So, excepting the obvious aarakocra or winged teiflings who get it from the off, when do players typically get to fly? I know the Fly spell would do it, but I'm guessing other classes and combos are out there to achieve it as well! I'm trying to balance a class which offers flying, and I don't want to make it too early or too late!
Some races get short term flight at around 3rd level, like Protector Aasimar and Gem Dragonborn (5th level), which they can activate on an action or BA, and grants flight for like a minute.
I think those are the only ways to get flight outside the spell Fly.
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Usually 5th or 6th level. There are a couple of exceptions, but they’re very limited. Real flight usually starts when PCs have access to the Fly spell.
No one gets to fly, at any level, unless they get a trait, feature, spell or power letting them. Some character gets one at level 1, some at 5, others never.
The other option is flying mounts. Drake Warden's drakes can be used as a flying mount at level 7. That's built into the class.
There's nothing stopping you from having a game world where flying mounts, or even airships, are a common phenomenon; but that would be your world setting specific, and ubiquitious or easy flight is not something most published adventures consider.
My sense is level 7 you can allow for flight. I also use some rules from an issue of Arcadia that make aerial combat a little more complex/tougher, in that there is more to do than simply move and attack.
With Tasha's, a druid can gain scouting and transit abilities of flight at second level either with two uses of wildshape or with one and a potential use of a trained bird. One use of wildshape accesses a familiar and the second use turns you into something small enough to be carried. My druid has telepathic feat and was allowed to do this with our wizard's familiar.
I have the feeling that level 7 is about right, as well, though there are outliers. An alchemist Artificer can get really slow flight at level 3 with one of their elixirs.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
general feeling I'm getting here is that we're looking at level 7 or so for flight then,which is about where I was going to be aiming (the class will only work for even numbers, so I'll go for level 6).
The Genie warlock gets very powerful tactical flight at sixth level, more-or-less equivalent to the Flight spell, but they don't get permanent uptime. Only a small number of ten-minute bursts per day. Somewhere around fifth to seventh level seems fair, depending on how limited the flight is. I hesitate to point to sorcerers as an example since most sorcerer subclasses suck nuts and there are species that get permanent forever flight from level zero. It all really depends on what your goals are and what you're doing with this flight speed.
A lot will depend on the type of flight and especially on how available it is. Fly is available from level 5 on, but it's limited by concentration and spell slots. If it's a class ability that's always-on and doesn't require concentration it arguably should wait until a later level. Level 7 has been floated as appropriate by a few people, that sounds like a good ballpark number to start from to me, but it's going to be the specifics of the ability that will determine what level to (excuse the pun) land on.
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A lot will depend on the type of flight and especially on how available it is. Fly is available from level 5 on, but it's limited by concentration and spell slots. If it's a class ability that's always-on and doesn't require concentration it arguably should wait until a later level. Level 7 has been floated as appropriate by a few people, that sounds like a good ballpark number to start from to me, but it's going to be the specifics of the ability that will determine what level to (excuse the pun) land on.
It's basically wings, so it would be on except in confined spaces and when restrained/unconscious/paralyzed/petrified/incapacitated/wearing armour/carrying heavy things
hadn't thought about the space thing until now, adding that momentarily
This might be perhaps the dumbest idea you may ever hear, but what if you were to scale how long you could fly with level? That way you could give the class flight at lower levels without having it become too powerful and at later levels have the duration lengthen. But that's just my two coppers. And of course, I'm saying this with the assumption the class is centered on flying stuffs. :p
Of course this doesn't really answer the question, by which I mean not at all, and I apologize for that.
This might be perhaps the dumbest idea you may ever hear, but what if you were to scale how long you could fly with level? That way you could give the class flight at lower levels without having it become too powerful and at later levels have the duration lengthen. But that's just my two coppers. And of course, I'm saying this with the assumption the class is centered on flying stuffs. :p
Of course this doesn't really answer the question, by which I mean not at all, and I apologize for that.
Honestly this is the way it should be....to me the fact a level 1 character can fly (30 ft is bad IMO but 50 ft?? That is nuts....) with no real resource burn is so huge to me.
