What does a Fly spell look like?

How does a Fly spell actually manifest, how does it behave beyond granting the power of flight, and what does that mean to the caster of the spell?

let’s take a look at the description of the Fly spell in various rules:

How Far Can a Giant Punt a Dwarf

How far can a giant punt (kick) a dwarf?   It's got to come up sometime. Based on a host of calculations, distances a football and soccer ball can be kicked, brutal physics, and a whole lot of assumptions re mass along with an old Dragon magazine article on giant sizes I've calculated the following table:

How Far Can A Giant Punt …
	Projectile
Kicker	Gnome*	Halfling	Elf	Dwarf	Human
Ogre	1d10’ (5)	1d8’ (4)	1d6’ (3)	1d4’ (2)	1d3’ (2)
Hill Giant	3d12’ (18)	3d10’ (15)	3d8’ (12)	3d6’ (9)	2d6’ (6)
Stone Giant	9d12’ (54)	9d10’ (45)	9d8’ (36)	9d6’ (27)	6d6’  (18)
Fire Giant	11d12’ (66)	11d10’ (55)	11d8’ (44)	11d6’ (33)	7d6’ (21)
Frost Giant	18d12’  (108)	18d10’ (90)	18d8’ (72)	18d6’ (54)	12d6’ (36)
Cloud Giant	30d12’ (180)	30d10’ (150)	30d8’ (120)	30d6’ (90)	20d6’ (60)
Storm Giant	44d12’  (264)	44d10’ (220)	44d8’ (132)	44d6’ (132)	30d6’ (90)
Titan	50d12’ (300)	50d10’ (250)	50d8’ (200)	50d6 (150)	33d6’ (99)

*I prefer Gnomes to be tinier than Halflings, reverse if you disagree. The average distance listed in the parenthesis above is weighted low to punish DMs and players that don't want to roll all those dice.

Megadungeon Food

What folks eat down in the megadungeon, in the deep dark corners of vast subterranean caverns and labyrinthine complexes of darklords is a matter of concern for those looking for a trace of realism or just a tad of verisimilitude to make the megadungeon environment work within a vaguely plausible set of bounds that isn't too far removed from something the players can deal with.  How is lord dark  feeding his vast army of humanoids and dastardly turncoats if there aren't caravans with food supplies arriving on a regular basis, or the megadungeon is not surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland? well with food that can be gathered from the environment itself of course and to that end I present melch. Melch is a pale grey frothy slime that grows throughout the deep dark underground realms in fissures, cracks, dark nooks, and burbling pits.

Three quarts of melch will feed a man for a day but it's a dreary, loathsome, nearly unpalatable diet. Most surface dwellers would not be pleased at all on being survived their second meal of raw melch after the first meal of raw melch.

Raw melch will remain vaguely edible for months on end if stored in stone containers with secured heavy lids. While melch will not win any records it can slowly move maybe getting as far as a foot or two in an entire day (picture your cupboard if peanutbutter could go for a slow walk now and again).

Some subterranean folk know secrets of cultivating melch that involve other subterranean slimes and jellies in the process along with a portion of organic waste. Some underfolk will fill a great stone basin with as much as 100 gallons of melch, a corpse and a small amount of green slime and seal the mess up to return in a few weeks to find a harvest of 300+ gallons of melch pretty much waiting for harvest.

Melch dries out an collapses disappearing into barely noticeable dusty traces if exposed to sunlight and also does poorly if exposed to fresh rainwater.

Some sages have argued the aggressive and hostile nature of subterranean peoples is not just due to the constant pressure of inter-species conflict but the desire to eat something other than melch.

The following are some means of preparing melch that increase its portability, utility, and willing consumption.

Melch Boil- The most basic form of preparation of melch involves putting a quart of the stuff in a small pot with a cup of water and slowly stirring while bringing the mess to a boil, it;s ready to serve when melch starts to dissolve and lose some of it cohesiveness.

