a commenter is willing to disagree with the content of the video, especially when adding concrete points to the discussion. Thank you.
Yeah I have a lot of reservations about flying, too. And this commenter points out a big one. And that is that the vast majority of D&D monsters don't have any way at all to deal with flying combatants that have ranged attacks. Especially at the levels most D&D games take place at (1st-7th).
So I think one simple way to look at this is just to simply consider flying as a second tier of play (5+) ability. Sure, a character or party that flies is simply going to wipe the floor with something like a group of orcs. But they would do that anyway. So this gives them a means to simply bypass most basic encounters and have fun with the more meaningful and challenging ones appropriate for their levels.
Flying for first tier characters is still OP and will lead to problems. But at least this line of thinking means that it's not off the table in general. Low level characters with access to any mid-level ability (such as fireball) is always going to be problematic. Flying is just one of many.
Yeah, once everyone can fly except one character, it turns from "someone has a cool ability" to "someone is missing an essential ability". I would probably give the one character Boots Of Flying or a flying broom, or a giant fly mount or something, to make sure they aren't left out.
As for encounters, it does seem like a flying party requires a game catered to their ability to fly, but that's where discussing it in advance comes into play. Maybe that's when you do a campaign set around flying islands, where people have different technological and magical methods of flying like airships and jetpacks. Or i would alternate between encounters in confined spaces, and encounters with flying and ranged enemies. You could also have environmental hazards like strong winds, or magical effects that make flying risky. You can fly if you want but at the end of the turn make a dex save or fall and take fall damage...
It definitely adds another thing to consider on top of the standard stuff when prepping...
@@4saken404that’s my thought - the flying PC is basically getting a 3rd level spell at first level, which is a tier 2 capability.
My High Seas campaign I run has an Air Genasi PC that I've given a feature reward to (whole separate topic). He can cast Fly 1/day for free. Because it is limited, it definitely allows him to feel like the character fantasy is validated and have awesome moments, but it is not overbearing for every encounter's balance. I'm definitely a proponent of limited flight.
Always-on flight from level 1 is something that can feel intrusive. As you've pointed out; there are ways to deal with it, but the problem many people have is that over half of DnD enemies are melee-only which means either the flying PC dominates the majority of possible encounters, or you have to edit enemies (which can feel targeted if you're not an expert at balancing) or go digging through options to find options that can take on the flying Warlock raining down eldritch blasts.
My 5e party weirdly hasn't messed around with flying hardly at all and they're about to hit level 7, but based on how my Mork Borg campaign went with the same players, flying allows for a lot of really fun and creative problem solving for both players and GMs. One of my players in the MB campaign was a class called a Pale One that could start with the ability to fly at character creation, and his favorite thing to do was glide around and try and drop a bear trap he fished out a well on enemies. He also loved scouting ahead, but learned very quickly that since he was alone up in the air, he was alone with whatever he ran into. Not even talking about exploring dungeons that aren't big enough to fly in, I believe that if for some reason my entire party was able to fly or teleport as a group, it would just signal to me as the GM to start designing dungeons and encounters around that, in both directions. One to reward them for taking this option as a group, and one to let them know it's not a "solve the dungeon" button. Outdoor locales will have archers, battlements, and basements. Indoor locales aren't 100% giant chasms and atriums, and magical foes will be ready with all sorts of spells to knock you out of the air. But generally speaking, my players are varied enough in their preferences that they'd never coincidentally become a group all capable of flying at once and the drawback of separating yourself from the party is deterrent enough.
A lot of people feel afraid of just the potential that they could be saddled with a party full of flyers out of the blue, on game day, when all they have prepared is a dungeon consisting of nothing but jumping puzzles, but in practice it's normally not that black and white. And we can't forget the famous saying "encounter design doesn't stop after initiative is called."
Ohhh my gosh this is such a good example! I *love* Mork Borg and I've played as a Pale One 😂 (I really want to be an Angelic Punching Bag next time I get to play)! And I agree - players both on the ground and in the sky that wander too far from the rest of the party almost always learn pretty quickly that it's not always the best idea. It's very high-risk, but sometimes that reward _is not_ high enough!
I'm glad that you've gotten to experience the fun that comes with flying PCs, I really think they help stretch those GM imagination chops and I live for that shit! Also an "Oops All Fliers" party just sounds so cool!
@@StephaniePlaysGames I absolutely adore Mork Borg, I designed a couple classes myself and even wrote my own Mork Borg adventure that briefly was sold on their Kartellian Vaults website. We're heavily considering going back to Mork Borg or one of its variants after we're done with our 5e game, we miss it so much. :P
And now I want to create a dungeon for an all flying party!
I wouldn’t ban flying PCs… but as someone who knows how to fly, I know that it’s not easy to do either. You can add difficulty to flying itself, like landing with a changing cross wind, obscured approach or short takeoff clearance. Even if they can hover, there are difficulties there too. But I also like highlighting their strengths too, so they’ll feel badass
I think it’s fine to play with adding in extra things when it doesn’t just nerf flying! Like you said, they’re still going to have the chance to highlight the upside even if it doesn’t come as easily !
For me is like:
- give something for them to do that only they can because they can fly
- let them get away avoiding land hazards; after all, it is just one dude in a party of 4 or more
- inteligent enemies will probably shoot arrows in them when possible, specially if they are making big impact on combat; but not every ranged enemy and not every combat
- and, for a change, once in a while, flying enemies in the villains group; and, more rare, maybe only once to give it a good scare, some enemy with Sap Sting.
I think it is as you said, it will be the most fun for everyone if you "shoot the monk"; and that goes for any type of unique feat a party member has. They will be happy and have fun, and you'll be happy because they're happy (and if you are a DM that does not get happy when your players are having fun, there is something wrong there).
Fighter of my game uses a homebrew subclass with some cool high jump capabilities. So, as i love making my own battle maps, they always have more than one level. Big rock, a cabin, etc. Something for him to jump to if he wants. And enemies there for him to feel like "i can make it there and be useful getting rid of those enemies that my friends can't".
In one combat i put a Ogre Howdah. A DnD official creature. An Ogre with a platform in his back where 2 to 4 goblins stays and shoot arrows. Because of Ogre size, the goblin can only be attacked by reach weapons. Or by a specific fighter with a subclass that allows him to make big jumps :)
Discovering that creature existed and getting excited to use it because it will be cool for my player surpasses any "extra prep" fatigue i could have with this. The same goes for making maps etc.
I love this! I totally agree - giving players the chance to shine and show off makes them _so_ happy - why deprive them of that? 🤨 It doesn't mean nothing is ever challenging! And like you said - things can both highlight their features AND still be hard!
(Also I had no idea about Ogre Howdah's and they look SO COOL! I can't wait to put one of those in a game! 😍)
Great advice!
I don't have a specific name for the idea, but for the past few decades i have made an intentional point of targeting the weaknesses of the party and individual PCs. But also leaning into their strengths.
An example that still has some value in 5e is the wizard getting fireball at level 5. After spending four levels as the weakest party member who occasionally has the right spell at the right moment to turn the battle, they get fireball. Now its time to put a bunch of low level monsters in fireball formation, and let the wizard kill them all, or at least those that fail the save. But not just any low level monsters. I make a note of which low level monsters almost killed the party, or at least knocked a character, preferably the wizard below zero HP. The satisfaction and joy at getting revenge and showing off the incredible power of fireball lights up even an experienced players face.
Yes, I totally agree! Would this be Slicing Your Monks? 🤔😂 I always think of it in terms of story upbeats and downbeats, you need both! Variety is the spice of life!
І do stupid tactical chose in a part if a monster or even allowed escape fight all together for my players.
However the rule of cool is need to be adjusted for challenge. Something my bosses have a several stage so the player can't dispatch them in firs round.
