Aarakocra Flight

While traveling on foot aarakocra when can move no better than the smaller races like dwarves and halflings. When in flight however they are able to cover much greater distances. The fragile bird men are not able to flap their wings all day long, however. In order to stay aloft for 10 hours a day an aarakocra needs to climb to great heights and glide for significantly long stretches at a time. Gliding takes advantage of this great height by using wind currents, the thermals that rise from the hot desert floor and any other number of environmental conditions the DM may decide to come up with.

All these factors give Aarakocra characters a base MP rating of 72 when flying and when prepared to climb to these great heights for the entire 10hour day.

While the flying rules in the section are designed for aarakocra PCs most of what is included can also be used for other NPC or PC flyers such as Kenku, Pterrax-riding Pterrans and others.

Since wind is effectively the terrain for the sky the movement points for the character need to be modified for it. I was daunted by the prospect of coming up with a wind/weather system to affect flying characters. Especially so since I am sure bigger and better rules are available in other supplements. What I've come up with is a conglomeration of information from the PHB, DMG mixed in with my own thoughts and those of Dark Sun Mailing List contributors.

Some on the DS list felt Aarakocra characters should be able to huge distances, but I felt that 72 miles per day was adequate. This keeps them using in the mechanic of overland miles equals double normal movement rate as all other races. This base number can be easily modified by individual DMs to suit the needs of their game. DMs that feel aarakocra should be able to travel higher and farther can increase the base from 72 to as high as they wish.

Determining Conditions

The following chart gives us lists wind speed and direction and are determined randomly or by the DM. Wind strength is rolled with a d12 and direction a d4 with the results shown on the table above.

Movement Cost for flying characters based on wind conditions Table - A

Wind Force (MPH)		Head-Wind		Cross-Wind		Tail-Wind
	Weather Roll	( 1 )		( 2 or 3 )		( 4 )
		MP	MC	MP	MC	MP	MC
Light Breeze (2-7)	1-2	66	1.09	84	0.86	72	1
Moderate Breeze (8-18)	3-5	60	1.2	78	0.92	84	0.86
Strong Breeze (19-31)	6-8	48	1.5	72	1	96	0.75
Gale *1 hp/hour (32-54)	9-10	24	3	48	1.5	108	0.67
Storm*1 hp/turn (55-72)	11-12	12	6	24	3	120	0.6
Hurricane*1 hp/round (73-176)	12**	6	12	12	6	132	0.55

** On the second consecutive day of gale force or stronger winds a roll of 12 indicates hurricane force winds.

This complex system can be greatly simplified by assuming strong breeze for all occasions give flying aarakocra characters 48, 72 or 96 MPs per day depending on wind direction

The number of MPs available AND the Movement Cost have been listed so DMs can easily adjust their base rate from 72 higher and lower. If 72 MPs is going to be the base movement for aarakocra in your campaign there is no need to use the MC entry.

Wind Damage

When flying in Gale force winds or higher a flying aarakocra suffers one hit point of damage per hour, turn or round as listed above. This wind damage is from torn or damaged muscles and bones and abrasion by debris. This ensures that tougher characters are able to withstand harsher conditions for longer amounts of time.

The Hazards of Flight

I would put falling from the sky from a few thousand feet a "substantial hazard. When damaged Aarakocra have trouble remaining in flight. The DMG has this to say about flying when injured.

Any winged creature that loses more than 50% of its hit points cannot sustain itself in the air and must land as soon as possible. The creature can glide safely to the ground, but cannot gain altitude or fly faster than half its normal movement rate. If no safe landing point is available, the creature is just out of luck. Since the circumstances of a crash landing can vary greatly, the exact handling of the situation is left to the DM. The falling rules may come in handy, though a vivid imagination may be even more helpful.

This light-hearted bit of reading is quite appropriate for an aarakocra when injured in flight. But what happens when it's injured significantly more than 50%. If reduced to less than one quarter of his maximum hit points an Aarakocra can't remain in the air any longer. That is to say, they remain in the air until they stop falling through it, hit the ground, and suffer falling damage of 1d6 per 10 feet of altitude to a maximum of 20d6 (as per the DMG). As the character attempts to stabilize this fall and pull up from the plummet a dexterity check at -4 is made to regain some level of control. Success indicates the fall has been turned into a controlled crash and damage is halved. While crashing, the Aarakocra can attempt to protect himself and a saving throw versus breath weapons reduces falling damage to half again. If the initial dexterity check fails there is no saving throw possible and damage is at 1d6 per 10 feet of the fall.

Combat

There are more ways to be injured in flight than just weather. The most likely injuries to flying Aarakocra come from aerial encounters with hostile predators. During a long flight a DM can roll on the random encounter tables or choose an appropriate encounter from the aerial encounter table found below.

Notes about the encounters

It is important to remember that when an encounter is called for it is indeed an encounter rather than a fight. Low-level characters that run into a Greater Air Elemental, for example, aren't necessarily history. Contrary to popular belief, random encounters aren't always random bloodshed. Now a hungry Cloud Ray is another matter entirely . . .