Melch Paste- If melch is boiled in a solution of vinegar and water until it thickens into a paste (almost as thick as peanut butter) it ends up a slightly more appealing paste that may be eaten by itself but it is typically used in other dishes.

Melch Flour- properly dried melch paste results in a powder that can be mused much as flour is used by surface dwellers.

Melch Drop- A soup made by dropping dollops of melch paste into water, broth or oil that has just been brought up to boiling.

Melch Loaf- a bread of sorts that has an odd texture not too far removed from a cross between dense bread and dray cheese. Almost flavorless by surface dweller standards and that probably explains it's widespread used by some folk of the deep dark.

Melch Strip- fried strips of melch loaf.

Melchins- a dumpling formed from melch flour and paste with a variety of fillings. The sort of filling used will typically lend itself to the specific dish being served  (i.e. "Sausage Melchins", "Fishy Melchins"...).

Traggy- a candy chew made from reconstituting and melch flour into a stiff jelly. Normally served sweet, salty, or spicy hot.

Natters- gobs of meat putrefied in a solution of brine and melch. The gobs are typically served fried.

Squaltch- a paste formed by mixing melch, slightly rotting meat and worm larva in vinegar for a period of months. It is served as a spread or sometimes used to stuff sausages. Palatable by most surface dwellers until they discover what it is.

Jollies- a piece of animal intestine stuffed with melch paste and baked.

Moosh- a mashed lump of roots mixed with a roughly equal portion of melch, melch paste and melch flour.

Soggies- toasted meclh loaf slices soaked in a syrup, wine, spirits, or dungeon honey.

Grayervy- melch flour, grease, water and some seasoning (hopefully) mixed together to form a thin gray gravy served with many other dishes.

Servings for dishes in under taverns will vary for 2 to 20 copper pieces in cost depending on method of preparation, seasonings and local tastes, the more elaborate dishes will of course be more expensive.

A quart of raw melch will typically fetch 1/2 to 1 cp, the vessels to carry it in are much more expensive typically costing about 1/2 to a 1sp per quart of melch they can hold.

----
Further notes: This comes from my pondering megadungoen ecology and diets after reading a bit about slime molds and how much they are found all over (and within) the real world. 

Wandering encounter or dungeon stocking charts should probably have an entry for a Melch Drip. Such a Melch drip would be a crack or fissure that would in 10 to 200 feet lead to a larger amount of the stuff.  Some folks claim all true deposits of the stuff are connected and part of one large being but most dismiss such nonsense.

Starting Funds

Most dugneoncrawling fantasy campaigns have a simple mechanic to determine starting funds with which a player may buy their characters starting funds. The following chart is an elaboration on the common method of determining starting funds by rolling 3d6 and multiplying that result by 10.


 Starting Funds Determination
Roll 3d6 and record results, next roll 2d6 and consult the chart below.

Roll	Multiplier	Source
2	X5	Petty theft. 10% chance an item of equipment was from the theft and may be noticed in the future.
3	X6	Savings from Honest work.
4	X7	Gambling Proceeds.
5	X8	Recompense for a dead animal.
6	X9	Investment, character will gain half again as much every 6 months 1d6 additional times.
7	X10	Inheritance. 5% chance an item is an heirloom your now dead relative stole or swindled from someone in the past.
8	X11	Debt paid off to you. You never thought it would happen but your cousin paid you back that money you loaned him years ago.
9	X12	“Found” a dead body; all gear and coin were scavenged from the body someone might notice a piece of gear as having belonged to a friend or relative in the future.
10	X13	Sold share of business interest.
11	X14	Grave Robbing . 20% chance a piece of equipment wss from grave and could be linked to robbery in the future.
12	X15	Miraculous reward! That beggar you helped weeks ago turned out to be a noble, one of his agents just dropped off this small sack of coins in gratitude.

Record the source and multiply the original 3d6 roll by the multiplier on the chart to determine the value of starting funds/equipment.  The player and DM are of course encouraged to follow-up on the sources of the funds however best fits dispotions and the campaign.