I know I might be in the minority that believes PC flight is really an issue but dang nabbit I am not a fan....
I can't think of other racial abilites that fundementally change how you build your world like flight.
I would make it:
Levels 1-4: you can fly up to your speed in a single turn (meaning a max of 30ft of flight total) but will fall at the end of your turn. Once per day you can fly up to 10 minutes at your speed .
Levels 5-9: you can fly up to your speed each turn. You no longer fall at the end of your turn. You can dash with your fly speed. You can fly up to your speed for 10 minutes a number of times equal to your PB
Levels 10+: You gain fly speed with no further limitation.
With this I would add a feature (or two for aarockra) to balance back. I would likely give aarockra perception skill and gust cantrip.
The other option is flying mounts. Drake Warden's drakes can be used as a flying mount at level 7. That's built into the class.
No, the drake can fly at L7, but not a a mount. You have to wait until L15 for it to fly while you are mounted.
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The other option is flying mounts. Drake Warden's drakes can be used as a flying mount at level 7. That's built into the class.
No, the drake can fly at L7, but not a a mount. You have to wait until L15 for it to fly while you are mounted.
Pretty sure they're referring to the loophole that the flying only doesn't work when the ranger is mounted. His gnome wizard buddy can fly on it with no problem. But yeah, that's a bad case because we're talking about the intentions behind the rules and that example is clearly trying to block PC flight at level 7.
On the other hand, you've got Twilight clerics and Genie warlocks flying at level 6, and Swarm rangers with very limited flying at 7. Since fly comes into play at 5, DMs need to be ready for flight by then anyway.
Overall it varies greatly depending on what you look at, so you can come to one of two conclusions:
Classes/subclasses are balanced holistically, with powerful features like flight offsetting weaker features elsewhere
Balance isn't a huge priority with existing 5e subclasses so don't worry about it
I feel like now they are at least improving racial balance from UA to published....which is good.
The UA versions of the flying races were pretty much just Aarocockra+ IMO.... granted they got less flying speed but once you are flying and above 10ft most medium or large creatures can't hit you anyway so its not as if the slower speed is that much of an issue IMO.
Flight by itself is a very powerful feature that I think people hand wave its importance but even the so called counters to it end up being game defining changes....I have never had to be in a campaign where every single encounter had a ranged attacker or every other encounter was in a 5ft tall by 10ft wide hallway to keep my character "in check".
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So, excepting the obvious aarakocra or winged teiflings who get it from the off, when do players typically get to fly? I know the Fly spell would do it, but I'm guessing other classes and combos are out there to achieve it as well! I'm trying to balance a class which offers flying, and I don't want to make it too early or too late!
Thanks!
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Some races get short term flight at around 3rd level, like Protector Aasimar and Gem Dragonborn (5th level), which they can activate on an action or BA, and grants flight for like a minute.
I think those are the only ways to get flight outside the spell Fly.
"The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You're the DM, and you are in charge of the game" - Dungeon Masters Guide
Usually 5th or 6th level. There are a couple of exceptions, but they’re very limited. Real flight usually starts when PCs have access to the Fly spell.
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No one gets to fly, at any level, unless they get a trait, feature, spell or power letting them. Some character gets one at level 1, some at 5, others never.
A lot of the Sorcerer Subclasses get flight around level 14, so if you want to have a class that offers flight, that would seem to be the sweet spot.
Or magic items that work like Fly.
The other option is flying mounts. Drake Warden's drakes can be used as a flying mount at level 7. That's built into the class.
There's nothing stopping you from having a game world where flying mounts, or even airships, are a common phenomenon; but that would be your world setting specific, and ubiquitious or easy flight is not something most published adventures consider.
My sense is level 7 you can allow for flight. I also use some rules from an issue of Arcadia that make aerial combat a little more complex/tougher, in that there is more to do than simply move and attack.
