... was guest playing in a campaign yesterday, where the party had just turned level 8. The Druid was ecstatic that he could wildshape into an Owl and could scout the enemy army they were tracking..
...2 lessons that he learned in the first 10 minutes of spotting the army..
Owl's flying in broad daylight in the middle of a desert can be quite suspicious...
........second lesson he learned was that Druids dont get Feather Fall... and Owls have 1 HP...
We had a solid laugh at the table, but then it dawned on me... I don't think ive ever played a Druid where I went out of my way to get access to Feather Fall.. but then again I've never gotten shot out of the sky and died before combat started.
Does anyone prioritize getting Feather Fall or a means of mitigating Death-Falls if they know they'll get access to flying beasts?
I've never heard of anyone doing it, but I'm sure at least some people do. Probably not a bad idea if enemies have shown a propensity for shooting down flying creatures, but it's often not super necessary.
That’s the reason why I’m very careful with the Fly spell! If you lose concentration and you’re flying you fall hard! Levitate is much safer even though it’s not as useful as Fly is.
I don't think punishing players is really what the DM should ever be up to. Of course there should be challenges, but the guy deciding those challenges shouldn't be analyzing the potential solutions and breaking those, or worse, breaking a solution you didn't expect while they're using it.
Sure owls don't spend a lot of time during the day flying around, but guards don't spend a lot of time and ammunition shooting at everything that moves. I didn't say anything when this post was new, but I really have a distaste for encouraging this adversarial type of play.
If the players came up with a solution and you don't like them using it, you're just stifling your players. That isn't the kind of DM I'd want to play with.
While it sounds like it played out as just a mistake, and people still had fun, I think the DM really should have hinted that an owl might be a strange choice if they were going to then shoot at it, as there are plenty of things that a player might not think of, but that their character would, especially in theatre of the mind games where it can be easy to forget about your environment, whereas a Druid wading through a desert in blistering heat wouldn't.
Same reason why DM's shouldn't rely on players solving a puzzle too much, or at least allow them to roll intelligence checks for clues/solutions; as you might have a player that isn't great at problem solving or riddles, but wants to play as a Wizard who would be.
The Druid could also play more cautiously; flying at a height where they won't easily be spotted (or at least be at long range for weapons) or sticking near to cover and only using the flight for mobility. So I don't think it's critical that a Druid have feather fall for themselves; can't hurt though.
Come to think of it, this could be a not horrible reason to take 4 levels in Monk.
Or just can one more level as a Druid so you can cast Freedom of the Winds or Summon Draconic Spirit. Or 3 more levels and you can cast Investiture of Wind. 4 levels of Monk is a lot of investment just to avoid falling.
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... was guest playing in a campaign yesterday, where the party had just turned level 8. The Druid was ecstatic that he could wildshape into an Owl and could scout the enemy army they were tracking..
...2 lessons that he learned in the first 10 minutes of spotting the army..
Owl's flying in broad daylight in the middle of a desert can be quite suspicious...
........second lesson he learned was that Druids dont get Feather Fall... and Owls have 1 HP...
We had a solid laugh at the table, but then it dawned on me... I don't think ive ever played a Druid where I went out of my way to get access to Feather Fall.. but then again I've never gotten shot out of the sky and died before combat started.
Does anyone prioritize getting Feather Fall or a means of mitigating Death-Falls if they know they'll get access to flying beasts?
I've never heard of anyone doing it, but I'm sure at least some people do. Probably not a bad idea if enemies have shown a propensity for shooting down flying creatures, but it's often not super necessary.
That’s the reason why I’m very careful with the Fly spell! If you lose concentration and you’re flying you fall hard! Levitate is much safer even though it’s not as useful as Fly is.
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That's why a Druid shouldn't be flying close enough to easily get shot. And, ummm, try to blend in better with the local wildlife.
Come to think of it, this could be a not horrible reason to take 4 levels in Monk.
I don't think punishing players is really what the DM should ever be up to. Of course there should be challenges, but the guy deciding those challenges shouldn't be analyzing the potential solutions and breaking those, or worse, breaking a solution you didn't expect while they're using it.
Sure owls don't spend a lot of time during the day flying around, but guards don't spend a lot of time and ammunition shooting at everything that moves. I didn't say anything when this post was new, but I really have a distaste for encouraging this adversarial type of play.
If the players came up with a solution and you don't like them using it, you're just stifling your players. That isn't the kind of DM I'd want to play with.
While it sounds like it played out as just a mistake, and people still had fun, I think the DM really should have hinted that an owl might be a strange choice if they were going to then shoot at it, as there are plenty of things that a player might not think of, but that their character would, especially in theatre of the mind games where it can be easy to forget about your environment, whereas a Druid wading through a desert in blistering heat wouldn't.
Same reason why DM's shouldn't rely on players solving a puzzle too much, or at least allow them to roll intelligence checks for clues/solutions; as you might have a player that isn't great at problem solving or riddles, but wants to play as a Wizard who would be.
The Druid could also play more cautiously; flying at a height where they won't easily be spotted (or at least be at long range for weapons) or sticking near to cover and only using the flight for mobility. So I don't think it's critical that a Druid have feather fall for themselves; can't hurt though.
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Or just can one more level as a Druid so you can cast Freedom of the Winds or Summon Draconic Spirit. Or 3 more levels and you can cast Investiture of Wind. 4 levels of Monk is a lot of investment just to avoid falling.