Shroud and Cowl Armoring

Equipment type,function, and availability is a significant tool for the game master to use when presenting a campaign (or an area within a campaign).

The following is meant as an example of changing equipment assumptions to give a campaign a different look and feel and step away from familiar without totally undoing the game as expected.
No helmets, not shields, no breastplates... a different place indeed from pseudo-medieval Europe of typical fantasy adventure.

Shroud and Cowl Pieces
There are five broadly defined pieces of armor that may be worn by combatants.

Cowl-    protects head, neck, and shoulders

Mask- protects the face face and a lesser protection for the neck in some designs.

Shroud- minor protection to shoulders, with better protection for torso, hips, and thighs

ArmGarde- protects the hand, forearm, and elbow.  Note entirely unlike a combination sode & kote of traditional samurai armor on earth.

Shynbalde- Greaves that proitect the top of foot, shin, and knee.

Shroud and Cowl Armor Table

Armor	Armor Bonus	ENC	Cost	Other
Leather Cowl	½	1	5	-1 to listen
Padded Cowl	1	2	10	-2 to listen
Disked Cowl	1&½	2	20	-1 to listen
Mesh Cowl	1&½	1	40	-1 to listen
Spiked Cowl	1&½	2	100	-1 to listen, 1d4 attack against bite and unarmed
Scale Cowl	2	2	50	-2 to listen
Leather/Bone/Wood Mask	½	1	7	+1 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-1 perception
Crystal Mask	1	1	400	+2 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-2 perception
Metallic Mask	1&½	1	15	+1 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-2 perception
Leather Shroud	1	2	20
Bezainted/studded Shroud	2	3	70
Disk Shroud	3	4	150
Spike Shroud	3	5	200	1d4 attack against bite and unarmed, -1 move
Mesh Shroud	3	3	250
Mirror Shroud	3	4	1,000	1in6 to reflect flash, gaze, and ray attacks
Scale Shroud	4	4	250
Crystal Shroud	4	4	2,000	2in6 to reflect flash, gaze, and ray attacks
Leather or Wicker Arm-Garde*	½	1	5	-½ to attack
Padded, Wood or Bone Arm-Garde*	1&½	2	15	-½ to attack
Metal Arm-Garde*	2	2	50	-½ to attack
Leather or Wicker ShynBalde**	1	2	10	-1 move
Padded, Wood or Bone ShynBalde**	1&½	3	25	-2 move
Metal Arm- ShynBalde**	2	3	60	-2 move

*- values are per item. ** values are for a pair.

Best Armor for AC is  Scale Cowl +2, Metallic Face Mask +1.5, Scale shroud- +4 , 2 metal armgardes +4 and Metakl ShynBaldes +2 for a total AC adjustment of +13.5 .   Encumbrance would be 14, anyone with STR 13 or less would be encumbered (before other weapons and equipment are accounted for). They would attack at -1 and move at a base rate of 10 (instead of 12). Cost would be 475.

ENC notes: STR score or less, unencumbered. Over STR to STR is Encumbered 2/3 move -2 to dodging and action saves. Over x2 STR to x3 STR  is Burdened ½ move and -4 to dodging, action, and attacks.

Cost Notes: cost is generic on the table, whatever the common coin of trade/value is for adventurers.

I setup costs here so the best armor is out of reach of beginning adventurers who will start with the typical 30-180 spread of coin as an assumption in pricing.

Successful adventurers will still likely be able to buy all the armor they want sometime during second level.

AC notes:  The total AC bonus here goes up to 13.5.  Drop any halves left when adding up AC. A 13 bonus still looks high but I allow for "mob attacks" where the number of attackers (if over 1) is taken as a bonus to hit for all attackers  (there are some pickier rules that's appropriate for another post).

Helmets if found in another realm wouldn't stack with cowls. 

Shields if found in another realm wouldn't stack with a pair of Arm-Gaurds only the AC for an opposite Arm would be factored.