Cheap Flying [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cheap Flying [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
SoulLord
12-13-05, 02:06 PM I have a wizard who needs to be able to stay off the ground.

using only core material (phb,MM,dmg,srd psionics, srd divine)

what is the most efficient and economical way to fly for a wizard whose opposite schools are
enchantment/charm & transmutation

slippers of spider climbing 4,800 gp
potion of fly 750 gp
boots of levitation 7,500 gp (suboptimal compared to slippers)

tops 11,000 gp
Seeker95
12-13-05, 03:16 PM The slippers are only useful if you have walls to climb on.
The boots are best for limited flight.
A carpet of flying is best. No limits. But at 20,000gp it is steep.
MarkB
12-13-05, 06:18 PM With levitate you'd need to have someone tow you along unless there's a convenient wall or ceiling to clamber along. Even then you're moving at half speed.

The slippers are no good if you need to stay off the ground - they only operate for ten minutes per day.

Your best option is to cross-class to a psionic manifester class, then take one level of Elocator to gain Scorn Earth (http://d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/elocater.htm#scornEarth).

Failing that, you could buy a horse.
Sssargoth
12-13-05, 06:44 PM critically fail attacking the ground. :P

Strap a piece of bread, butter-side up, to the back of a cat. Bread always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet.

Get thrown by a giant.

Im out of ideas.
Milo HoBo
12-13-05, 07:12 PM critically fail attacking the ground. :P

...
I think a better way to say it is:
Throw yourself against the ground and critically fail. You forgot to specify that you were throwing yourself.
InkBlot
12-13-05, 07:17 PM A Broom of Flying at 17,000 gp is a bit cheaper than a Carpet of Flying and packs a few different tricks in exchange for only flying 9 hours a day. Besides flying, you can send it without a rider to any place you know how to get to, and you can call it back to you from as far away as 300 yards (900 feet). You can do things like cross a chasm, and send it back to carry each of your party members over too. In an emergency you could write a message on it, and have it deliver it for you. You could have it act as a decoy. You could attach a hook to it and have it fly down to grab picnic baskets from unwary campers. The possibilities are endless!

P.S.: In DarkSun campaign setting (the official 3.5 update is available at http://www.athas.org) there is a first level psion/wilder and psychic warrior power which could help, although it doesn't technically give you flight. Wild Leap is a swift action to manifest, and allows you to make a "double jump," a jump while already in mid air. As long as you can reliably make a jump check greater than double your move speed you can manifest it round after round and never touch the ground (untill you run out of power points).
Jaid
12-13-05, 08:07 PM well, if you are lightweight enough, you can have an unseen servant carry you.

of course, you have to be very light (20 lbs?) for that to work... multiple servants would work best, i suppose.

alternatively, you could share tenser's floating disk with your familiar. have your familiar pull you around. that has a much higher weight capacity.

as another option, you could use levitation combined with an unseen servant. this increases the servant's capacity to it's dragging limit of 100 lbs (iirc).

as another possibility, you may or may not be able to have your unseen servant push you around on a floating disk, and you may or may not be able to push yourself around with a pole while reading a floating disk.

finally, as a really desparate measure, you could nail horseshoes of a zephyr to your hands and feet. as i read it, this at least has the potential to work, as they seem to use the word "horse" and "animal" alternately. sadly, unless you happen to be an animal, this still wouldn't work. however, you could potentially convince your DM to either allow an adaptation for non-horses/animals, or if you happen to have 4 hooves by other means (for example, you were reincarnated as a centaur perhaps) you might be able to use thm.

for less painful (but more permanent) attachment, you could request to use sovereign's glue instead of nails to attach the horseshoes as well, i suppose :P

(warning: the last two paragraphs were intended half as jokes. your DM may not agree with those solutions at all :P )
Sssargoth
12-13-05, 08:22 PM I think a better way to say it is:
Throw yourself against the ground and critically fail. You forgot to specify that you were throwing yourself.

