Flying mounts can be a great way to break through to the mid-tier of D&D. Here are five that are fun for almost any adventurer!
If you’re looking to offer players a reward for making it out of the low levels and into the part where the game really starts to take off, one thing you can do is give the party flying mounts. Now, it all depends on your campaign. Some campaigns are all about gritty survival. Some are dungeon-crawling focused.
But, for the more sandboxy and player-driven ones that lean a little more on high fantasy, having a flying mount is a rite of passage. Even World of Warcraft knew this, where, after a while, you’d get a mount and then a flying mount as a reward for your troubles (at least once they added flying mounts, though it was in the very first expansion, and that’s really when the game took off, pun intended). All that to say, let your players fly on mounts, and you give them the world. What mounts? Excellent question.
Hippogriff
Perhaps the most classic flying mount of flying mounts, the humble hippogriff is part raptor (the bird) and part horse. They can be found in the wilds nesting in high places, or migrating through ancient ruins or floating islands (seriously, it’s in the book!). And as a mount? They work fantastically, with a 60 ft. fly speed, and built-in flyby attack and multiattack, they can aid a little bit in combat. Though they’re fragile enough that you may not want to ride them into battle all the time.
But it’s not a bad transition. Not too complicated, or too magical.
Pegasus
Of course, if you want more horse in your flying mount, there’s always the classic pegasus. I mean this one’s been around since before D&D – looking at mythology, the pegasus was the steed of Perseus. In D&D, pegasi are “winged, sapient horses of noble bearing,” which means that you will probably have to convince them to be your mount. But that shouldn’t be hard for a party of noble heroes who only work for the greater good?
Griffon
If convincing a noble majestic pegasus to serve as your mount is a no-go for your party of scoundrels and thieves misunderstood misfits with “extremely progressive” ideas about personal property, then you might consider the majestic griffon. These monstrosities are part big cat, part raptor; lion/eagle is the most common type, but you might also get panther/condor or tiger/hawk or the like.
Giant Eagle (Or Other Bird)
Giant monster bird too much effort? Why not try a giant regular bird? Although technically giant eagles, owls, and vultures are either celestials or monstrosities. They’re intelligent enough that you might have to do the occasional sidequest for them, but they’re also not necessarily bound by their own lore to try to only serve the greatest good. Plus, everyone loves a majestic giant eagle; that’s a classic Paladin.
Wyvern
Hear me out. Everyone wants to ride a dragon. But dragons are very powerful and hard to do without making it feel like you’re either overpowered, or that the dragons are somehow underpowered, because the dragons get nerfed so that you ride on them. Wyverns, however, are far from being overpowered. And even if you tweak their stats a little bit, you still get the big feeling of “ride on dragon but without breath weapon,” which is what everyone understands wyverns to be.
Als,o just raising the wyverns or training them can be a sidequest (or quest) all its own. And the payoff? Dragon riding without having to make the rules work against themselves. And happy players.
What are your go-to creatures for a flying mount? Also, if you’re wondering why this topic today of all days, it’s because flying mounts are great at getting any party high.
Don’t Miss:
Read more at this site