Yes! I love doing boss battles like that - it’s so much fun!
my entire party are str based martial characters and its made so many skill challenge situations amazing, but im sure if one of them could fly it would be just as good
My issue with flying ancestries isn't that they can fly, it's that they can fly from level 1.
To me, the first tier of play where the more mundane world and classic pulp adventure tropes like crossing a chasm or scaling a cliff come into effect. Level 1 flight allows characters to bypass a lot of class dungeon design elements and I think they miss out on a lot potential drama because of that.
Once they hit level five and have more ready access to fly and other magics of that power level, chances are the types of adventures they are going on have changed so flight from that point doesn't bother me as much then.
But I have the same feeling about the teleport spell. The game fundamentally changes once players can teleport as they have the option to just bypass large sections of travel and any drama or danger that would come along with that.
See - I think that's one of those exceptions that's totally fine! I know _so_ many players would agree to temporarily nerf flying if you're running a more gritty/pulp adventure and want them to get that experience of having to really earn cool moments.
I think the advice to new GMs to ban/nerf it across the board is so silly though - I play in tons of different types of games but I tend to run very high fantasy (feywild, mythology, etc) based games where flying is totally fine - it's just like any other strong ability. And so far most of my players interested in flying ancestries have been rangers - they deserve something extra cool 😂
@@StephaniePlaysGames Yeah banning flight permanently makes no sense other than as an overcorrection from the POV of "oh the rules say this ancestry can fly from level 1 and I don't like that so I'll ban it rather than change it".
Also monsters. Does it make sense the monsters in the bar have arrows? or the ones in the Dungeon?
Mostly my issue comes to combat. For example if the PCs are going after magmin, what do you add with them that can do ranged damage that makes sense for a low level party? Not to mention half the fun of the encounter is the magmin can explode, so if you have flying PCs, you ignore a major part of the encounter.
Great advice about flying! I would recommend fewer cuts and zoom changes in your videos, though. All that jumping around was making me dizzy, lol.
@@Wiredj Thanks for the kind words! I have pretty bad ADHD so I edit for what my brain likes to see 😂 I will try to be kinder to those without Bad Brain Syndrome and keep that in mind for future videos!
My first PC was an aarakocra rogue in Lost Mines of Phandelver. It was super fun being able to fly, but was rarely OP because of just how much of that campaign is in caves lol
Your videos are always very entertaining. Keep killing it! ❤
😭 WHYYY thank you 💕💕💕 I appreciate you!
In AD&D and in 3e there were useful rules for maneuvering in flight, but 5e seems to be very rules lite on flying. Maneuverability would be a good way imo to add some real challenge to flight, especially when you factor in conditions like wind speed and direction. I mean, your average pc weighs a lot more than a bee but a whole lot less than most planes, and the humanoid body isn't necessarily aerodynamic. So under stressful conditions, they will definitely struggle at least as much as a bird in a storm. Also, if they have natural wings, they'll have to preen. A LOT. Birds aren't filthy creatures, they're extra clean; they have to be to fly.
😂 I’d love to be the GM who instates preen checks. And I totally agree- I think having some maneuvering rules is a totally fine way to add challenge to flying without nerfing it! 😊
The silliest thing I saw about flying characters is the "tactic" of lifting an enemy into the air and dropping them for fall damage, which quickly stops working if you just remember that carrying capacity exists and even your barbarian will struggle to lift a well built city guard wearing a chainmail.
I agree for a typical DND campaign. In those type of games, I allow all PC species. I really like the end of your video. I think that’s really solid device for any PC ability that you have concerns about. Good work and keep it up.
Thanks for the kind words! 😊 I think vast majority of players don’t want to “break” the game, they want everyone to have fun! If we talk to them like the human beings they are before any issues we’re worried about pop up, 99% of them are incredibly understanding. Imagine that! 😂
One of the players ran a Pixie character for a campaign. Perhaps the most overt thing I did was provide the PC with some giant bats (re-skinned Winter Wolves) to fight while the rest of the party dealt with a somewhat suped up Werewolf. Later in the campaign, he flew down a corridor and tripped a glyph which did a lot of damage to the party. If he hadn't flown through, they could've found the glyph fairly easily and dispelled it.
Heck yeah! That’s a great way to give them an equal combat challenge and still make use of traps! I can never understand why people act like ground traps are the only kind! 😂
The issue I had with flying in my game was that the power gamer made a goblin artificer with a broom of flying that could fit in nearly any reasonably sized space (and would argue forever if he wasn't able to), and had ridiculous stealth due to his goblin heritage, and only ever flew, and he went out of his way to negate a ton of challenges just by flying ahead. So then it was an issue of challenging just him, or having to force solutions to challenges that required more than one party member, even if it didn't feel natural narratively appropriate. As a person who runs narrative games that don't focus on strictly mechanical challenges, it sucked the joy out of planning and running the game for me.
I won't outright outlaw flying in my games, but I do side-eye players who demand it, because that tends to be the player who wants to just cheese everything, and i won't tolerate that kind of player in my games anymore.
Yeah I definitely agree that problem players can make a lot of cool things significantly less fun! 😕
I spent years trying to talk one my regular GMs into allowing flying PCs and I always failed. Somehow after over 20 years as a GM he's still convinced that a flying character won't feel as threatened as their ground walking companions. And I gave up.
Also, if they are deliberately trying to cheese specific builds like "Spell Sniper + Eldritch Lance" for hundreds of feet of range then playing like an orbital laser, Maybe give the enemies some canopy cover so they have to be a certain distance from trees or you have disadvantage against them. Or the enemy faction has started putting roofs over their watch towers. So you can snipe still, but have to think more about your positioning. Give the player challenges to overcome that let them change up their gameplay. But that's still likely to upset someone deliberately building for that. It's one of the few times I'm tempted to just say "no" because their goal is exploiting a combo. I get wanting to have a power fantasy, but that's specifically a fantasy that's disruptive. Like casting darkness on your weapon and having Devil's Sight. It really screws over the rest of your party if they don't also take that ability. Too disruptive.
I banned them from my first ever campaign and now wished I had not. Going forward I will let them cook. 😅
It really is a ton of fun to see what solutions they come up with! 😂
@StephaniePlaysGames so 2 of 2 flying characters died in the first 2 sessions of my new campaign... one of them because they lost consciousness at 30ft in the air... splat. My players have now sworn off flying characters. 😅
I have some great ways I've found to moderate flight in combat and at lower levels. However, I have found flying characters are especially difficult to moderate with problem players.
For sure! Aaaand that’s exactly why I hardcore vet the people who sit at my tables 😂 There are people that I’d love to play board games with but would be miserable playing TTRPGs with.
You took the words right out of my mouth dms are so afraid to give players the opportunity to actually use their strengths I’ve seen soo many times where no one shoots at the monk or the rouge can’t stealth or how you won’t let players fly it makes no sense
Right! 😂 Like there should be up and down beats just like in real life - sometimes they’ll struggle with things, other times they’ll get to have a blast doing really awesome things! I don’t know why some people are so adversarial about group play 🤨
There's also the issue of, well, how flight actually works with most animals. Unless we're talking about hummingbirds and some insects, the flyer just can't stop and hover. It has to keep flying in a given direction. Hitting targets with a bow precisely while doing a flyby, especially if the bow is fired from arms that are attached to the wings doing the flying, is hard. And they also can't turn on a dime. Take a look at how 2e handles aerial combat with its maneuverability classes if you want to inject a bit of realism into your game. The players might damn well decide to fight on the ground most of the time. 😂
Yeah! I think there’s tons of ways to change flight if people are interested in making it a little more realistic without just nerfing it 😊
Of course characters should be able to fly in a superhero game, like 5e. Practically every one of the Justice League and most of the Avengers can fly. Every goblin tribe in my campaign as a king on a giant bat, laughing maniacally and throwing pumpkin bombs!
Excelsior!
If they’re flying over the forest looking for bandits, those trees get in the way. A tree trunk doesn’t conceal half as well as the canopy does. The smoke from a campfire dissipates before it gets above the canopy of the trees. It has to be a really big fire to see smoke at any distance.
Wings cause armor to cost more and encumbrance sucks for flying. Races like the aarakocra don’t have arms, so their combat changes entirely when flying, but at least they can wear a backpack.
AD&D 2nd had all of the rules for flying characters laid out. They were just the right level of hindrance to compensate for what you could do. That got lost somewhere between then and 5e.
I once played a half-celestial goblin who could fly, but almost never did because he was trying to avoid attracting attention. After dying and finding himself in the upper planes instead of the lower planes, he promptly escaped. The DM loved the backstory idea so much that he let it fly, pardon the pun. Just the idea of Elysium, home to most of the nature gods, being a prison to a lonely goblin druid was just too delicious to let that 60’ flight speed get in the way, even though he usually prohibited flying characters.
Let them fly. Adapt your game. There are drawbacks to every advantage.
I love that you've played one! I was really shocked at how judiciously my players used their powers of flight and I'm glad you've experienced the upsides/drawbacks! That sounds like SUCH a cool character and as a DM I would've greenlit it too 😊 You can almost always tell who just wants to power game vs who really thought about a character concept and story based on the backstory alone haha
Not to be rude but... uhmm... "Wings cause armor to cost more and encumbrance sucks for flying. Races like the aarakocra don’t have arms, so their combat changes entirely when flying, but at least they can wear a backpack. "
They do have arms... are you thinking of the correct race?
@@TierDvik They have four limbs. Are you sure you’re thinking of the right race?
Aarakocra have manipulating digits in the middle of their wing, with the two small fingers away from the thumb being the bones in the outer half of the wing. They fly the same way bats do only they retain manipulating digits, whereas all of a bat’s fingers form the wing.
That creates a difficulty in wearing armor, because the wing is skin that attaches along body from the tips of their “flight fingers” all the way to the small of their back. Any armor they wear has to accommodate the full range of motion of the wings.
We dealt with this back in AD&D 2nd edition, when Aarakocra was first added as a playable race for Dark Sun.
@@TierDvik And as for encumbrance, you probably don’t have the maneuverability classes for flight in 5e. A hummingbird is a maneuverability class A. A flying squirrel is a maneuverability class D or E.
Encumbrance was unencumbered, light load, moderate load and heavy load. The encumbrance that slowed most characters walking reduced the maneuverability class of flying creatures. A heavily encumbered aarakocra would be an E or F maneuverability, meaning they could pretty much only glide. Sure, they moved their full movement, but because they were devoting so much to staying in the air, they had trouble turning and they lost altitude for every 5’ forward they moved.
I had a buddy who played an aarakocra in a Dark Sun game. One of his favorite tricks was to drop my halfling fighter/thief on rooftops, but he had to drop most of his gear to do it. I had to drop mine too. In one particularly memorable session, I escaped by climbing up when the guards were trying to stop me from coming down. All he had to do was get me off that roof and back down to street level a couple of blocks away so we could get out of the city.
The rules were tough, but he made it work.
@@almitrahopkins1873 I think I found the issue. They are not the same as the Dark Sun ones. The only ones that do not have arms are Aarakocra of Coliar. All others have 2 legs, 2 arms and 2 wings. Your information is outdated sadly. Not a bad thing, play what makes you happy. But when discussing this as modern DND you must use the modern version.
As far as encumbrance yeah. But the issue is flight on players characters unless ALL of them have it... or its extremely limited in usage... makes a massive issue for the game. One player is either just far more capable if he is the only one with flight, or one player without is useless. Its a case of all or none is really the only way to go.
"Shoot your monks." ... ... ... Uhmmm you mean because they are close combat specialists, just spam them with missile attacks so they die without having a chance to use their abilities. ... ... ... This is what went through my head, and I was so confused, because it didn't sound at all like advice you would give. Now I did watch the video, so I know what you were actually going for. On the other hand if you wanted to target monks, sniper attacks or archery companies launching flights of arrows at them would be effective methods.
But that isn't the point of the video. The point of the video was flying characters. Specifically characters that are of a race which has a natural flight ability. ... Which was not what I was expecting, I figured this was about characters flying through magical means, so that is a completely different topic altogether.
I have never run, or played in, a game where flying humanoid races were common enough that this would even be a thought. This just isn't something that I have ever even considered. The question of mechanics, or if the ability was problematic, isn't the first thing that comes to mind. The first question that would have to be answered about a PC from a flying race, would be "Where did they come from?" followed closely by "Why are they here?" then the ever popular "How freaked out are the local yocals?" since humanoid flying races aren't a common thing. I actually had a situation in one campaign were this would have become a question regarding some NPCs, but things never progressed very far in that direction before the group fizzled out.
While there are advantages to flight, there are also limits, and risks, and as long as everyone recognizes this, and is willing to deal with it, I don't see running a game with a PC of a flying race as problematic.
Note I tend to run games that heavily feature dungeon crawls so a flying PC may have limited chances to shine, or have to be more creative.
Haha I remember the first time I heard the phrase I was confused too 😂 I definitely play in settings where there aren't flying humanoids and where they don't fit the flavor of the world! I think it's absolutely fine when people don't just allow any type of ancestry because it shows they put thought and effort into crafting the world.
I run a lot of homebrew feywild stuff so there are actually several flying humanoids that exist and it makes sense that they're there - so to me banning those would be silly since they'd run into a bunch of NPCs like this!
I think you're absolutely doing it the right way - which is putting thought and intention into your choices! 😊
The only time when flying seems actually broken, is when you are fighting a bunch of land-locked melee-only monster. But that's not a problem with flight, that's a problem with encounter/monster design.
That’s exactly how I feel! I remember reading through all of the reasons to ban flying ancestries and getting very confused because … I’m the one that designs the encounters so I can just not screw myself over? 😂
That's almost all of the Monster Manual. You can say that is the designers fault, for making most monsters like real-world creatures (no flight or ranges attack), but I think that is unreasonable. The problem is with adding a game-breaking supernatural ability that trivializes 2 of the 3 pillars of the game unless the GM works super hard to overcome it by catering to and challenging that/those players.
Not only can I say it's the designers fault, I will go on the record for doing it. The amount of monsters that are trivialized by the simplest of strategies (Moving & Shooting) is absolutely perplexing! Horse Archers, the Expeditious Retreat spell, even Wood Elves with their 5' bonus speed can absolutely trivialize basic melee brutes while literally running circles around them.
Fortunately, they are rewriting the Monster Manual as this conversation is happening! Monsters from modern books tend to be much better designed.
I was DMing a campaign that eventually led the PCs to Icewind dale. Two of them were flying fairies. But it was so cold that they had to wear heavy skin coats. They were alien to the region so there were no fairy compatible clothes and it was very fun to play. Still, there was a challenge were they climb a wall and after failing twice, she dramatically dropped her coat and flyed. It was glorious.😂
Yesss I love this! It sounds like you hit the perfect combination of challenges and chances to let them shine! 😊
I've seen games where people can teleport at level 1. Flying isn't a big issue for me. I've had flying PCs in four of my last five campaigns, and the only one I have where no one can fly just started. Then again I've let my players cast Earthquake in a spaceship, so I may not be the best example of limiting player power.
I agree! 💯
Here's my go-to list of things to occasionally throw at flying PCs.
1. Drop Bears. There's a dozen stat blocks that fill this niche. Giant spiders, cloakers, chokers, dark mantles, ropers, etc... Put them on your dungeon ceilings and in your forest canopies and drop them on the PCs. Dark Souls games do it all the time.
