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When I read the Flight advantage (Compendium I, p. 56), I thought the section on wings was too sketchy. There were no details about wing size, wing types, or encumbrance. I found some more information in the Basic Set (p. B139), but not enough to answer all of my questions. This article adds a lot of details. It applies to any humanoid character with wings that sprout from his back. If the character is non-humanoid (or his wings are attached in a different way), you'll have to make a few adjustments.
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A character with wings has a special Move score for flight. Calculate his top speed, then adjust it with encumbrance. When the character's encumbrance lowers his flying Move to zero, he cannot fly.
Or, to look at it another way, his top speed is the average of his basic HT and DX.
The Compendium says that the character's wingspan should be least twice his height. We're assuming the character's weight is proportional to his height. We'll add this rule: If his weight is disproportionate, adjust the wingspan to match. If, for example, you have a fat character whose weight is 25% greater than normal, his wingspan has to be 25% greater than the minimum span. An extra-large wingspan will increase your Move. Add another rule: Every 10% increase in wingspan above the minimum requirement adds 1 to the character's flying Move. For example, let's say a six-foot character has an eighteen-foot wingspan. That's 50% over the minimum, so he adds +5 to his flying Move. You have to pay for the Move bonus with character points. Each +1 to Move costs 2 points.
There are three drawbacks to a large wingspan. The first is the requirement for takeoff: the character needs an open area with a diameter equal to twice the span. The second disadvantage is the character's increased visibility. A wingspan of 9 to 12 feet adds +1 to Vision and attack rolls. A span of 13 to 20 adds +2. A span of 30 to 44 adds +4.
The third drawback is optional: Big wings require a lot of ST. Give the wings a "minimum ST" value. This is equal to 1 level over ST 10 for every +10% increase in the span. For example, a +50% wingspan requires a ST of 15. A +100% wingspan requires ST 20. But this doesn't work for unusually small characters. Suppose the character is two-and-a-half feet tall (30 inches). If he has a wingspan of 90 inches, that's 50% over the minimum. Should he be required to have a ST score of 15? No. To fix this little glitch, we'll use Andrew Dawson's article on character size in All of the Above #32. According to his calculations, a 30-inch character has a ST of 2. We'll use that as the baseline ST, so the character needs ST 7 for a +50% wingspan.
What about smaller wingspans? Anything less than twice the character's height forces him to take the Small Wings limitation — the cost for the wings is 25 instead of 30, but they can only be used for steering, not lift. Flying Move is zero. See page CI56. Disproportionately light characters are an exception to this rule. A character with hollow bones, for example, might weigh 20% less than normal. His wingspan can be 20% less than the minimum.
You can give the character a separate strength score for his wings. This costs 2 character points for every level over his normal ST. The score is used to calculate encumbrance penalties for flying Move, fatigue costs for flying, and maximum encumbrance. Example: A character with ST 12 wants to increase his wing ST to 20. That's +8 so it costs 16 points. If he was carrying 120 pounds of clothing and equipment, that would normally be a Move penalty of 8. With the higher wing ST, the penalty is 4.
If you want a higher flying Move, the cost is 2 points for every +1. This could be the result of an oversized wingspan or a high wing ST. Or, you might have a supernatural explanation. For example, the wings might have built-in mana organs. 
I added this advantage because the flight-speed-enhancement advantages in
the Compendium I are not quite right.Enhanced Move, for example (p. CI54), is a racial advantage. If it wasn't limited to races, it would work. And it's cheap — for every 10 points, you can increase the character's Move by an amount equal to the original score. Then there's Increased Speed (p. CI26). This increases Speed, Dodge, and all Move scores. That's too much if you all want to do is fly faster. Super Flight (p. CI67) doubles your flying Move for 20 points. That's pretty good . . . unless you want to increase your flying Move by just one or two levels. I based the 2-points-per-plus-one cost on Super Flight. If your character has a flying Move of 10 and he buys a level of Super Flight, his flying Move is 20. That's a 20 points for +10, or 2 points per +1.