I knew I forgot something. Thank you for the correction.
mvincent
12-13-05, 08:56 PM Boots of levitation and a decanter of endless water to provide propulsion.
Rabscuttle
12-13-05, 08:59 PM Your wizard could pay someone to cast polymorph other on him and turn him into an Astral Deva, a Solar, a Sprite, or any other winged creature that has a body shape he can still cast spells with.
Cyphen
12-13-05, 08:59 PM I forgot what they're called, but those rods that you can stick in the air, speak a command word, and then they stay there (immovable rods?). You can use multiple ones to build a makeshift ladder, so staying off of the ground wouldn't be a problem. You could even position then horizontally to move, although I suspect that tis would require a balance check or something, and you'd move pretty slow...
Kiklio
12-13-05, 09:37 PM You use a Decanter of Endless Water with a Body Equilibrium item. You might be able to rule you can walk on Solid Fog and the like as well.

Have you tried True Striking yourself to the clouds? The range increment can't be that much.

Dimension Door+ Feather Fall?

Could you Stone Shape a stone floor floor into a sort of pillar you can use?
mvincent
12-13-05, 09:41 PM Have your raven familiar cast* floating disk and then haul you around on it.

*May require it to use a ring of spell-storing or some other trickery.

Edit: just noticed someone else mentioned something similar
runestar
12-13-05, 09:56 PM Waterdeep has this 2nd lv spell that lets you stay a small distance above the ground. YEs, I realise you do not own the book, but still I thought it would be worth mentioning. It mimics the scorn earth ability of the elocater(XPH) quite closely, so perhaps you could use this as the basis for designing your own custom spell/magic item. Duration is as fly.
scottt
12-13-05, 09:59 PM well, if you are lightweight enough, you can have an unseen servant carry you.

of course, you have to be very light (20 lbs?) for that to work... multiple servants would work best, i suppose.
You could use Reduce Person to reduce your weight by a factor of 8 for your level minutes. That might work for unseesn servant depending on your starting weight.

I'm not sur if Alter Self might do the trick if you alter into something with wings, not sure if you can do that or not the description for the spell is terrible, what do people think, can you alter to grow wings and fly? Check the description...
ALTER SELF
Transmutation
Level: Brd 2, Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10 min./level (D)

You assume the form of a creature of the same type as your normal form. The new form must be within one size category of your normal size. The maximum HD of an assumed form is equal to your caster level, to a maximum of 5 HD at 5th level. You can change into a member of your own kind or even into yourself.

You retain your own ability scores. Your class and level, hit points, alignment, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses all remain the same. You retain all supernatural and spell-like special attacks and qualities of your normal form, except for those requiring a body part that the new form does not have (such as a mouth for a breath weapon or eyes for a gaze attack).

You keep all extraordinary special attacks and qualities derived from class levels, but you lose any from your normal form that are not derived from class levels.

If the new form is capable of speech, you can communicate normally. You retain any spellcasting ability you had in your original form, but the new form must be able to speak intelligibly (that is, speak a language) to use verbal components and must have limbs capable of fine manipulation to use somatic or material components.

You acquire the physical qualities of the new form while retaining your own mind. Physical qualities include natural size, mundane movement capabilities (such as burrowing, climbing, walking, swimming, and flight with wings, to a maximum speed of 120 feet for flying or 60 feet for nonflying movement), natural armor bonus, natural weapons (such as claws, bite, and so on), racial skill bonuses, racial bonus feats, and any gross physical qualities (presence or absence of wings, number of extremities, and so forth). A body with extra limbs does not allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal.

You do not gain any extraordinary special attacks or special qualities not noted above under physical qualities, such as darkvision, low-light vision, blindsense, blindsight, fast healing, regeneration, scent, and so forth.

You do not gain any supernatural special attacks, special qualities, or spell-like abilities of the new form. Your creature type and subtype (if any) remain the same regardless of your new form. You cannot take the form of any creature with a template, even if that template doesn’t change the creature type or subtype.

You can freely designate the new form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color, hair texture, and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of that kind. The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under your control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind. You are effectively disguised as an average member of the new form’s race. If you use this spell to create a disguise, you get a +10 bonus on your Disguise check.