2. Put pit traps on the ceiling and fill them with reverse gravity wells. Dex save or your flyer hits a gravity well and falls 60 feet upwards onto stalagtites.
3. Ranged attacks. Always mix up encounters by adding ranged and melee enemies.
I told a guy to do the third one once, and he fired back with, "I'm not ruining my game by giving all the wolves crossbows!" I just had to laugh. Why are random wolf packs fighting heavily armed and armored humanoids to the death? That's not a behavior any wolf has ever exhibited. You smack a wild animal with a sword once, and it's going to run away.
I don't care how many times a random table throws 3d6 wolves at a party. I never use generic real-world animals in fights. When I use those stat blocks, they come with a twist.
They're mounts and at least a few of them have saddles and pixies or imps on their backs who use fireball and tiny arrows.
They have breath weapons because they've been twisted or enhanced by something the players need to investigate.
They're Awakened, working for the Big Bad, and smart enough to have staged Ewok style traps that will cause trouble to both flying and non flying PCs.
They're twisted far realm abominations disguised as wolves and bears, and they summon 1d6 Fathomless Warlock tentacles per PC each round as a bonus action.
4. Wingspan. If your flying PC is medium-sized, then their wingspan is probably too wide for them to actually fly through the standard ten by ten dungeon corridor. Give them a reason to play small characters some of the time.
5. Artificers. Have the party fight the occasional mad scientist with minions wearing mechanical wings. Give the party artificer blueprints for wing suits that give the non flying PCs the manta glide ability from the simic hybrid. Hell, be a cool the DM and run a Sky Pirates campaign where the party starts with an airship and flying mounts.
All of these are great suggestions! Also I love the fact that that guy said that “wolves with crossbows” bit 😂 that kills me but is simultaneously so annoying!
1-2 seems unlikely to happen as I would definitely be flying near the ceiling. The gravity well just screams "I am screwing with you because your PC can fly, I really didn't want you to take flying so now I'm going to mess with you until you change characters."
4. I think the rules don't allow for that because you are medium you are within a 5ft. space. Sure it makes since your wings leave that space, but the rules don't seem to indicate they do.
@bradleyhurley6755 1. That's what perception checks are for. If you're flying so close to the ceiling that you auto succeed all perception checks for drop Bears, then you are going to scrape and bump into stalagtites and start taking bludgeoning damage.
2. Gravity traps on the ceiling are for dungeons created by mad wizards. They get used alongside gravity traps at ground level that shift the gravity ninety degrees to the side without warning.
4. No. Wingspan is a function of height contrasted with weight. The wingspan on a medium sized creature will always be double the distance between their fingertips when their arms are held straight out to either side. If your wings work then they need to be a minimum size. If you're gonna make a "rules as written" argument that idiotic I'm going to either hit back with so many giant spiders and Web spells that you'll be grounded anyway, or just say the cave or dungeon doesn't have enough flowing air to support your flight and everyone has to make periodic con saves as if they were at super high elevations.
@@CitanulsPumpkin yeah I would just think you are being a jerk at that point. The rules specifically state a medium sized creature is within a 5ft box.
@@bradleyhurley6755 What's so hard to understand? There are consequences and trade offs to all player choices.
If you choose to play a wizard then there will be spell scrolls and wizard tomes in the loot pool more often than for parties without wizards. The consequence of playing a wizard is the party may run into more wild magic and anti magic zones than if they lacked a wizard.
If you choose to play a monk then the first waterfall or rope bridge the party comes across is going to have a master of some school or style who will challenge the monk to a one on one duel.
If you choose to play a rogue and you put one of your expertise bonuses in thieves tools then every chest the party comes across will have a lock on it.
If you make the choice to play a character with a natural fly speed there will be consequences. There will be some cases where the flyer breezes through a minor obstacle, and there will be other cases where the flyer gets in trouble because they are choosing to isolate themselves from the rest of the party by a minimum of ten to twenty feet. There will be cases where they just can't fly, or they shouldn't fly without taking some precautions and expending some resource.
It's not that they are broken or overpowered, it's that it shifts things around. For some DMs, particularly those who are counting on the shift, it isn't a big deal, for others, it becomes a nightmare. Even moreso if only some PCs can fly and others cannot.
The most difficult abilities I've dealt with are ones you don't really consider, like a creature that has nonstandard senses, whether that is scent, detect magic, true sight, etc. Super hard to take under consideration in all of your descriptions.
Flying is high risk/high reward in my view, which is the sort of choices you want your players making. Falling damage, including an instant lost death save if knocked unconscious, is a constant possibility. There's a lot less cover in the sky. And you can forget stealth unless it's foggy or something like that as the higher you go the more distant enemies can see you clearly. Enemies don't really have to be intelligent to counter their flying too, as even insects know to hide under things when exposed with so many birds that eat them. It's true that players could fly over most challenges with flight and GMs could force every fight into narrow tunnels, but it's just important to keep in mind the question Am I making this mechanic or reaction to the mechanic more interesting or less?.
I 100% agree - *especially* with your last sentence! 😊
This is a good video.
Thanks Josiah! 😊
I love 3 dimensional scenarios, so flight has never been an issue. Given that eventually every character can achieve flight, having a few players gain flight at lvl 1 has never been a challenge.
Got into several arguments with people that were dead set against flying PC’s, but none of them could articulate why it was a problem except in one edge case in Adventure League when a homebrew race with flight and intangible ignored entire scenarios due to the DM not being willing to adjust the scenarios because apparently that’s not allowed in Adventure League, but a homebrew race was. After I stopped laughing, I pointed out that the example was such an edge case that it demonstrated why flight wasn’t the problem, it was allowing a broken homebrew race the was intangible into a structured league that was the problem for one anonymous DM that probably never existed.
I totally agree! So many of the potential issues are completely under the GMs control so I’m always confused about why people act like they can’t change things to account for flying? 😂 And I think flying PCs have made me think much more dynamically about encounter design even when I don’t have any!
@@StephaniePlaysGames
I know, right? They complained about an encounter with wolves being bypassed, I suggested “just add spear throwing goblins riding the wolves”, which got countered with “but you can’t change Adventure League scenarios!” Then don’t play Adventure League?
The issue isn't flying it's resources free flying. I don't think many DM are upset if a wizard chooses fly over fireball.
Flight is not the end all be all. It has a number of disadvantage. A flying creature can not easily benefit from cover or stealth. Flying players can stray too far from their party and get over whelmed. Flying creatures are at the mercy of the weather. Strong winds and harsh rain or snow can count as difficult terrain for flyers.
Flyers are at the mercy of ranged attackers. Most creatures can be given a ranged attack either through weapons or spells. Its not uncommon for bandits to have slings, short bows and crossbows. Weapons with the thrown property are also effective. Larger creatures can hurl rocks. If it does not make sense for it to have a ranged attack then use cover and stealth. Enemies can take advantage of the same things players can.
Flight usually has some kind of restriction. Either in armor type or number of uses. A DM should always look for subtle ways to burn through a parties resources. Scenarios can be created to eat through limited uses for flight. As for armor type restrictions, as per the rules of flight a character that has their speed reduced to zero, can't move or is knocked prone falls. I believe its as a rate of 10ft a turn, but I might be wrong about that. My point is fall damage exists at a rate of 1d6 per ten feet for a max of 20d6.
Magic exists. Earth bind is a second level spell that is tailor made to stop flying creatures. Tasha's hideous laughter can be a death sentence for low level flyers. Same with hold person, sleep, web and levitate. Those are only first and second level spells. Spells like fire ball, bestow curse, lightning bolt, sleet storm, ice storm, banishment, polymorph, resilient sphere, I could go on. There are a large number of spells that can either cripple of out right kill flying targets.
