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It’s finally happened: you have been convincing your friends for months to try D&D. You won them over with statements like:
“You can do anything you want!”
“Let your imagination run wild!”
“Take a fun break from normal life!”
But when they show up to play, they talk about wanting to play a flying character, some fallen angel or bird person, and you quickly respond back, “Oh, sorry, no flying PC’s”.
And immediately their childlike wonder fades. You might not see it, a lot of people are polite, but they are bummed.
If given the choice, people’s preferred superpower is flight, and even before Icarus humanity dreamed of taking to the skies. I’m not saying you need a world with no rules, that would be chaos. But when you present a magical world full of fantasy and adventure, a lot of people are going to want to fly, even at low levels.
And as a DM, I think you should want it too!
Sure you can’t use a classic “chasm puzzle” but you can create new puzzles that specifically require a flying party member. You can grin sinisterly every time the PC flies up in the air to scout, knowing for a brief but critical few rounds they have split the party. And besides, in a few levels they’ll just be casting flight spells and teleporting everywhere; don’t you want people to use flight while it still matters?
So, to encourage reasonably cautious DM’s and help our players longing to spread their wings, I present suggestions to balance out low level flying playable characters.
Gotta Spread the Wings
First of all, the “flying PC’s” I am speaking of are ones with some form of wings, not by pure magical power. I am not advocating a third level spell for first level players. That presents a limited number of options ranging across multiple source books. These winged abilities are far from uniform: varying in level, speeds, duration, etc.
Races:
Variant Tiefling Race (Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, 118)
Aarakocra Race (Elemental Evil Players Companion, 5)
Protector Aasimar Race (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, 105)
Additionally, several classes provide PC’s the ability to fly at higher levels:
Druid Class, Wild Shape Ability (Players Hand Book, 66)
Draconic Sorcerer Class (Players Hand Book, 103)
Oath of Vengeance Paladin Class (Players Hand Book, 88).
But I think there are several missing from the list that can be homebrewed!
Why shouldn’t a Pact of the Fiend Warlock or divine souls sorcerer be granted wings by otherworldly beings? Or take it a step further: why shouldn’t a tinker gnome build a Leonardo Da Vinci flying wing contraption? And I find downright CRAZY that a druid cannot fly until 8th level, or that all dragon born have a breath weapon but none sprout wings? Come on.
These are all reasonable observations that, to new and old players alike, deserve a polite discussion with the DM.
But the problem that experienced players and Wizards of the Coast notice is not the thematic logic but balance.
Balance is what makes the game fun, fair, and approachable for everyone at the table. And adding flight can turn a balanced PC into a demi-god adventuring with a party of mortals, and no one wants that.
So when discussing flight with your players, how do you balance it out? What concessions do you offer?
The Cons of Flight in D&D
First of all, when it comes to winged creatures, understand that it’s not all fun and games: there are inherent limitations. Especially any time underground, which will likely happen often since the word “Dungeon” is literally in the name of the game.
But don’t forget the not-so-great indoors! Having wings inside is a liability, providing space for other characters to shine.
Say they are in a nice magic shop with their big bulky wings. Have them roll a sleight of hand check and … whoops...their wings just knocked over some priceless item. Guess the party wizard isn’t getting that staff after all.
Furthermore, unlike magical flying, winged creatures can’t just float in mid-air; they have to flap to keep themselves up. Which means that any spell, any save, anything that causes a PC to not be able to use their wings means they fall right out of the sky. And falling damage is really, REALLY deady in 5e: 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. Even falling from a mere 30ft results in an average of 21 points of damage. That will down a lot of spell casters third level or lower, and that’s assuming they started with all their HP.
Using D&D Rules to Balance
But those limitations will obviously present themselves in a situation. There are more ways built into the game that a DM can limit a PC’s flying ability. I have divided them into two categories: Environment and Combat.
Environment
The environment naturally creates hazards to flying.
During any form of bad weather it is usually better to be close to the ground than above it. If there is a thunderstorm they could get struck by lightning. If it's a blizzard they could take frost damage. But also, there is just the wind itself!
Remember that scene in Deadpool (spoilers ahead...but it premiered like 5 years ago so whatever), where everyone died parachuting due to high winds?
Use that.
Of course be fair: indicate the hazard ahead of time. But if they still choose to take off, make good on the threat. Give them a rough time, something like disadvantage on every check. That will cause most players to think twice before they carelessly take to the skies.
Combat
The simplest solution is adding enemies with ranged damage capabilities: slings, bows, javelins, ranged spells, etc.
Granted, it can be a little lame to suddenly have every encounter include five archers when last campaign they were few and far between. But having them in every other encounter adds some flavor to battle.
And if the enemies know they are coming, why not throw a net, prepare a trap, or suspend a wire they can run into? And if the flying PC is a caster with material components, maybe have them roll a slight of hand check to pull out their material while twirling through the air. If they fail, well, no spell that turn.
The bottom line is that flying complicates things for you, but it can also complicate things for them. And in my opinion, that just creates inherently more interesting encounters for the entire party.
Homebrew Some Balance
But in a game where technically all rules are optional, there is no reason not to do a little homebrewing. Definitely be picky here: watch out for meta-gaming players who want to combine flight with spell sniper or a longbow.
Here are a few suggestions to start, for you to mix and match:
Flanking: Allow flanking rules for long ranged weapons on flying creatures. After all, it’s harder to dodge an arrow coming from the right when you are facing the left. Providing advantage increases the odds of turning them into a pincushion.
Easy Target: With wings outspread, your PC is about the size of two other medium sized creatures. Add an additional +2 to every ranged attack roll made against them while they are in the air.
Consume Spell Slots: if the wings are magical, have them use magic! How many paladins will fly if they have to give up all their smites until the next long rest? How many druids will sacrifice precious slots just to scout as an owl?
Exhaustion: Flying is tiring! Try applying the rage mechanic from the Berserker Barbarian. They can keep choosing to fly, but each time they do before a long rest they take a level of exhaustion.
Weight: Awfully hard to fly if you are weighed down. Reduce their carrying capacity/armor options, or begin reducing how high and fast they can fly. Is a PC with wings worth it if their flying speed is only 15ft?
NOTE: Concerning Aarakocra, they basically have nothing but flying. So if you nerf flying further, be sure to compensate with additional racial abilities!
Conclusion: Give it a try!
People want to fly in a fantastical world, but people fear flying at low levels will break the game. I have provided numerous reasons and methods for implementing flying in a balanced, but still fun, way. If nothing I have offered suits your fancy but you still want to give it a try, use the flying races WOTC have provided as a template and go from there.
Of course, the choice is up to you and your table. But I encourage you and your players to dialogue and count the cost as together you make trades and concessions. Not for the sake of ruining their magical dreams, but simply so everyone can have fun together.
Meet the Blogger
Riley R.
@RileyJamesCopy
Based out of San Diego, Riley is a freelance copywriter and very, VERY amateur philosopher. He is thankful to be applying his passion for imaginative role-playing to help D&D related businesses communicate their value in the best way possible. It's kinda like a bard giving inspiration, except without the annoying pop covers.