Tonight was meant to be the Zine for the week but I wanted to flesh out a bit of the rules from last nights encounter by looking at the Aerial Race itself. Now there are no formal rules for Aerial combat but there is a few guides out there for DMs who want to run an adventure or campaign that features it, or an aerial race for that matter.
So to get into it let’s look at what we have to work with. So grab a coffee, sit back and let’s roll into tonight expanded content.
Aerial Race
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The wind around both Honeysuckle and Jesper’s wings caused them to falter in the air. The cross breeze that flew between the trees towards the north, where the trunks were sparser and the wind stronger, created a perfect place to allow your mount to rest as they let the reverse current carry them through the trees. That was when the direction of the wind was coming from the south. But as hammered from the west it pushed several riders and their mounts dangerously close to the great trunks and limbs of the trees.
Twig had to hall on the harness to encourage Honeysuckle to power through which she did. Having more mass than the normal giant birds made it easier to muscle through the difficult conditions. Jesper and Alkerion however lagged behind as the fairer giant hummingbird was much lighter. They spent more energy trying to move away from the trees and branches than pushing through the westerly wind.
But Alkerion was a talented and veteran rider and the way he handled his animals was a marvel. The wind didn’t slow them down as much as Twig had hoped and as they turned around the final tree of the northern part of the forest, and a marker for their track they were several bird-lengths ahead of the competition. Here the westerly wind aided them in zipping down the eastern side of the forest and recovering some stamina after the gruelling northerly push.
Animal handling is the name of the game this week with certain actions requiring a check to be able to pull off and encourage or control the creature into doing what is needed. This could be to avoid branches, to stop from attacking a fellow racer or to push it on when it starts to falter.
At several points the creature will also need to make Strength or Dexterity checks to avoid the wind or currents that could push them off course. This can be seen in conjunction with the animal handling check up above.
The second last is the shill checks that the players will need to make in addition to animal handling. There may be feats of athletics, acrobatics, the social skills (Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation) to convince other riders, Perception or investigation to spot issues approaching them or with their own harness/saddle or even the other skills (Survival, Nature, History etc.). Each of these skills could be used to try and gleam a further understanding from a situation or gain an upper hand when plausible.
But the last is the most important. The core rules of flying is that if a creature that is flying has its speed drop to 0 then they fall. The exception is if they have the hover trait which enables them to, well hover. There may be traps along the way, or nets or ropes wielded by other riders or ground hostile’s which may aim to impede the mount’s speed. If they are successful it’s a very long way to fall and there won’t be long to react. Attacking the ropes or nets with a slashing weapon (swords) may be able to free them (see net rules as per the weapon) but it may be too little too late.
This highlights the biggest risk for the players, really, and something we need to use sparingly as DMs if they are lower levels or unprepared. But don’t pull your strikes as it’s an easy way to lose the respect of your players.
Thanks for visiting tonight, with this being the final piece of the rules around this weeks Zine I will have it written up this week before the next one comes out. But there will be a bit of a delay and so I hope you can forgive me for that. Don’t forget that tomorrow the wheel comes around full circle once more and we are looking at a new week of adventure! So see you then and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 