Flight is common place in dnd and should only take some minor considerations to counter. Weather, terrain and local wild life are good ways to hinder flyers. If your party starts to abuse their flight then you can always give them a reason to walk. Or start handing out flight to the enemy. If one of your players is a flying race then make that race a more prominent fixture in that part of the world. Having your campaign turn into an air war might but fun.
@@SteveMorris-c2r Absolutely agree - there’s so many options to make things harder for them when needed - both mundane AND magical! 😊
I'm sorry but I think that limitless flight for players really is problematic.
Flight is huge advantage in too many situations and it's not like picking a flying race gives you any drawback. Even if a lot of the campaign takes place indoor it's not like the characters won't have any other ability to fell cool.
So players whithout flight might feel less useful, important or strong (especially if they don't have access to magic).
Giving up on passive traversal hazards is a lot to ask to a DM that likes enviromental encounters: no object is too far to reach, no tower too tall, no jump too long or chasm too deep for that one player (but it is for the rest of the group).
Traversal hazards can be an easy way to force casters to burn slots: the Fly spell only lasts 10 minutes and takes away a fireball from the wizard, so more goblins are left for the barbarain to cleave trough.
Also Feather fall, Rope trick, Spider climb, some Wild shape forms and many more thigs become useless if you can just fly on your own all the time.
I'm also afraid that I'm going to hear "I fly up/ahead to do [X], what do I see/happens?" every other minute.
It's a rational strategy but it splits the party: One player gets to see and do stuff while the rest of the table has to wait (this also applies to high Stealth PCs and people with familiars that want to always scout ahead alone).
I don't want to have a "main" character that can get a scene to act in alone anytime they want, one guy that can easily get close to the action while the rest of the table has to tag along, running to catch up or waiting for them to return.
Maybe I'm just too afraid that some players might feel bad if I talk to one person more that the others or if they are not dealing as much damage as everyone else.
I don't even know if my players would even realize those things are happeing, but when I play I hate feeling like a secondary character and try to make sure no one else does.
See, those are all things I read before I allowed it aaaand - basically none of them were really all that relevant as fears for me and any of my groups so far. Like I said in another comment - some campaigns that are more gritty/grimdark/realistic of course won't have flight - they're the ones that are most likely to have these types of concerns. But for the rest of us? It's a good ability - but so is rage, and channel divinity, and smite 🤷♀️
And yeah - when players are interested in flying they're usually telling you they want to be good at scouting things and dealing with environmental hazards. That doesn't mean there's no challenge - especially if they're traveling with players that can't deal with them. Now _they_ have an opportunity to try to help them past - maybe between the other players skill checks they can investigate for rope, etc. Or it's a great opportunity to showcase dangers of splitting the group if they're doing it too often.
I've had players pull of really cool thing utilizing flying and spider climb and other things _together_. Because again, these are a group of adventurers, not just one person dealing with tiny inconveniences. Also worrying about people using flying to constantly scout ahead means you also probably need to nerf your rangers and rogues - because I have most of them go to scout ahead of their groups in games without flying PCs. Just like any other action, you ask them to roll, and then you can extend the rolls to the rest of the party to see what they notice - maybe the flying person couldn't see through the thick foliage but the rogue at the back noted they're being tailed.
This fear around flying players being the focus is more about not understanding how to help players share the spotlight than anything. And again, sometimes experience is the best way to deal with players that split the party. Sure, they might find out what happens, but maybe they're ambushed. If it's a player you've talked with about abusing flight and it's become an issue - they can sit there quietly in ambush jail while you play out time with the rest of the party until they discover the flying PC is missing. That's boring and they'll see how it feels. You're the DM, so you control where the spotlight is and how much time is spent on something. And just because they go ahead to scout to see if there's any bandits doesn't mean nothing is happening in the meantime near the rest of the group. But again, most of this is solved by being upfront with the player and telling them your concerns and seeing what parts of flying they're interested in.
A lot of the advice about flying out there is just very fear based. I've had several flying PCs with no issues other than me slipping up once in a while and not seeing how a creative player could more quickly solve something with flight. But I think it's awesome when they thwart a plan of mine, and it almost always involves teamwork between the flying PC and someone else's cool ability. I think DMs just need to learn to trust their ability to be creative and fun and switch to a more _opportunity_ based style of thinking. After all, Superman couldn't solve everything with flight, nor could Iron Man, nor could Daenerys and her dragons. Once you go through past games and think about how many things it *couldn't* solve or could only slightly improve, it really helps make that shift.
@@StephaniePlaysGames
The video is an effective push that says "You are overthinking it, other players won't mind and will have fun regardless" and it's a hard pill to swallow for me.
I know am insecure about my DMing, that's the root it.
I don't know my current group as much as they do each other because I joined last as the sibling of friend of friend.
I doubt they'd tell me what they think is going wrong to my face, and asking "Did you have fun?" at the end of a session was a guaranteed "Yes, it was fine".
I've played before in games that sometimes made me feel like I said in the other comment and I stayed quiet because I'd rather play "good enough dnd" than risk hurting the DM's feelings telling them I wasn't having fun sometimes.
I am scared the same could be happening when I master.
The other thing is that I hate the idea that people could be enjoying the game without realizing that their character is ineffective, that they are just happy to be there and don't mind if another player is doing all the talkling, taking all the decisions or killing every monster on their own.
I feel like that if that's the case I'm failing at giving them the true/best dnd experience and they don't know it because they have never had any better.
@@federicoghezzi1261 Well, the problem there has nothing to do with characters being able to fly! 😄The problem is a lack of communication about what the players & GM want out of the game, and what they will or will not enjoy
When you ask for feedback on your game, and no one feels comfortable saying:
"Actually that combat was kind of a slog, I only got a turn every 45 minutes and I was stunned so couldn't do anything"
"I didn't really enjoy the arguments between our characters this session"
"that NPC was so fun to roleplay with! we need more of them!"
*That* is the problem. There is no ban on player options, no re-write of classes or spells, *nothing* that we can do inside our games that will solve this.
But it *can* be solved! It feels awkward initially, but then it gets super easy and my GOODNESS it can lead to a much more comfortable experience for everyone. All you've got to do is park the session for a bit and run an exercise in open, honest communication - if you're already able to run a D&D game, boy howdy you've already got the skills to run this!
My suggestion (and all of this is of course a suggestion based on my strong opinions) is to use an online retro board or just a blank map in Roll20, and mark three columns for:
'Things we're loving'
'Things that aren't clicking'
'Things we'd like to see'
Give them a few minutes to jot down some things in each column. Some people will feel anxious about giving feedback. Let them know that this is the moment where they can contribute to the game of their dreams, and that nothing will change if nothing is said.
Facilitate a discussion - mainly that means making sure no one gets defensive about any topic, that you're all just *talking* and getting excited about how to make the game better, to get the most fun out of every minute dedicated to this game
That's my unsolicited advice, I hope it finds you well 🙇♂
@@federicoghezzi1261 One of my favorite things to do is send out an anonymous questionnaire every handful of sessions! It can absolutely be hard when you know people will definitely put up with “good enough D&D” - I’ve been there too! Pointy Hat actually has a really great format for asking players questions like this, the anonymity really is key because some people don’t like having what they perceive as hard conversations!
@@armorclasshero2103 I absolutely have. As the GM you literally have all tools at your fingertips, so learning to deal with different types of players is part of it 🤷♀️
Seriously, flight is not a big problem. Just take that into account for your planning. Usually fliers need space to fly, in a dungeon corridor they won't have the room to fly, so they will have to walk. Most creatures cannot remain airborne indefinitely. Flying for prolonged periods will exhaust you just like running for prolonged periods. Flying characters are often isolated from their friends. A hold spell on a flier drops them like a stone. If the flyer takes a rope across a chasm, they will be all alone when whatever is waiting on the other side leaps on them. If the flying character is buzzed by a pair of wyverns, their ground bound friends are not going to be able to offer much aid. Utilised properly, flying makes both Gamemasters and players more creative.
