Summary
From the many skills players can earn during aDungeons & Dragonscampaign, flying can be the most problematic, even if it tends to be sought after by most people. Without proper limitations, players could end up flying out of reach of most enemies, all while casting their own spells from relative safety.
But it doesn’t have to be all bad; in fact, flying can add a lot of depth to combat and how we think about encounters in general. Just be sure to be mindful of your player’s abilities, giving them places to go with all the vertical movement they have.
8Use More Social Encounters
Sometimes All You Need Is A Break From Combat
While your player’s ability to fly might be frustrating, there are times when a session devoid of combat is the best answer. It can work as a palette cleanser, letting you have fresher ideas for traps and fights where your players can use the full extent of their wings.
Flying can still bepart of a social gathering, and it’s easier to add to it, depending on your goal. Here are a few examples of how to do it:
7Have Players Fly Like Planes, Not Helicopters
Make Them Earn Their Wings
While this won’t cover every single way a player can fly, the most common (and permanent) way players take to the skies is with bird-like wings. A rule you can add for them is that, for them to stay in the sky, they have to be continuously moving; stand still, and plummet to the ground.
This way, casters andRangers will have to leavetheir secure locations all the time, and if the player forgets to move, you have an easy way to punish them. Just remember to have them move more than three squares, otherwise they’d just be shifting from one adjacent point to the other.
6Avoid Having All Players Flying
They Can Ground Each Other
Players have different tastes and ways of playing the game, so in the same way, you rarely see aparty of five Barbarians; it’s also rare for everyone to know how to fly. The usual way in which entire parties take to the skies is thanks to the Dungeon Masters and the magical items or mounts that they give as rewards.
If you keep most of the party on the ground, then the players that can fly will eventually need to come down to where everyone is. Now, if you don’t have a way to avoid everyone flying, consider setting the campaign in areas exclusive to them, like mountaintops or floating islands.
5Use Flying Mounts For Players That Can’t Fly
You Can Always Take Them Back Later
While it’s best not to have the entire party flying, you might have a set piece in mind that involves a lot of air time. You don’t want your other players to feel left behind, but you also don’t want to give them a permanent way to get to the sky, so this is where mounts come in.
Having the other players either rent or borrow flying creatures as mounts can even the playing field, letting everyone experience the content just as you envisioned. Then, once you’re done with that section, you can take the mounts back and have everyone at the status quo, no unbalancing harm done.
4Integrate Flight Into Encounters
Works Best When Only A Single Player Can Fly
While Dungeon Masters can struggle with balancing a fight with flight, what players struggle with is having meaningless wings, and that’s often the worst out of the two. The point of Dungeons & Dragons is to have fun while fulfilling a fantasy, so you want to give players moments to shine doing whatever it is they want to do.
Particularly in parties where there’s a single player that flies, you want to give that player small moments to shine without stealing the spotlight too much. Here are a few examples:
3Have Enemies Fly
Even The Playing Field
If most or all your players can fly, this is the most obvious way you can deal with it: enemies that can go up to the sky and bring them down. In this case, you want your units to fly like helicopters since airborne players have more options than their enemies do.
The ultimate challenge for the apathy of fliers is a Dragon, which can be a great way to humble your players and rethink their situation. With their breath weapons and air superiority, most players would rather flee and fight these majestic creatures the normal way: ambushing them at their lair.
2Have Ranged Units Prioritize Flying Targets
There’s No Cover In The Sky
If you really want a flying player to stop living in the clouds, a rain of arrows will usually do the trick. This is one of the best ways to balance simple encounters since most enemy groups have some form of ranged attacker, and players in the air have little in the way of cover.
You can even have encounters with multiple cover areas, where the flying player has a unique choice: stay grounded, safe, and in cover, or take to the sky, where they’ll be vulnerable but with a clear sight of their enemies.
1Give Enemies Crippling Attacks And Nets
Adapt Their Kits To The Situation
When all is said and done, it isn’t that hard to take a flying player down. Enemies that can cause crippling effects could aim for the player’s wings, rendering them useless for the time being and even taking considerable damage from plummeting to the ground.
An even simpler solution is a net, and no player can argue with you that a net will prevent most forms of flight. Giving enemies nets is simple enough, particularly if it involves an enemy faction that the party has faced before; they’re simply adapting to what the players can do in the simplest way possible.