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With Tasha's, a druid can gain scouting and transit abilities of flight at second level either with two uses of wildshape or with one and a potential use of a trained bird. One use of wildshape accesses a familiar and the second use turns you into something small enough to be carried. My druid has telepathic feat and was allowed to do this with our wizard's familiar.
I have the feeling that level 7 is about right, as well, though there are outliers. An alchemist Artificer can get really slow flight at level 3 with one of their elixirs.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
general feeling I'm getting here is that we're looking at level 7 or so for flight then,which is about where I was going to be aiming (the class will only work for even numbers, so I'll go for level 6).
Thanks for the feedback!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
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I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
The Genie warlock gets very powerful tactical flight at sixth level, more-or-less equivalent to the Flight spell, but they don't get permanent uptime. Only a small number of ten-minute bursts per day. Somewhere around fifth to seventh level seems fair, depending on how limited the flight is. I hesitate to point to sorcerers as an example since most sorcerer subclasses suck nuts and there are species that get permanent forever flight from level zero. It all really depends on what your goals are and what you're doing with this flight speed.
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A lot will depend on the type of flight and especially on how available it is. Fly is available from level 5 on, but it's limited by concentration and spell slots. If it's a class ability that's always-on and doesn't require concentration it arguably should wait until a later level. Level 7 has been floated as appropriate by a few people, that sounds like a good ballpark number to start from to me, but it's going to be the specifics of the ability that will determine what level to (excuse the pun) land on.
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It's basically wings, so it would be on except in confined spaces and when restrained/unconscious/paralyzed/petrified/incapacitated/wearing armour/carrying heavy things
hadn't thought about the space thing until now, adding that momentarily
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
This might be perhaps the dumbest idea you may ever hear, but what if you were to scale how long you could fly with level? That way you could give the class flight at lower levels without having it become too powerful and at later levels have the duration lengthen. But that's just my two coppers. And of course, I'm saying this with the assumption the class is centered on flying stuffs. :p
Of course this doesn't really answer the question, by which I mean not at all, and I apologize for that.
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Honestly this is the way it should be....to me the fact a level 1 character can fly (30 ft is bad IMO but 50 ft?? That is nuts....) with no real resource burn is so huge to me.
I know I might be in the minority that believes PC flight is really an issue but dang nabbit I am not a fan....
I can't think of other racial abilites that fundementally change how you build your world like flight.
I would make it:
Levels 1-4: you can fly up to your speed in a single turn (meaning a max of 30ft of flight total) but will fall at the end of your turn. Once per day you can fly up to 10 minutes at your speed .
Levels 5-9: you can fly up to your speed each turn. You no longer fall at the end of your turn. You can dash with your fly speed. You can fly up to your speed for 10 minutes a number of times equal to your PB
Levels 10+: You gain fly speed with no further limitation.
With this I would add a feature (or two for aarockra) to balance back. I would likely give aarockra perception skill and gust cantrip.
No, the drake can fly at L7, but not a a mount. You have to wait until L15 for it to fly while you are mounted.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Pretty sure they're referring to the loophole that the flying only doesn't work when the ranger is mounted. His gnome wizard buddy can fly on it with no problem. But yeah, that's a bad case because we're talking about the intentions behind the rules and that example is clearly trying to block PC flight at level 7.
On the other hand, you've got Twilight clerics and Genie warlocks flying at level 6, and Swarm rangers with very limited flying at 7. Since fly comes into play at 5, DMs need to be ready for flight by then anyway.
Overall it varies greatly depending on what you look at, so you can come to one of two conclusions:
It's probably a bit of both.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I feel like now they are at least improving racial balance from UA to published....which is good.
The UA versions of the flying races were pretty much just Aarocockra+ IMO.... granted they got less flying speed but once you are flying and above 10ft most medium or large creatures can't hit you anyway so its not as if the slower speed is that much of an issue IMO.
Flight by itself is a very powerful feature that I think people hand wave its importance but even the so called counters to it end up being game defining changes....I have never had to be in a campaign where every single encounter had a ranged attacker or every other encounter was in a 5ft tall by 10ft wide hallway to keep my character "in check".