I've been playing the rpg Earthdawn for 2 1/2 decades now, and one of their core races you can play starts with the ability to fly. It isn't gamebreaking, you just have to take it into account.
I came here to say "Yes" "Finally someone gets it" and proceeded to agree with most of your video until you suggested the DM share with their player how they might be concerned and might give the flyer a broken wing until players can get 'fly' etc etc.. so which is it? Is fly harmless or no? I'd say no need to circle back (so long as the player doesn't meta game and abuse the flying) and no need for temporary nerfs or gates, just allow flying. Flying could be common in your world. Or, flying could be rare and that's the one thing that make the PC unique and cool. Or, make it like you said where it isn't super common but also isn't rare and enemies probably know how to deal with it, so in that last scenario flying is less novelty or op and more just another dimension of the game that sometimes comes up. So, overall loved your video, but don't compromise like you did at the end! Flying's just cool.
PS: Another commenter did make a good point I had to think about though. Other than abusive meta-gamers, the only other time I could see flying not being cool is if everyone in the party and many enemies fly but one player's character doesn't fly. Imagine being in an awesome game that you just have to watch fly by while you don't get to participate. In that case, then yes flying wouldn't be good and you'd either have to give the non-flyer some magic item that gives flying or ground the flyers.. so best to avoid that situation unless you're generous with magic items in games and want an all flying game.
Hey! I think you may have missed some of the context around the broken wing thing. I was saying if you still _don't believe me_ about flying being totally fine even at low levels - *talk to your player* about what you guys might do if you think it's causing issues. That way GMs are more likely to try it out because they're not scared they planned a long campaign where everything will suddenly be invalidated (because as we both know, unless it's a gritty low-fantasy game, it won't be 🤷♀️). It's just an Emergency Exit - you'll probably never use it, but it's there just in case. Because I do 100% agree - flying is really awesome and it's really fun to come up with challenges and triumphs for these PCs! 😊
Also I think in the case of a campaign with literally only 1 non-flying PC I'd either 1) be like "Hey, why don't we change your character to fit this party?" or 2) give them either a really cool magic item that allows flight by the end of that first session or have them come up with a background story reason why they have access to the Fly spell. But I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like if a GM does any planning with their party this would never happen?
When I started playing D&D 7-8 years ago, I heard about how "OP" flying PC's were and I ran with it without thought. Then I became DM and gained a different perspective.
Online and in so e groups I've been part of, people would say the same thing and highlight how its even worse at low levels. But then those same DM's throw flying enemies at their players, and I would ask why? What makes a monster different than a player? The ability to fly can be just as crippling to players, so why is it okay to hit players with flying enemies but PC's can't do it themselves? Its neither fair nor fun them.
This was interesting. My thought is that flying adds too much of the supernatural. It's like suddenly the players are superman. I think the more magic you put into a story/game, the harder it is for real people to relate to. The fantasy is that you could almost see yourself doing what's happening in the story, and when people start flying around, you lose that relatability. It might be fun for the players if they want to see the game as a video game, but if they're seriously interested in roleplaying and connecting emotionally with their character, I think taking flight kills that.
Yeah! I think it’s fine to not include flying races if you’re going for realism. I run more high fantasy settings and give my players options for theme appropriate flying ancestries (like Owlin for the feywild). When you give your players options that make sense in the setting, flying doesn’t hurt roleplay one bit.
It's down to the energy you have to cater to one player. Shooting the monk involves the bad guys already in the campaign. Making flying useful but not OP for early levels takes lots more work just to cater to one player. If you do the extra prep and you all have a great game, that's fine. If you don't want to do the extra prep and just tell the players no flight species that's also fine.
Honestly I’ve rarely had to even changed any enemies I’ve used - those enemies just now also have arrows as a weapon option or that monster has an effect that has some range on it 🤷♀️ Once I wasn’t so freaked out about it ruining my game I realized that it takes 5 seconds to do that stuff, not to mention all of the non-combat things flying doesn’t help with at all
@@StephaniePlaysGames1) That's purely combat. If your games are mostly combat, fine. It's already evident in a "shoot the monk" approach that already you can't run prolonged dungeons with a flyer as its a straight nerf. You can't do climbing and leaping challenges to the same extent. You can't do tracking challenges anywhere near as well. 2) Are your players not nerfing minions by dropping directly down onto casters? Are your players not nerfing extra attacks by flying in and out of reasonable range?
@@StephaniePlaysGames I agree you shouldn't freak out about it as it's totally doable. Saying it's 5 seconds to adjust is not true for every campaign (especially published adventures) and not for every player group, as some will automatically use flying in the optimal tactical way.
Thank you for this video! I’ve been trying to make people understand this very simple ideas for a while, yet they won’t listen. Maybe now they will, who knows 😅
I think so much of it boils down to experience! That's literally why I almost did it - *so* many people give this advice that I thought they obviously knew and understood something I didn't! But I've had several flying PCs now with no issues (other than my occasional absentmindedness not realizing something could be easily solved by flight - but I chalk that up as a creative player win! 😂).
Did you just diss my Ravines and Racoons campaign!?
....Can I be a raccoon in this campaign? I'll still fight other raccoon, I just also want TO BE a raccoon 😂
@@StephaniePlaysGames hell yeah!
I am looking for someone to guide the machinations of my Goblin Dr Doom.
F§$% R. Kelly ;P
A am GMing sytems with a lack of flying characters. But if my players wanted to have flying characters who am I to stopp them from living their fantasy. If it would get annoying I would just talk to them, that they pretty please should stopp bothering me or else .. like a normal grownup person would handle that situation 😸
As soon as I realized he wrote that song I was SO MAD 😂 Gotta drop boulders on people sometimes!
And right? I really think that some advice to GMs is so weird! Like you can really just talk to people and let them know how their actions are affecting you - it's okay! That's how friendship works!
@@StephaniePlaysGames Exactly! 😸👍
@@armorclasshero2103 absolutely right. My statement comes from a place of trust and love for my group. It is only right for me and us.
When we play trail of equestria : Yes.
But they wanted to play as licorns or earth poney.
Most classic or pulp fictionnal univers don't have MC that fly.
It's truly only asked when playing a super hero game like Marvel Super Heroes or D&D 5e.
I don't play those games because I don't like corporation led RPG publications.
Btw : Players options is a bad predictor of how good a game is. Most games with dozen of source books end up expensivse and hard to learn. It sells well tho.
P.S. : Yes it truly sounds silly to design a TTRPG game as a bunch of QTE where your plyaer have point at their charracter sheet at the right moment. It's not even role playing since the solution is predetermined. Kinda railroady tbh.
Like I said, it's totally fine to not have PCs that fly in settings where it makes no sense for the theme and style of play 🤷♀️ I curate the list of races for each of my games, and I include flying ones where it makes thematic sense (like the feywild). Most advice is to do a complete blanket ban on flying and most GMs follow that advice without any trial and error or thought put towards it because it's repeated so often.
Oh look the evil wizard is in that Tower, so we have to fight through it to reach them. OOOR we could fly to the top where they resides?
Oh look we need to throw this MacGuffin into the Fire in enemy territory. Just fly over there and drop it in?
Flying on low levels is absolutely broken, since it bypasses many hazards and become untouchable by enemies.
Counterpoint: Why is the evil wizard in a tower when your PCs can fly? Why didn't he hide his lair in a labyrinth of tunnels?
