Whirlybird (New Feat 3.5)

[lunar2]

Aerodynamically and physiologically, this feat makes my head hurt. A mere 20 Str (barely more than an unusually strong but otherwise mundane human) is by no means enough to lift, much less propel, a human with such a horrifically inefficient airfoil as a double axe.

For reference, the first human-powered airplane was flown in 1961, using composites and lots of careful aerodynamic design. A human-powered helicopter is even trickier; current attempts use even more sophisticated composites, and are ridiculously large (for example, 100' across, with 40' rotors). Also, they tend to make use of leg muscles, rather than arm muscles, for increased strength and endurance. Brute-forcing your way into the air with a makeshift airfoil and the strength and agility of your arms just isn't going to happen any short of 35 Str and 25 Dex, at the very least, never mind the endurance problems. (I wouldn't have any problems with an [epic] feat requiring 37 Str, 29 Dex, and 21 Con to pull this off, as a matter of fact.)



Not so, but far otherwise. Rotors are airfoils, just like propeller blades are; helicopters fly by spinning their "wings" rapidly.

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1This post brought to you by the Society for Catgirl Extermination. ("Meo-urk!")

what about with D&D's thick air (terminal velocity is 300 ft./ 6 seconds, or 34.1 mph, so the air is much thicker than RL)? does that help? and this feat does assume that the double axes are actually designed for this, albeit poorly.

Ignoring verisimilitude (and for the sake of the cat girls), let's presume that a fighter with this feat could fly. To make it a little more reasonable I'd fix it thus:

Whirlybird (Fighter) Feat
you can swing your ax so fast you fly like a bird
Prerequisites: Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Orc double ax), Str 20, Dex 15
Benefit: When using the full attack action with an orc double ax, you sacrifice your attacks to fly 10 ft. with poor maneuverability. If you use your ax for any other purpose other than flying while in flight, you immediate begin to fall. You also begin to fall if for any reason you cannot swing your ax. If you can act, you may regain flight you have lost in the following round. You take falling damage normally.
Normal: You cannot fly
Special: A fighter can select this feat as one of her fighter bonus feats.

For example, if you are dazed, you would start to fall but could regain flight if that is all you did. I would drop maneuverability to poor. It's kinda hard to steer while swinging an ax that's holding you aloft.

I'd even go so far as to demand that the haft of the ax would have to be made of darkwood or some other light material.

Still goofy if you ask me.

Debby

not being able to do anything while flying defeats the purpose of flight. poor maneuverability requires forward momentum, unless you spend yet another feat on hover. making the feat weaker for the purpose of realism is a bad way to go, especially in a world where dragons fly, and can still make wing attacks in flight.