Human, Winged

Description

Winged humans appear as ordinary humans in all their variety, except for the large, bat-like wings which permit them to fly. They tend to be tall, and slender, almost gaunt in appearance, and their other physical traits tend to reflect those of humans indigenous to the area. Winged humans live in highlands of any sort, from hills, to high plateau to the tallest mountain ranges.

Combat

A favorite tactic of winged humans is to dive on a powerful foe. The winged man dives using some long polearm, usually a lance, and attempts to impale his victim. Due to the tremandous speeds involved (over 200 miles per hour), base damage is trippled, and a critical is scored on any roll above 15. This attack does not come without its risks, however. First of all, the polarm is lost, as the winged man must let go of it when it hits. That is the least of his worries, however. If he fumbles, he fails to pull up in time and hits the ground suffering 20d6+20 hit points of damage. Even if there is no fumble, a dexterity check is required to avoid slamming into the ground. At melee ranges, a diving winged human has an effective armor class of 0 due to his great speed.

Winged humans take advantage of their power of flight in other ways as well. Bombing attacks with flasks of acid, greek fire, smoke powder bombs, etc are a common tactic, as are attacks with ranged weapons from the perpetual high ground of flight. Both game masters and players using winged human characters are encouraged to be creative.

Winged Humans will never wear any armor or clothing which would hamper flight. In practical terms, studded leather is the heaviest armor a winged human would be likely to use (short of elven chain, or similar, rare armors). When wearing armor, winged humans suffer a -1 penalty on their armor class due to the fact that the wings may never be armored. Consequently, they tend to prefer magical rings and bracers to physical armor.

Winged humans can fly for one hour per point of constitution. If reduced to half hit points, he may only glide, and cannot fly again until all hit points are healed. If reduced to one quarter or less while in flight, an immediate dexterity check is required, modified as the dungeon master sees fit to avoid an uncontrolled fall.

Habitat

Winged humans live in highlands, preferring tall mountains to all other terrains. They tend to live in small communities rarely exceding 200, and their cultural values, like their physical traits, tend to reflect those of the local humans. They hate closed in spaces, preferring the freedom of the open skies.

Ecology

Although human in most other ways, winged humans are not fertile with normal humans. Their biologies differ in other ways as well. They have hollow bones like birds, whose primary constituant is boron instead of calcium. This results in stronger, lighter bones, but also makes them dependant on ores containing the rare metal.

Conesquently, they have cultivated good relations with dwarves, helping ward off a real foes, and warning of land based intruders in exchange for any borate deposites found by the dwarves.

Winged humans also have a sort of antifreeze in their blood affording a +2 save vs cold based attacks, and making them immune to tempuratures of down to -50 degrees. Creatures which eat winged humans find their flesh sweet, but highly toxic, and must save vs poison or die an exceptionally painful death lasting 2-5 hours.

Finally, winged humans have excellent eyesight (double normal human vision), and have ultravision equal to their conventional vision. They also have functional nictitating membranes to protect their eyes in flight.

Due to their small numbers (enforced by the scarcity of boron), winged humans have a minimal impact on the local ecology. Winged humans live up to 80 years. There are unconfirmed reports of winged elves, but if they exist, they are excedingly rare.

Winged Human Characters.

* Much of the strength that ordinarily would have gone to the arms and legs is dedicated to the powerful flight muscles. Only magical means can further augment a winged human's strength.