Another point to remember is that the monsters encountered won't necessarily be with a lone creature. Providing the players are up to the task, I encourage DMs to use the 'Number Appearing' entry in each creature's monster manual entry. An encounter with Bat, common for example might turn up 1d100 bats. The encounter becomes more interesting.

I have arbitrarily chosen 500, 1000 and 1500 feet to represent low medium and high altitude for Athasian flyers. While some might think this is low for earth-like creatures I remind you that Athas is a much smaller landmass than our earth. DMs are free to adjust up or down these ceilings to whatever heights they see fit. If altitude climbs significantly higher I would expect flying creatures would be able to fly much farther than their base of 72 MPs. This can have significant game ramifications. Here is something that came to me while working on these rules that could very well stem from allowing athasian flyers greater distances in a day. I'm sure you'll agree the situation below should be avoided at all costs.

Ken-Kenku's Express-Air Delivery Service
Guaranteed* delivery by next high-sun to the Tyr region's seven city-states and all points in between.

"If you're in a hurry, we gotta fly"

*Some restrictions apply. Due to circumstances out of our control we are no longer able to guaranty shipments to the lost cities of Guistenal, Bodach and Yarmuke.

Low Altitude, less than 500 feet

At this low altitude encounters can often be taken to ground level simply by having one or more combatants land. This is usually a safer environment for characters flying by unnatural means such as psionics, magic device, or vehicle.

Medium Altitude (500 to 1500 feet)

At this altitude the majority of Athas' flying creatures can be found. The one saving grace about encounters at this elevation and higher is that they can be seen coming from a far distance off. A flyer will be able to see an approaching creature for miles away and stands a fair chance of avoiding it. Of course the approaching monster has an equal chance of spotting the one fleeing and might wish to pursue.

	Aerial Encounters, Medium Altitude (2d8)		Sub Table B: Aerial Encounters, Medium Altitude (1d8)
2-3	Sub Table B	1	Aviarag
4	Aarakocra, athasian	2	Elemental Beast, air
5	Bat, huge (mobat)	3	Elemental, lesser air
6	Bat, large (giant)	4	Roc, athasian
7	Bird, normal*	5	Silk Wyrm
8	Bird, oversized*	6	Spinewyrm
9	Elemental, lesser air	7	Wyvern
10	Hornet, giant	8	Xerichou
11	Kenku
12	Kes'trekel
13	Pakubrazi
14	Pterrax
15-16	Sub Table B

High Altitude (greater than 1500 feet)

Here you will find the toughest of Athas aerial creatures. Those magically summoned or created fly at these elevations so they don't have to encounter the weaker flyers if they don't want to. Flying aarakocra and other races looking to travel big distances will need to spend at least a portion of their flight at this elevation, As you can see from the monsters that can be found up here, the risks are great.

	Aerial Encounters, High Altitude (2d6)		Sub Table C: Aerial Encounters, High Altitude (1d4)
2	Sub Table C	1	Aerial Servant
3	Aarakocra, athasian	2	Drake, air
4	Bird, oversized*	3	Drake, lesser sun
5	Cloud Ray	4	Elemental, greater air
6	Elemental Beast, air
7	Elemental, air
8	Paraelemental Beast, sun
9	Razorwing
10	Roc, athasian
11	Wyvern
12	Sub Table C

I recommend this table be used when an encounter is called for during long flights. Typically these long overland journeys will take a character higher than 1000 feet. While these creatures can certainly be encountered at any elevation they are especially suitable when there is no quick landing place in reach. The creatures in the tables above get progressively tougher. DMs are advised to think of creatures in the first two tables for weaker characters. The terrors in the last sub table are truly monstrous and could easily finish off a single flyer. Another consideration with regards to Aerial encounters is visibility range. While in the air, the relatively clear Athasian sky should over very high visibility range.

Visibility Ranges

The Players Handbook gives a range in yards where a creature can be seen and identified. These ranges assume a character on the ground looking at a creature in the distance with an unobstructed view. When in flight, farther distances can be seen without the horizon affecting vision. These values assume a "standard" visual acuity for all races. DMs can adjust this table if they feel flying creatures have better vision than land based races.

Visibility ranges when flying

Condition	Movement	Spotted	Type	ID	Detail
Day, Clear Sky	2500	2000	500	100	10
Day, Dusty or Hazy	500	200	100	30	10
Daytime, Dust Storm	10	10	5	5	3
Night Moons Full	500	200	100	30	10
Night Moons Partial	250	100	50	15	10
Night No Moons	50	20	10	5	3

Other Hazards

Flying Aarakocra characters have a few other significant hazards to contend with. While in flight they have no way to hide from the sun. In order to fly at their maximum range they must remain in the air for the entire day, allowing them no chance to hide in the shade for the hottest parts of the day. This requires Aarakocra to always have a full gallon of water per day, as they are unable to travel in shade. They must always carry their supplies on the journey. If an aarakocra carries more than their weight allowance for strength they are unable to lift themselves off the ground.