Flight

Gift Details

Types

Master

Refresh

Effect Description

X (Battle)
Extra Action “fly at [altitude of choice]”
You have winged arms that allow you to fly, in an awkward fashion.
In game terms, you have an extra action per turn: the “fly” action. (Normally, characters can only take two actions per turn – you can take three, if and only if one of those actions is a “fly” action.)
Since you must flap your arms to fly, you can only use one-handed weapons and tools.
If your turn ends, and you haven’t landed, then you will fall – see below.
While flying, you have the Full-Tilt status.
At the beginning of any turn when you are flying, then you will drift your Body dice in an appropriate direction. (For example, if your Body is d8, then you will drift d8 paces.)
The Full-Tilt will be in the last direction that you moved. In strange cases, the Game Host should choose an appropriate direction. No matter what, you will drift while flying; there is no hovering in a single spot.
While flying, you may not Retreat. (You may still be pushed or moved by other sources.)
Choosing an Altitude: Close, Reach, or Near
To keep the game simple, the rules only keep track of a flier’s altitude by Range Bands.
When declaring that you will fly, choose an altitude level: Close, Reach, or Near. You may switch freely between these levels. For example, if you started your
round at Close, you may rise to Reach or Near. If you started at Reach, you may rise to Near or drop to Close, etc.
A flyer that is Close to the ground is only 1 pace up – they are weaving between ground-level obstacles. A flyer that is within Reach of the ground is 2 paces up, flying over the heads of other combatants. A flyer that is Near to the ground is 4 paces up, very much clear of the ground but still close enough to see what’s going on – Near ground is the preferred altitude for most flyers.
Attackers on the ground must be within both distances to attack you. For example, if a flying combatant is 1 pace away on the horizontal battle map, but their altitude is Reach (2 paces), then you may threaten the combatant only with attacks that have a range of “Reach”.
Ranged attacks use the worst of the two ranges. For example, if you’re at Close range horizontally, but you’re at Near range vertically, then you’re at Near Range for purposes of ranged attacks.

Exhaust “Flight”, then one action to Fly, then one action to Refresh Flight
Flight is a Battle Gift. You must Exhaust it to fly. Since you must use the “fly” action to stay in the air, you will have to be able to Exhaust Flight to fly … and if it’s Exhausted, you will have to spend one of your actions to Refresh Flight.
So to keep it simple: first Exhaust your Flight, then declare your bonus “fly” action, then declare your “refresh flight” action. Your third action is yours to be whatever you want.
If you were sent Reeling: first Recover from Reeling, then declare your bonus “fly” action, then declare your “refresh flight” action.
Want to be able to do more while you’re in the air?
The gift of Flying Fighter, described in the Atavism chapter, lets you take an extra “Refresh Flight” action, bringing you up to four actions a turn: one “fly”, one “refresh flight”, and then two actions of your choice.
The rule of “never the same action twice in the turn” still applies. If you’re Refreshing Flight, you’re not refreshing other things. If you have other Battle Gifts that you need to Refresh, you will have to land, so that you can stop Refreshing Flight.
Use your Flying Stride, Flying Dash, Flying Sprint, and Flying Run to move horizontally
To move horizontally, you may use the standard “stride”, “dash”, and “sprint” actions. You may also use the “run” stunt to move a great distance.
Your Flying Stride distance is the same as your Stride, plus 3. Since most characters have a Stride of 1, then your Flying Stride is 4.
Your Flying Dash distance is the same as your regular Dash. For example, if your character has a Dash of 4, then your Flying Dash is also 4. If your Dash drops to zero (say, because of encumbrance), then your Flying Dash is also zero.
Your Flying Sprint dice are your Speed dice and your Weather Sense dice. For example, if your Speed is d8, and your Weather Sense are d12 and d6, then your Flying Sprint dice are d12, d8, d6. Just like a Sprint, you may choose to voluntarily lower your dice any time you use them. For example, instead of rolling d12, d8, d6, you could roll d8, d8, d6, or d4, d4, d4.
Your Flying Run is your Maximized Body die, plus your Maximized Flying Sprint, plus your Flying Dash, plus 12. Following the above examples, a Body d4, Speed d8, Weather Sense d12, d6 character would have a Flying Run of 32. (That’s a Maximized Body for a score of 4 … a Maximized d12, d8, d6 for a score of 12
… a Flying Dash of 4 … and a bonus 12, all added together.) If you take a Flying Run stunt, at the end you will be sent Reeling, just like any other Run.
New action
“Rise to Short Altitude”
As an action, if you are already flying at Close, Reach, or Near height, you may gain altitude, to Short height.
For game purposes, you are 12 paces off the ground.
You may only take one rise action per turn.
New action
“Rise from Short to Medium Altitude”
As an action, if you are already flying, you may gain altitude. You may rise from Short height to Medium height. (You may not rise from Medium height from any altitude lower than Short.)
You may rise from Close, Reach, or Near altitude to Short altitude.
You may only take one rise action per turn.
New stunt
“Ascend from Medium to Long Altitude”
As an action, if you are already flying, you may gain altitude. You may rise from Medium height to Long height. (You may not rise from Long height from any altitude lower than Medium.) After the move, you are sent Reeling, as per any stunt.
Note that this stunt is not a rise action. You can use a “rise” action to move from Short to Medium height, then the “ascend” stunt to move to Long height.
A flyer can’t fly any higher than Long altitude unless they have the Gift of High Altitude Flyer, page 319.
New action
“Dive from Short or Medium altitude”
As an action, you may dive. You may drop from Medium or Short altitude to Close, Near, Reach, or Short altitude.
When you dive, you may also move your Flying Stride in any horizontal direction.
New stunt
“Power Dive from Long altitude”
As an action, you may power-dive from Long altitude. You may drop to Close, Near, Reach, Short, or Medium altitude.
When you power-dive, you may also move your Flying Dash in any horizontal direction.
You may fly over obstacles
While flying, you may clear any ground obstacles that are shorter than your altitude. For example, if you are within Reach of the the ground, you may fly over obstacles 1-pace tall or shorter. If you are Near to the ground, you may fly over any 3-pace-tall walls, or over other combatants. If you fly Close to the ground, you may ignore bad footing, but you will run into any other obstacles.
Landing
If, after taking any action, you end your turn within Reach distance of the ground, you may declare that you have landed. If you end your turn near something you might hang on to, like a ledge or tree branch, you may declare that you will land on that. The Game Host may call for a roll of your Body & Climbing vs. 3 to cling to alight on unusual landing spots, like flag polls or branches. (Some fliers have Prehensile Feet, which makes this kind of landing easier.) Very unusual landing spots, such as greased poles, might be even more difficult. Naturally, a landing spot must be able to support your weight, too.
Once you have landed, you have no risk of falling, and you are now treated like any other non-flying combatant.
Nervous about landing? Try a Flying Dash to the landing spot, then declaring you will land. If you fail the roll, take “Fly” as your second action and you can stay in the air. (Then take “Refresh Flight” as your third action.)

Trigger: you end your turn without having taken the “fly” action
“Fall”
At the end of your turn, if for whatever reason you did not take the fly action, you will fall. Falling is discussed in the “Spot Rules” chapter.
If you are within Long distance of the ground, you will suffer 50 paces of falling damage. If you were at Medium range, you will suffer 18 paces of falling damage. If you were at Short range, you will suffer 6 paces of falling damage. If you were at any other range, you will suffer 3 paces of falling damage.

Trigger: you suffer falling damage
Your wings will slow your falling speed. When you take falling damage, for any reason, you may claim your Weather Sense dice as Soak dice