Oh look - here's a macguffin that the PCs need to convince Noble McNobleton to give up (or fight them for) so they can bring it as evidence to the council of the atrocities the evil wizard committed. It's a shame flight can't fix that.
It's not broken, because we _the GMs_ design the encounters and _don't need_ to make things that would instantly be solved with flight.
@@StephaniePlaysGames Why not? Because the World doesn't exist just to cater to the Players Characters. Say for example the Players hire a flying Adventurer and one of them decided to take over that NPC (or on other note one of the player characters died and that player decided to play a flyer now).
Should the Evil Wizard now suddenly move their home from which they were able to do the evil magic the best just because the players now have a flyer?
@@CathrineMacNiel The World isn’t this nebulous and static thing - it’s built and brought to life by the GM. If you designed a bunch of giant adventure arcs that can be easily overcome by flight, that obviously fits into the exceptions I listed right at the start of the video. It’s okay if that’s what you want to play 🤷♀️ Because yeah, you could make an Evil Wizard evading the party and moving his operation underground a ton of fun if you felt like it. It just doesn’t mean that flying is broken if you don’t.
If I get no concentration flight, I can totally break the game... I would never do it, I'm not proud that I can do it, but it's definitely within my powers. 😂
Nice video anyway!
Yeah there’s tons of different ways to break it if a player is insistent on doing that - buttt it’s literally no different than them doing it with any other allowed build 🤷♀️ I’m glad you wouldn’t do it, but for the people that would it’s a player-GM relationship flaw, not a flight flaw!
@@StephaniePlaysGames Flight with no concentration is easily exploitable, so it is a problem by itself, even more on early levels. As a DM I wouldn't allow it freely
@@Bernardonogmo I have and it’s literally cause 0 issues except for a brain blip I had where I forgot said PC could fly 🤷♀️ But that’s on me because I run 3 games and play in 4 and sometimes my brain turns to mush if too many of them overlap
❤❤❤
Yes let them fly. There are ways to deal with it if you want
Exactly! It’s just like any other character feature because we, the GMs, are in charge of how difficult something is 😂
Flying is like drone technologies its a game changer. Mouhahahahahahaah then weather Appen 😁😁 I always let my players fly in to troubles 😋😋
I agree! I think players with flight get themselves into trouble more often than people think! 😂
Gravity is a major element in most worlds. Falling from things or into things is a major element of gameplay.
Let's look at one of the greatest escape scenes in nerddom: Frodo and the Fellowship fleeing the goblins through the mines of Moria. They're running down those stairs and suddenly the stairway collapses! Can they make the jump?
Doesn't matter, Frodo is a cool Arakokra, he just flies over.
Gandalf plumits into the darkness, pulled down by the Balrog. Does Frodo scream "NOOOO!!" and we feel that emotional impact? Nope, Gandalf spreads his wings, flies back up, and they move along.
And why the hell are they walking to Mordor anyway? This whole quest can be avoided by just spreading their wings, flying over Mt. Doom, and tossing the world's tiniest basketball through the world's largest hoop... there's no great war, there's no heroic moments, Frodo is home in time for dinner and Aragorn doesn't even need to come.
I'm sorry, Stephanie, I know you're trying to appeal to the players here who want easy wins over compelling stories, but letting Frodo's player choose "Arakokra" changes the whole 18 hour trilogy to a single after school special with plenty of time for Hot Pockets commercials.
Why did you choose to build and run an encounter for your PC that could simply be overcome by flight?
Why didn't they have a str save for falling debris from the ceiling that knocks them prone?
Why didn't they have a dex save to see if they could help Gandalf before he plummets?
Why does it matter if they fly vs walk - they're going the same speed, it's going to take them the same amount of time to do it?
Again - why can they simply fly up and toss the ring into Mt. Doom? Why is there nothing else in the world that will possibly complicate that? How about some epic Nazgul boss battle?
I'm sorry that I enjoy creativity in my games and planning compelling stories WITH my players in mind. Just because they have a cool ability doesn't mean that everything is an instant win 🤷♀
@@StephaniePlaysGames If they fly vs walk, they don't have to deal with ANY of the hazards they encounter in the entire journey.
They didn't need to save Gandalf because he's also a cool Arakokra.
Specifically countering player abilities like dropping rocks on them just because they can fly is exactly the opposite of what you said to do... "shoot the monk." Are you also dropping those rocks on the grounded players? What happens when a half ton rock falls 200 feet onto a half elf?
The paradigm over the last few years has been for GMs to never say "no," but to always say "Yes, and." But that's pie-in-the-sky thinking. Your players want to win with as little struggle as possible, because they don't realize that the struggle IS the game. They want to play Halo on godmode, they want to install the cheat-room patch for Skyrim, but all that happens is they find the game boring, because there's no way to challenge a player in godmode.
The goal of game design should be to make the players weak, and give them ways to overcome it, not to make them superman and try to find ways to challenge him. Oh, look, more kryptonite, man, are they selling this stuff at the corner store?
I appreciate your video, and I appreciate the work you put into it, and I do appreciate your channel. I've been GMing games for more than 20 years at this point, though... players want to be gods, not realizing that gods don't have fun games to play.
@AJBernard I think you’re turning the topic of flying into 20 different things while missing the entire point of this video. You - the GM - create the scenarios.
If you don’t want it to be easy, design the scenario in a way where it’s not easy. If you want to give a player the chance to shine, design it in a way where they get a chance to shine. This isn’t a movie, this isn’t a novel, this is a TTRPG.
I specifically gave you examples of how you could complicate flying in your LOTR scenario, which is again, a book/movie, not a game of D&D. You wanted the players to have to deal with the staircase crumbling under their feet, so they’d also be making saves like the flying PC dodging rocks. And again - why do they have to get hit by a half ton of rocks???
Also if you really think that all players want is to win with no struggle after 20 years of playing, you either need to find a group that’s actually into playing TTRPGs or you need to reframe things a bit. What people want when they play games is to have _fun_ . Sometimes this means struggling to do something and beating or succumbing to the odds. Other times it means coming up with a really cool and unique idea and passing with flying colors. It’s all about putting obstacles in the way of the PCs and having them attempt to overcome them. The cool thing about Superman is that yeah, he’s super and he can still feel weak and struggle just like any person even without kryptonite. Players want to enjoy their time at their table with their friends, and this can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Like I said right at the top of the video, if gravity is the most important flavor of the type of game you’re running, you don’t have to include flying. But rarely is flying OP in the way they believe it is because we, the GMs, are the ones designing the encounters and the world they’re in 🤷♀️
If Fire Emblem can do it, you can do it. Remember that a flying character can't be behind cover, so they're basically skeet.
Heck yeah! I love Fire Emblem!
I think the real issue of flying for DMs is that it limits encounter or setting design. For example, if the DM wants to run an airship campaign or battle where the risk of falling is very real and deadly, then they might ban flying races because it gets in the way of the level of risk.
See, I think this is super scarcity mindset because those flying characters are at just as much risk of falling! Giving someone a ranged attack that could potentially knock them prone if they fail a save or something would take care of that if they really wanted to introduce that risk 🤷♀ And like I said right at the start of this video - if it doesn't fit the theme of the campaign someone wants to run, then don't do it.
The issue that flying characters pose isn't that they ruin the game for the DM, its that they ruin the game for the players. Many DM's will find creative solutions to challenge and reward flying PCs. The issue is that the "true flying speed" options in 5E (Aarakocra, Owlin, Fairy, and Variant Tiefling) all gain flying at little cost, (they all can't use heavy armor and medium armor while flying. RAW the VT can use medium armor). This becomes such a hard choice for the players not to pick you will have some players choosing one of these even if they don't really like them THAT much. It becomes an even larger issue when 3 out of 4 of your players chose flyers, the grounded person is going to get left out, no matter how hard you try (or you give them a magical flying item, and just invalidate everyone's choices anyway). If taking flying came with a drawback that made players weight the options it would be a bit better.
I'm also not saying that flying should not be allowed at all. I've never ran DnD game where my players didn't fly at some point, either from spells, vehicles, or magic items. What I am saying is that if you are a new DM running your own game or something like a starter set do not let your players bully you into letting them pick a flying race. If you are a new DM your life will be 100 times easier if you just tell your players that for this adventure we will just be picking from the base choices in the players handbook. The always on flying is for the birds.
(also if you do have a power gamer in your group flying is SUPER broken, this is only an issue for like 10% of the players that pick flyers tho, see the rules for dropping things on other things for a taste).
I see a relative capability imbalance when PCs are able to fly from level one. The human wizard can’t do that until they get a 3rd level spell slot (and even then have to forego fireball to use it). So it moves what had been a tier 2 ability down to first level *for some PCs*
This is why I stopped watching Professor DM of Dungeoncraft. His old videos on rules-lite D&D were extremely useful, but moving forward he started posting more and more videos about "BAN FLYING PCS!" and "THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO PLAY D&D AND IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THIS WAY YOU'RE WRONG!" I'll admit that he was molded by earlier editions of the game, but gatekeeping how to play the D&D based on "That's how we've always done it" is poor advice. Long live flying PCs!
Right! Like I _totally_ get it if you’re running low fantasy or gritty/grimdark stuff! But blanket bans are so weird because like you said, there are tons of different ways and styles of play!
I hope you never feel gatekeeped again! There is no wrong way to play!!!
In case prof. DM is reading this I'm a fan of his channel 😂 he introduced me to Mork Borg
I like him well enough. But when he describes his players playing it's like "they run through this area and into the next area and then run from that area" and it's like, is that actually enjoyable for everyone? To skip over everything because there could be a secret timer that just ends the game if you don't get to THE THING.
I unsubscribed from his channel. First of all, he alters core game mechanics (often in ways I don't like) such that it is unrecognizable as D&D. Then, yes-his style of asserting there is only one right way to do things is too obnoxious for me to listen to.
I don't disagree with your larger point: if flying races are allowed at the table, players should be able to pick and enjoy them.
However, I've never run a 5e D&D game that allowed anything other than PHB race options, so I've never had the "issue" of a lvl 1 flying PC.
Yeah! I totally think it’s fine to set that expectation right at the beginning- I always curate a list of player options tailored to each campaign! 😊
I understand the spirit of this, but I disagree completely. Yes-all problems in gaming can be solved through high level GM skill, great communication and the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!!
But that is banal.
As a challenge for gaming, flying characters is a top tier issues as it 1) separates the characters and 2) trivializes most of 2 of the 3 pillars of play (UNLESS the hard-working genius GM constantly comes up with ways to challenge the flying PCs yada yada). It's HARD MODE for the GM, and most GM's don't have the GMing skill to handle it well. And most gaming groups don't have the communication and POWER OF FRIENDSHIP to handle it well, either.
So while there ARE ways to deal with it, I think that being dismissive of this famously hard GMing challenge was a mistake. But it's just a YT video, so not important.
I mean - in a game that generally requires quite a few social skills I don't think it can be overstated enough that communication is really really important 🤷♀️
Also these are issues of flying creating separation and trivialization are touted as universal truths - but this is really just fear based thinking on the part of a lot of GMs. PCs separate from each other _all the time_ without flight - if you have PCs that are rogues or rangers I guarantee that they'll try it. And then they usually learn through experience why they shouldn't do that. Easy peasy.
As for the 2-3 pillars I'm assuming you're talking combat and exploration? Because again, I heartily disagree with that assessment and think it's just been repeated so often that it's taken as gospel which is exactly why I almost fell into that trap. I was literally a first time DM and let a PC choose a flying race and I'm not a genius - it really just took small tweaks to keep things interesting. With combat you literally can reskin tons of things to be flying creatures, not to mention there are casters, arrows, etc. like I mentioned in the video. So that takes all of 2 seconds to create even just basic enemies that can reach them so they can't rain down arrows with impunity. Another totally separate issue is what people think the exploration pillar is vs what it actually is. You're talking about travel which isn't what exploration is (although it can be!). Yes, flight can invalidate a lot of routine, kind of boring travel roadblocks - for the flier. Guess who's friends still need help dealing with them? Yes, flight can help that person scout - guess who still needs to make checks all the same just as if they were a character on foot scouting ahead?
So if the DM can't use communication and THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP - that's not flight's fault 💁♀️ And blaming things on flight as opposed to having an opportunity mindset and learning and growing as a GM so that we can make cooler game experiences for ourselves and our friends is doing ourselves a disservice. Again - I actually don't think it's famously hard, I think that people just parrot advice they hear without trying things for themselves.
@@armorclasshero2103 You know that’s not true right? High CR flying creatures have more ranged attacks, higher level abilities and stats. There are sub 1 CR flying creatures and the best part of being a GM is that you can reflavor anything you want to fly including low CR creatures.
Flying is very op at early levels which is where most campaigns take place. Most of your encounters are going to be ground monsters and any trap is rendered useless. It makes the flyer seem very mary sue powerful compared to the rest of the party. There is a reason druids don't get flying creatures to turn into until high levels. Any low lvl module u are running would need completely rewritten and not just a few nano seconds like you make it seem so trivial. Which would defeat the main reason most people use modules to begin with because they don't want to spend the time doing it.
Actually you can make your early monsters and encounters anything - so you really get to decide how OP it is yourself 🤷♀️ Like I said in the video, it takes 3 seconds to alter existing things from modules
@StephaniePlaysGames but it doesn't. Sure give those monsters in the prewriten adventure flying when they didn't have it. Ow now only the one magic user and the flyer can hit them woops now need to figure out how to fix that so the other 4 players arnt just standing around for the combat. Again would just make the flyer the main character syndrome. It is so much more than a 3 second fix and other things you need to take into consideration. If you are homebrewing already you can easily take it into account but if using something pre-written then it's more of a headache than is necessary.
The editing is wearing me out, all those quick cuts is hard to watch, at least for me.
I do agree especially the two different zoom levels. Most have the time i have to just listen can't watch. L
Obviously flying isn't broken, although I'm sure the title gets you a lot of clicks.
What's OP is having it at first level, as an aarakocra does. There's a reason Fly is a 3rd level spell. As they advance in lvl it's natural they get more powerful, flying being one of many powers gained.
@@shadomain7918 New GMs are literally told constantly that flying ancestries are broken by people who’ve never run a game with one in their life 🤷♀️ It’s really only as OP as you, the GM, make it.
@@StephaniePlaysGames There's nothing I can do as a GM to make abilities over or under powered, that's not what the term means. The system is the system. An ability is overpowered because the PC that can fly at 1st level has far more power than all the PCs that can't. And not in a "magic missile is better than a long sword" way. Flying at 1st level, RAW is more powerful than any other PC ability.
@@shadomain7918 You 100% can because you literally are the one making every encounter?? Like the encounters you make and run determine how relevant allllll of the PCs skill sets are. This isn’t a static board game, the system is scaffolding.
Actually flying is a big deal. It makes a huge part of the game irrelevant. Walls, rivers. Tons of exploration. I agree, it can add a cool dimension to the game.
News Flash, nothing is broken in D&D. DM's need to get over the fact they are not supposed to win.
(I agree, I think the point of D&D is having fun with your buddies)
Apologies for my bluntness. Please don't use vocal fry on YT videos. Otherwise, your content is good. Again, I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the style choice doesn't work well on recorded media. I'll gladly delete this post if it offends anyone.
This is my god-given voice, so no.