Now that we have a race with a 50 ft. fly speed in light or no armor, which classes would synergize best with such a race?
Discussion Summary
So it seems like there's maybe 2-3 builds:
Long range attacker
- Bow (600 feet range), Sharpshooter feat, Fighting Style (Archery)
- Eldritch Blast (1,200 feet range), Eldritch Spear invocation, Spell Sniper feat, Distant Spell metamagic... might need Barbarian Eagle Totem for mile eyesight...
Grappler
- Expertise (Athletics), Extra Movement (Cunning Action, Step of the Wind, Longstrider, Haste, etc.)
Poker (maybe with a polearm?)
- Mobile feat
mellored wrote:
Rogue is an obvious choice.
Cunning action to dash.
Now melee can fly up to the dragon and swipe at him.
I must have missed something..... what PC race gets a fly speed of 50 ft?
FrogReaver wrote:
FrogReaver wrote:
Grappler Bard.
IxidorRS wrote:
Monk.
Dragon flies up?
So doesn't the PC.
Stunning Strike.
Dragon falls to the ground.
jaappleton wrote:
jaappleton wrote:
whitishknight wrote:
Definitely sounds like Flying Monk is a real contender for awesomeness.
I doubt a lot of DMs will even allow the race into home campaigns. I don't want my DM to allow it, because I'll be tempted to be a powergaming jerk with it 
If yours will allow it, hey, have fun with it. Tons of awesomeness there. Such as Eagle Totem Barbarian. They can see a mile in any direction. Fly up, scout out for a mile. Barbarians don't necessarily have to wear armor, either.
My immediate thought was a sharpshooting archer. Fly 500' in the air, shoot things at will...
Barbarian with the Eagle ability to see 1 mile... awesome scout!!
A Warlock with the XL-range Eldritch Blast option. (Eldritch Spear?)
A Wizard with 3rd-level spell Lightning Bolt - the one that gets really nasty if there is a natural storm in the area. Fly high up and place the cloud between you and the ground.
A Ranger with a hawk companion should be able to double-team enemies from above.
Anybody: fly to the top of a tree and post sentry duty from there. Bring a longbow and a double-quiver.
Warlock/Sorcerer; eldritch spear, spell sniper, distant spell metamagic?
Using ranged attacks/spells sounds super boring to me.
Swooping down from on high to clutch an unsuspecting kobold and then at the apex of my flight tossing him upwards into the air sounds much more appealing.
It started out banned in AL,
for obvious reasons. So there is that, lol.
Any (non-melee) spellcaster could benefit from being outside of melee reach'; however, you are a shooting target while up in the air above the combat.
Unlimited flight is OP bigtime. I imagine very few DMs will permit a flying race.
Psikerlord wrote:
Psikerlord wrote:
Yunru wrote:
This race is very abusable by grapplers.
RubenRybnikk wrote:
[quote="Yunru"]
RubenRybnikk wrote:
The bird-men do need a nerf though. 50" movement? WTF.
The bird-men do need a nerf though. 50" movement? WTF.
Imagine a grappler monk/bard aarokra with haste cast on it. I can't even calculate the amount of damage that he can do. If he has 2 fighter levels for action surge it gets really crazy.
You forgot 2 levels for Rogue and Dash, and getting someone to cast Longstrider on him.
He doesn't need cunning action, because of step of the wind. Sure, it is not at will, but this will be mainly a Monk build, so he will have more than enough Ki.
Longstrider, RAW, works, but the spell name would make me think I'm abusing it... There is also the mobile feat.
Let's make the calculations for a Monk 12, Lore Bard 6, Fighter 2, with Haste.
Base speed, with longstrider and mobile feat, would be 180 feet. Then you use step of the wind for more 180 feet. Then you use your extra haste action for another 180 feet. Finally you use your cunning action for anothe 180 feet. All of that halted, you are looking at 360 feet. As maximum falling damage is from 200 feet you can actually grapple a creature, fly up 200 feet (using 400 feet of your move), fly back 200 feet, grapple the creature again, fly up for another 60 feet and then drop then again, for a total of 26d6 at will damage per round. The opponent ends their round prone. Not too shabby (if my calculations are correct, I'm still new at this).
Edit: cunning action is not at will, so at later rounds I will have enough speed for going 180 feet in the air, dropping them, fliying 180 feet back and grapple them again.One restriction that would help - add a lower maximum carrying weight while flying. They already can't fly in medium or heavy armor, it makes sense to rule that they can't fly carrying anything more than 30 lbs, or a Tiny creature (maybe scaled by level). This gets rid of the grapple and fly attack on an Ogre.
All the grapple stuff is easy, the guy your carrying is either A) way to heavy in most cases, or B) im gonna swipe at your wings. The Idea I like much more is using a polearm and divebombing. Final Fantasy's Dragoon class any one?
Yunru wrote:
Psikerlord wrote:
Meh fall damage just means being down one Death Save when you are shot down in most cases. Bad but not brutally so; and if optinize for extreme range than one that doesn't come up often when the tactic is working well
So it seems like there's maybe 2-3 builds:
Long range attacker
- Bow (600 feet range), Sharpshooter feat, Fighting Style (Archery)
- Eldritch Blast (1,200 feet range), Eldritch Spear invocation, Spell Sniper feat, Distant Spell metamagic... might need Barbarian Eagle Totem for mile eyesight...