For every hour of flight while travelling, subtract 1 Fatigue. Do the same after every battle in which the character uses his wings. If you want the character's encumbrance to increase these costs (see p. B134 for examples) add 1 Fatigue for every encumbrance level. It's best to limit this to the battle cost since encumbrance is already a part of the flying speed while traveling. A winged character can carry unusually heavy weights for brief periods if he overextends himself. To avoid another set of calculations, just allow him to lift any weight within reason, paying a cost of 1 Fatigue per second. For example, suppose a winged halfling wants to carry his human friend out of danger. His maximum encumbrance is 98 pounds. His friend weighs 175. The halfling has a ST of 7, so the GM allows him to carry his friend for seven seconds at a low altitude. Then he makes a rough landing and collapses, barely conscious.
There is no mention in the Basic Set or Compendium of wing types. Are they feathered wings? Wings like a pterosaur? An insect? To keep it simple, we'll stick to four basic types (listed here in order of durability): pterosaur, bat, feathered, and dragonfly. Light, delicate wings can't lift a lot of weight, no matter how big they are. Heavier, more muscular wings do not have this problem. Anyone can have pterosaur wings, but dragonfly wings are limited to smaller creatures. We could leave it at that . . . or we could add another rule: Delicate wings can't carry more than 15 pounds per foot of wingspan. This means that a twelve-foot dragonfly span can't lift more than 180 pounds. It's up to you to decide what other types of wings are "delicate." (How about feathered wings? Maybe they are limited to 20 pounds per foot.) Feel free to add more wing types: butterfly/moth, housefly, hummingbird, etc.
Characters who are Overweight or Fat count their extra flesh as encumbrance. Maybe wings should count as encumbrance, too. Pterosaur wings weigh one pound for every foot of wingspan. Bat wings weigh half a pound for every foot. Feathered wings weigh 0.3 pounds for every foot. And dragonfly wings weigh 0.1 pounds for every foot. Round up. If the weight is just a few pounds, ignore this rule. Faeries, for example, are likely to have dragonfly wings (or butterfly wings) with a span of two or three feet. That's 0.3 pounds — not worth noting on a character sheet. A twenty-foot cyclops with bat wings, on the other hand . . .
From the Compendium I, p. 56. Wings cost 30 points. They are a special limitation of the Flight advantage. If you can't hover (you have to fly at half your maximum Move or more) they cost 24 points instead. Small wings (used only to steer and not for lift) cost 26 points. Gliding wings come in two forms. Either you cannot gain altitude (10 points) or you can ride thermal updrafts (12 points).
This is a physical/average skill. It defaults to DX. You must specialize in gliding or winged. Perfect Balance [15] adds +1 to all rolls. 3D Spatial Sense [10] adds +2. The skill is used for aerial maneuvers, acrobatics, and attempts to fly under hazardous conditions. It can also be used for dangerous takeoffs and landings. During normal flight, there is no skill check. When a weapon is used in flight, there is a penalty equal to 15-skill (see p. B139). For example, Bow-11 gives you a penalty of -4. We can add an optional rule: If the character's Flight skill is higher than his combat/weapon skill, use Flight instead. For example, if the character's Flight is 14 and his Bow is 11, his penalty is -1 instead of -4. Another optional rule: When a flying character Dodges, he can use half his Flight skill instead of his normal Dodge score.
Steep Climb. For every yard forward, the character gains two yards of altitude. Choose the number of seconds he wants to spend climbing. At the end of this period, roll against Flight with a penalty of -1 per second. If he fails, his Fatigue drops instantly to 2. 
Steep Dive. This is a controlled plunge. Pick a speed, measured in
yards per second. The maximum is 50 (terminal velocity). At the end of the
dive, make a Flight roll, penalized by -1 for every 5 yards per second. If the
character makes it, he pulls out of the dive. If he fails, the plunge continues
until he hits the ground.Crash Landing. A forced landing is the same as a fall (p. B131) unless the character makes a Flight roll. If he makes the roll, he limits his damage to 1d-4. Aerial Grapple. Normally, a grapple requires a Quick Contest of Dexterity. If both characters are flying, this is a Quick Contest of Flight. The attacking character gets a +3. See p. B111. Obstacle Course. If the character flies low through a forest, in and out of windows, or any other path between randomly-spaced obstructions, he has to make a few Flight rolls. The GM rates the difficulty from -5 to -20, with -20 as the most difficult. The player then chooses how many Flight rolls he wants to make, dividing the total penalty evenly. For example, if the total penalty is -15, he could make three rolls at -5 each. Or he could make five rolls at -3 each. Any failed roll results in a small injury or a crash, depending on how badly the character missed his roll. With a small injury, he can complete the course. If he crashes, he takes serious damage and ends the maneuver. |
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