When the change occurs, your equipment, if any, either remains worn or held by the new form (if it is capable of wearing or holding the item), or melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When you revert to your true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on your body they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items you wore in the assumed form and can’t wear in your normal form fall off and land at your feet; any that you could wear in either form or carry in a body part common to both forms at the time of reversion are still held in the same way. Any part of the body or piece of equipment that is separated from the whole reverts to its true form.
How long/far/high do you need to fly for?
SoulLord
12-14-05, 04:13 PM Actually not that much for not very long tops 150 feet high for about an hour tops.

the bad thing is the wizard has as forbidden schools transmutation and enchantment charm
so no alter self or fly spell.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SoulLord 12-13-05, 02:06 PM	I have a wizard who needs to be able to stay off the ground. using only core material (phb,MM,dmg,srd psionics, srd divine) what is the most efficient and economical way to fly for a wizard whose opposite schools are enchantment/charm & transmutation slippers of spider climbing 4,800 gp potion of fly 750 gp boots of levitation 7,500 gp (suboptimal compared to slippers) tops 11,000 gp
Seeker95 12-13-05, 03:16 PM	The slippers are only useful if you have walls to climb on. The boots are best for limited flight. A carpet of flying is best. No limits. But at 20,000gp it is steep.
MarkB 12-13-05, 06:18 PM	With levitate you'd need to have someone tow you along unless there's a convenient wall or ceiling to clamber along. Even then you're moving at half speed. The slippers are no good if you need to stay off the ground - they only operate for ten minutes per day. Your best option is to cross-class to a psionic manifester class, then take one level of Elocator to gain Scorn Earth (http://d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/elocater.htm#scornEarth). Failing that, you could buy a horse.
Sssargoth 12-13-05, 06:44 PM	critically fail attacking the ground. :P Strap a piece of bread, butter-side up, to the back of a cat. Bread always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet. Get thrown by a giant. Im out of ideas.
Milo HoBo 12-13-05, 07:12 PM	critically fail attacking the ground. :P ... I think a better way to say it is: Throw yourself against the ground and critically fail. You forgot to specify that you were throwing yourself.
InkBlot 12-13-05, 07:17 PM	A Broom of Flying at 17,000 gp is a bit cheaper than a Carpet of Flying and packs a few different tricks in exchange for only flying 9 hours a day. Besides flying, you can send it without a rider to any place you know how to get to, and you can call it back to you from as far away as 300 yards (900 feet). You can do things like cross a chasm, and send it back to carry each of your party members over too. In an emergency you could write a message on it, and have it deliver it for you. You could have it act as a decoy. You could attach a hook to it and have it fly down to grab picnic baskets from unwary campers. The possibilities are endless! P.S.: In DarkSun campaign setting (the official 3.5 update is available at http://www.athas.org) there is a first level psion/wilder and psychic warrior power which could help, although it doesn't technically give you flight. Wild Leap is a swift action to manifest, and allows you to make a "double jump," a jump while already in mid air. As long as you can reliably make a jump check greater than double your move speed you can manifest it round after round and never touch the ground (untill you run out of power points).
Jaid 12-13-05, 08:07 PM	well, if you are lightweight enough, you can have an unseen servant carry you. of course, you have to be very light (20 lbs?) for that to work... multiple servants would work best, i suppose. alternatively, you could share tenser's floating disk with your familiar. have your familiar pull you around. that has a much higher weight capacity. as another option, you could use levitation combined with an unseen servant. this increases the servant's capacity to it's dragging limit of 100 lbs (iirc). as another possibility, you may or may not be able to have your unseen servant push you around on a floating disk, and you may or may not be able to push yourself around with a pole while reading a floating disk. finally, as a really desparate measure, you could nail horseshoes of a zephyr to your hands and feet. as i read it, this at least has the potential to work, as they seem to use the word "horse" and "animal" alternately. sadly, unless you happen to be an animal, this still wouldn't work. however, you could potentially convince your DM to either allow an adaptation for non-horses/animals, or if you happen to have 4 hooves by other means (for example, you were reincarnated as a centaur perhaps) you might be able to use thm. for less painful (but more permanent) attachment, you could request to use sovereign's glue instead of nails to attach the horseshoes as well, i suppose :P (warning: the last two paragraphs were intended half as jokes. your DM may not agree with those solutions at all :P )
Sssargoth 12-13-05, 08:22 PM	I think a better way to say it is: Throw yourself against the ground and critically fail. You forgot to specify that you were throwing yourself. I knew I forgot something. Thank you for the correction.
mvincent 12-13-05, 08:56 PM	Boots of levitation and a decanter of endless water to provide propulsion.
Rabscuttle 12-13-05, 08:59 PM	Your wizard could pay someone to cast polymorph other on him and turn him into an Astral Deva, a Solar, a Sprite, or any other winged creature that has a body shape he can still cast spells with.
Cyphen 12-13-05, 08:59 PM	I forgot what they're called, but those rods that you can stick in the air, speak a command word, and then they stay there (immovable rods?). You can use multiple ones to build a makeshift ladder, so staying off of the ground wouldn't be a problem. You could even position then horizontally to move, although I suspect that tis would require a balance check or something, and you'd move pretty slow...
Kiklio 12-13-05, 09:37 PM	You use a Decanter of Endless Water with a Body Equilibrium item. You might be able to rule you can walk on Solid Fog and the like as well. Have you tried True Striking yourself to the clouds? The range increment can't be that much. Dimension Door+ Feather Fall? Could you Stone Shape a stone floor floor into a sort of pillar you can use?
mvincent 12-13-05, 09:41 PM	Have your raven familiar cast* floating disk and then haul you around on it. *May require it to use a ring of spell-storing or some other trickery. Edit: just noticed someone else mentioned something similar
runestar 12-13-05, 09:56 PM	Waterdeep has this 2nd lv spell that lets you stay a small distance above the ground. YEs, I realise you do not own the book, but still I thought it would be worth mentioning. It mimics the scorn earth ability of the elocater(XPH) quite closely, so perhaps you could use this as the basis for designing your own custom spell/magic item. Duration is as fly.
scottt 12-13-05, 09:59 PM	well, if you are lightweight enough, you can have an unseen servant carry you. of course, you have to be very light (20 lbs?) for that to work... multiple servants would work best, i suppose. You could use Reduce Person to reduce your weight by a factor of 8 for your level minutes. That might work for unseesn servant depending on your starting weight. I'm not sur if Alter Self might do the trick if you alter into something with wings, not sure if you can do that or not the description for the spell is terrible, what do people think, can you alter to grow wings and fly? Check the description... ALTER SELF Transmutation Level: Brd 2, Sor/Wiz 2 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Personal Target: You Duration: 10 min./level (D) You assume the form of a creature of the same type as your normal form. The new form must be within one size category of your normal size. The maximum HD of an assumed form is equal to your caster level, to a maximum of 5 HD at 5th level. You can change into a member of your own kind or even into yourself. You retain your own ability scores. Your class and level, hit points, alignment, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses all remain the same. You retain all supernatural and spell-like special attacks and qualities of your normal form, except for those requiring a body part that the new form does not have (such as a mouth for a breath weapon or eyes for a gaze attack). You keep all extraordinary special attacks and qualities derived from class levels, but you lose any from your normal form that are not derived from class levels. If the new form is capable of speech, you can communicate normally. You retain any spellcasting ability you had in your original form, but the new form must be able to speak intelligibly (that is, speak a language) to use verbal components and must have limbs capable of fine manipulation to use somatic or material components. You acquire the physical qualities of the new form while retaining your own mind. Physical qualities include natural size, mundane movement capabilities (such as burrowing, climbing, walking, swimming, and flight with wings, to a maximum speed of 120 feet for flying or 60 feet for nonflying movement), natural armor bonus, natural weapons (such as claws, bite, and so on), racial skill bonuses, racial bonus feats, and any gross physical qualities (presence or absence of wings, number of extremities, and so forth). A body with extra limbs does not allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal. You do not gain any extraordinary special attacks or special qualities not noted above under physical qualities, such as darkvision, low-light vision, blindsense, blindsight, fast healing, regeneration, scent, and so forth. You do not gain any supernatural special attacks, special qualities, or spell-like abilities of the new form. Your creature type and subtype (if any) remain the same regardless of your new form. You cannot take the form of any creature with a template, even if that template doesn’t change the creature type or subtype. You can freely designate the new form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color, hair texture, and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of that kind. The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under your control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind. You are effectively disguised as an average member of the new form’s race. If you use this spell to create a disguise, you get a +10 bonus on your Disguise check. When the change occurs, your equipment, if any, either remains worn or held by the new form (if it is capable of wearing or holding the item), or melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When you revert to your true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on your body they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items you wore in the assumed form and can’t wear in your normal form fall off and land at your feet; any that you could wear in either form or carry in a body part common to both forms at the time of reversion are still held in the same way. Any part of the body or piece of equipment that is separated from the whole reverts to its true form. How long/far/high do you need to fly for?
SoulLord 12-14-05, 04:13 PM	Actually not that much for not very long tops 150 feet high for about an hour tops. the bad thing is the wizard has as forbidden schools transmutation and enchantment charm so no alter self or fly spell.