Grappler
- Expertise (Athletics), Extra Movement (Cunning Action, Step of the Wind, Longstrider, Haste, etc.)
Poker (maybe with a polearm?)
- Mobile feat
SpedGuy wrote:
mellored wrote:
Birdman sorceror with Shield and Warding Wind (2nd level from Elemental Evil article) is going to be a problem.
Fey Tomelock 3/Lore Bard 17 provides combat support from an aerial vantage. Use the Noble's retainers and Find Familiar to have the support staff necessary to win any legal dispute.
Warlock is actually not a very good synergy for the Aara. Yes, it has a long range attack comparable to a bow. That's just it, though. If your plan is to kite monsters with a long range, bow like attack, you are better off using an actual bow. Ranger and the dex-based Fighter all synergize better with the stats (Dex, Wis) that the Aara get. Secondly, Eldritch Blast optimization requires the use of Hex, which has a range of 90'. That puts a very significant limit on your kiting range, and well within attacking range of others. Third, there's more magic to the Warlock than Eldritch Blasting, all of which tend to have closer range and don't really synergize with the flying methods presented. Just one part of the class does not a good synergy make. Meanwhile, Fighter and Ranger have a host of magic and other class abilities that make them far better, plus magic longbows and Sharpshooter do more damage than Eldritch Blast.
Taken together, I'm going to argue that warlock is a trap option for the Aara. I know that some people feel that any caster that gets free flying is at an advantage, but that's it. A flying caster. Can't really take advantage of its kiting or speed, can't really have any stat synergy (unless we talk druid, ranger, or cleric). And, without the whole deflect-arrows spells of previous games, casters are very vulnerable to enemy ranged attacks.
IMO:
Anyone in armor without flight, the race basicly get's nothing. Fortunatly most classes have solid Dex options. At least you can keep shields.
Speed 50' is the main feature. Fly is a secondary one.
You also reallllly want feather fall / slow fall to do any kind of high altitude stuff. And even then, you could be stunned and drop like a rock.
I'm assuming some level of party op here that allows you to take advantage of your mobility. If you simply stand behind a wall of allies and fling arrows or spells, you gain nothing.
Barbarian Barbarians like mobility, allowing you to get to your target easier, also, you can still have high AC without armor. Eagle totem's sight works better in the air.
Bard Bards don't benifit much from mobility but they do get feather fall. Grapple bards can have a good time dropping people.
Cleric Clerics don't need mobility much, paticularly at the loss of AC. And you really don't want to risk the cleric getting hit with a paralyze at hight.
Druid Druids already get access to fly from wildshape so this doesn't add much.
Fighter The extra speed allows you to kite with a bow easily. Paticularly with sharpshooter, since unlike warlocks (spells), rangers (spells) and rogues (allies), fighters can deal 100% of their damage from 600' in the air. Though you still are going to spend some resources getting feather fall (eldrich knight, Magic initiate, MC wizard).
Monk Perfect stats and Monks like mobility. Move to the backlines and stun the enemy caster and still high AC without armor. Slowfall is close enough to feather fall, though you still don't want to go too high at low levels.
Paladin Mobility isn't as helpful to a paladin, who likes to keep his aura's near his allies. Also, you lose the higher AC.
Ranger Much like the fighter, you can easily kite with a bow. Suppliment with spells like longstrider and control spells.
Rogue To kite you only need to be 5' faster then then the enemy which rogues can already do. There's no extra advantage for being 50' faster. Though move 50' doesn't take your bonus action, and thus, allows you to hide. Grapple rogues can drop people further then grapple bards, but lack the supplimental spells, like feather fall and enlarge.
Sorcerer Flying gives wild mages some extra positioning options for their surges, including avoiding grease and breaking a potted plant (thus reverting you). Or simply use control spells to kite. They get feather fall. Worse for dragon mages, who already get flight, if much later.
Warlock Along with repelling blast (and possibly spell sniper) you can kite pretty effectivly. Or fly above enemies and use arms of hadar. Also some positioning for polearm bladelocks, flying 10' above and jumping on the enemy wizard.
Wizard You already have acess to fly and familar for scouting, but you have plenty of control spells to kite with and running away is a nice option to have for a squishy. You also come with feather fall.
mellored wrote:
I quite like the idea of a wild mage aarakocra, floating above the enemy waiting to explode.
I think that's my next character.
mellored wrote:
Barbarian/Monk. Both add to speed. And you get all the totem goodies and monk benefits.
And don't forget, monks can Dash as a bonus action if need be...
whitishknight wrote:
Truthfully, my suggestion was just a Harvey Birdman reference. I picked Warlock because the Fey Presence ability is the perfect tool for closing arguments, could get you Find Familiar for Avenger, and the Book of Ancient Secrets could be an analog for a law text.
ZHDarkstar wrote:
whitishknight wrote:
whitishknight wrote:
Don't you have to land at the end of your turn? I nea your speed is basically reduced to zero when you end your turn.
cannonfodder wrote:
whitishknight wrote:
they don't hover.
cannonfodder wrote:
cannonfodder wrote: